submerge76's Full Review: The Perfect Drug [Single] by Nine Inch Nails
The Perfect Drug was an interesting musical departure for NIN in the mid to late 90s taking his trademark industrial sound and dark atmosphere and marrying them with the frenetic rhythms of Drum N Bass.
Drum N Bass at the time was THE sound of british electronic music at the time. Everyone from Orbital (Are We Here, Times Fly) to David Bowie (Little Wonder) to Aphex Twin (Boy Girl song) and even Madonna flirted with it on Little Star, a lullaby to her daughter on her Ray of Light album.
The signature hallmarks of drum n bass (also called Jungle) were dub and reggae sub bass lines combined with hip hop breakbeats at twice the speed. Triggering the breakbeats at other places rather than the downbeat creates intricate poly rhythmic effects and odd time signatures.
In the last 10 years Drum N Bass has splintered into so many factions, as most electronic music does.
Drill N Bass
Dark Step
Tech Step
Melodic Drum N Bass
Jazzy Drum N Bass
Vocal Drum N Bass
and probably more I don't even know about.
Trent probably can claim he has Drum N Bass most popular Darkstep single to date. Dark. Atmospheric. Menacing. Evil. Frenetic. Perfect for the atmosphere of David Lynch's bizarre and gothic movie The Lost Highway.
What makes the Perfect Drug distinct is that it puts traditional pop song structure and vocals, along with industrial elements on a drum n bass track. The perfect drug also sounds like its using samples of live rock drumming sped up instead of drum machines, adding a rockier and more organic feeling.
NIN eps/maxi singles usually go beyond what we think of remixing, down to reconstruction, deconstructions and re-interpretations. If you're expecting the song to be fully in tact, you'll be in for a rude awakening.
However if you are prepared for some very dark drum n bass re-interpretations of the tracks, you won't be disappointed.
Old friend Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto(and remixer of NINs Closer) begins with the opening salvo. Taking the song to a darker and dubbier conclusion, focusing on rock industrial intensity. Its even more frenetic than the original. The breakbeats are piled up on each other and dense. However, you can still tell this track is the Perfect Drug. Most of the vocals are gone, but the guitar, breakbeats and some vocals from Trent remain in tact.
Plug brings a more techy drum machine and synthesizer approach to his take on the song, focusing on tortured moans from Trent as atmosphere. Plug uses a standard "Funky Drummer" break sped up along with the songs memorable bassline.
NINs own remix is drum n bass filtered through Freddy Krueger. This is the music of nightmares. Whispers, slasher movie soundscapes, and frenetic drum n bass rhythms punctuate the version, with percolating trademark NIN synths. An all out rhythmic assault kicks in at about 3 minutes, then flips on a dime at about the 4 minute to propulsive 4 to the floor dark IndustrialTechno. Make sure you have the lights on when you listen to it.
Spacetime Continuum is probably the most user friendly mix here, showing lush beautiful atmosphere and synth work, along with those trademark Spacetime Continuum chord changes. However, its far removed from the original, ditching the hyper house of horrors for slower lush breakbeat.
The Orb mix is just plain BIZARRE, though still in the spirit of the original, that its scary. Instead of drum n bass,(though he sneaks some breaks in here and there) we have a dubby swing beat. Its Dr Alex Patterson wearing his weirdest of hats with theramin, and 50s sci fi samples hes so well known for. Trent's vocals are heavily altered electronically. This is some twisted stuff, probably not for everyone. It's still very heavy, and the most industrial sounding thing the Orb have done.
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