Nine Inch Noize: Decoding Coachella’s curious mash-up
Announcing four months earlier than is tradition for the famed California music festival, but Coachella has released its full line-up for next year’s event.
It’s another big draw, boasting pop prestige from the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, and Colombian reggaeton sensation Karol G. Elsewhere, a scan across the lineup spots artists as diverse as Devo, Young Thug, and Alex G, yet one can be forgiven for double-taking when eyeing up Friday’s Nine Inch Noize.
Nine Inch Noize? Is that a misprint? Alexander Ridha’s Boys Noize electronic moniker is spotted tucked away with the Saturday intake of Coachella artists, but what’s the deal with the revision of Trent Reznor’s famed industrial art-rock juggernaut?
It’s of little surprise to anyone who’s been lucky enough to attend any of Nine Inch Nails’ recent dates on the Peel It Back Tour. In addition to its novel and innovative projections and stage design, acclaim was heaped on Boys Noize’s pumped support sets for the worldwide tour, as well as joining Nine Inch Nails on stage for hard-hitting techno reimagining of the band’s more electronically edged cuts, from Year Zero’s ‘Vessel’, Hesitation Marks’ Came Back Haunted, and even a deep-dive into the How To Destroy Angels side-project with ‘Parasite’.
It’s the most logical arena for the German-Iraqi DJ. Just as celebrated for his nearly 20 years of original tech-house material is the voluminous amount of remixes offered to everybody, from Snoop to Depeche Mode. Translating the concept to the stage, the joint forces of Boyz Noize and Nine Inch Nails for a potential full set is an intriguing prospect, and perhaps a first in the latter’s near forty-year history.
If indeed a one-off full concert special, how will Boys Noize fare with some of Nine Inch Nails’ gentler cuts? Slapping a slamming EDM edge to ‘Sin’ or ‘Closer’ is one thing, but ‘Hurt’? ‘Right Where It Belongs’? It’s a test for Ridha to pull off a subtle sonic finesse to such loved songs as capably as raising the digital stakes of Nine Inch Nails’ heavy classics.
Nine Inch Nails’ road to Noize
Of course, Reznor boasts a long and distinguished history of fruitful partnerships ever since 1989’s Pretty Hate Machine debut. Gary Numan, Adrian Belew, Josh Homme, and Ministry‘s Al Jourgensen have all been pulled into Nine Inch Nails’ orbit over the years, but the most consequential is Atticus Ross. Having worked with the band as early as 2005, his official membership of the band in 2016 marked the first time there had been any permanent personnel in Reznor’s day job since its beginnings.
There’s also a ‘Noize’ precedent too. Crossing paths with David Bowie during his Outside industrial era of the mid-1990s, Nine Inch Nails opened for Bowie on the US leg of the tour, seamlessly segueing into each other’s sets, offering a unique reshaping of the songs in the middle of the conjoined repertoire.
Thrilling for many while alienating many of the old school Bowie fans, it’s likely the Nine Inch Noize mash-up will land as a more effective hit for those who’ve nabbed those golden Coachella tickets.
