The Rationalist Manifesto

I wrote this post on the train, but for some reason my moblog software wouldn’t post, so I’m re-typing it here with some modifications ;-)

I’m on the train back from the NIN show at the Metro - it was amazing! Really great energy in the air and an incredible venue. The Metro is a night-club, but it still works for live shows as it seems to have been built as a theatre.

Trent Reznor was obviously enjoying himself tremendously on stage, and even said as much, specifically comparing how good this evening’s show was to yesterday night’s. Apparently referring to the fact that the crowd yesterday was so unruly that the show had to be cut short and some patrons were treated for head injuries from thrown beer bottles. I’m glad I wasn’t there last night and got the tickets to tonight’s show instead. Pure luck!

It was quite interesting to hear NIN’s classic songs performed in this tour, as it is almost all guitar based with little of the heavy Electronic sound that is Trent Reznor’s trademark. Some of the songs become very different when played so organically– some are better for it and some are not, but the overall effect is very powerful and tight.

While Reznor himself is definitely not a guitar hero, Aaron North, the lead guitar on this tour happily takes up the slack and gives an incredible show. North seems the type that gets very invested in the moment and does it with a flare which could easily get him into trouble, especially if someone in the crowd pisses him off…

It was such an excellent night that I’m thinking about going again tomorrow night. I had two tickets which I couldn’t find a buyer for as someone was dumping excess tickets on eBay below cost– probably a scalper who didn’t anticipate the third show being announced… The two tickets were originally for Shelly and Damien (oh the irony) and I gave one of them to my flatmate when I saw I can’t get rid of them. As the door people weren’t even looking at the ticket dates I might as well try to use the remaining ticket tomorrow. I did pay for it, and it is not like tomorrow’s show is sold out…

Props to NIN for a great evening!

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‘Year Zero’ has been out for a week, but the release party for it in Melbourne which I’m writing this from is tonight. It is quite tame at this early hour, but I already scored a free copy of the album so I’m quite happy. The album has already been leaked on the net, by none other than Trent Reznor himself, with a big ‘fuck you’ to the RIAA, but it is well worth the purchase anyway :-)

The album itself is a concept piece which is very reminiscent of 1984, with the added value of refreshing the old warning by Benjamin Franklin- ‘those who give up freedom for temporary safety, deserve neither freedom, nor safety’, although this is from memory, so forgive any inadvertant paraphrasing on my part…

I’m quite set on an early night tonight, but I’ll let the winds of fate, take me where they will. It all depends whether some of my lovely and newly acquired friends will show up by the time I’m ready to roll. Friday is usually a big night for the Melbourne goth scene, but I’ve chores to do tomorrow which I’ve pushed back more than once, so we’ll see.

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Some of you may have heard about Amie St, the online DRM-free music store that recently signed major artists (such as Barenaked Ladies, Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, Paul Van Dyk and others) to sell their music without any of the foolish DRM restrictions that the iTunes Music Store imposes on music bought there.

Following the coverage on Digg, I’ve decided to try out the store. I was pleasantly surprised with the selection and quality of music there, but I was encountering some trouble listening to samples because of the high loads the site experienced following the news coverage. Frustrated, I wrote to their customer service about my hardship–

Not even twenty five minutes later, I got a response from an actual person, Elias Roman, who apologized for the issues, offered credit to my account and indicated what Amie St was doing to resolve the issue:

“What is your user name, I’ll add some credit to it so you can
enjoy it when the samples are working (We are actively adding more
servers to our grid to get rid of that issue).” - (Partial Quote)

One eMail from me later (with my user name), and no longer than fifty minutes from the time of my initial contact with them, the following message landed in my inbox:

“Hey Tal, I added some credit to your account. The site should be
running alright by now, I would definitely check out Au Revoir Simone,
the Shake, Waterlog (definitely check out The Onion by waterlog).”

While I am still having issues at time listening to the samples (which might be related to my own Internet connectivity) they are less prevalent than before and I’ll definitely check out and purchase music from Amie St, if only because of their remarkable customer service.

From my short time at the site, I already found some songs I like– allow me to recommend the song Unravel from the group Drawing Down the Sun.

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We went to an amazing Goth party last night called “Cabaret Nocturne” at the Tilt club (272 Russell St, Melbourne). The atmosphere was amazing and the people were ubercool. Photos are here. We danced to NIN, Siouxie and the Banshees, Depeche Mode, Placebo, Timo Mass, Rammstein and much more…

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We scored tickets to the 2nd NIN show in Melbourne at the Metro on the 14th of May, 2007. Yes, it is still a long way away!
Consider that the 1st show was sold out in the first five minutes of the sale…

We’ll see Arcturus before, on the 31s of March at The Espy. Never heard about them before Damien recommended them, we’ll have fun for sure though!

I love that Melbourne has so much music going on!

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