The latest City Pages contains Lindsey Thomas' review of Year Zero. Strangely, instead of calling attention to the amazing marketing campaign and phenomena behind Year Zero, she completely Dismisses it:


"...not a single original thought to be found..."
"..If Year Zero reveals anything, it's that his music does little for people with a working knowledge of current events and a desire for sonic evolution.

Her review saddens me more than I can say. I thought that Year Zero was a strong album, with some great hits like "Capitol G" and "The Beginning of the End". The song, "In This Twilight" is a phenomenal piece of music.

Overlooking the music, the message in Year Zero is a timely one. The great, dumbing down of society. People sick of the way things are being run, finally rising up and rebelling, joining the underground Open Source Resistance...

Even if one were to ignore the music and the message (a horrific thing for a *music critic* to do,) Year Zero is still a remarkable album in the method it was marketed. Finally, there's an artist who has figured out how the new music system works, and he is showing the world by DOING. Trent Reznor is creating an image and an event which extends WAY beyond the music. He is inviting everyone to be part of the phenomenon; social puzzles, secret codes, intentionally leaked songs, interactive websites, secret concerts, freaking phone messages fer crissakes! He isn't sitting around trying to look kewl and sound "indie" while releasing shit-rock like all the pitchfork.com darlings, he's actually DOING SOMETHING NO ONE HAS DONE BEFORE!

...and Lindsey Thomas comes along like some old person who has never heard of the internet, and dismisses the entire astonishing thing by saying he hasn't got a single original thought.

Wow.

I suppose that if the White Stripes did the same thing, she would be praising their idealism and creativity the way she praised Arcade Fire for their insight and suggested that they have 'plumbed new depths of social commentary', but she doesn't even give a passing nod to the artist who is starting an underground revolution.

When that revolution marches down the street in front of her house, she will wish she had spent more time researching that review.

Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: anti, music reviews, NIN