By Chi Steadman

A lot of people may have heard of Nine Inch Nails or listened to Boys Noize’s remixes. They created a collaborative group called Nine Inch Noize. Their album together made its debut on April 17. Both artists are known for the industrial themes in their music. In addition to this, Nine Inch Noize performed at Coachella for two weekends.

At Coachella, Nine Inch Noize planned to perform a full set. One of my personal favorites from the set list is “As Alive As You Need Me To Be,” the song had originally been produced for Tron: Ares with Boys Noize getting credit as additional production. The song uses a lot of themes with wanting to be alive but needing a reason to do so. The lyrics “give me something to believe in, as alive as you need me to be” put that feeling on full display.

A recommendation I have if you like that song from the Tron: Ares album, check out NIN’s “Shadow Over Me.” The song shows major themes of control with lyrics like, “God, I’ve got a shadow over me, I am not what I appear to be, and I know that you believe in me.”

At Coachella, they performed “Closer,” a well known song by NIN that was released in 1994. While many people misinterpret this song to Trent Reznor’s dismay, Reznor has stated the lyrics are about self-loathing and obsession.

I’m a fan of the way Nine Inch Noize laid out the stage for the performance. Along with their songs they had a lot of strobe effects and red lighting in the fog. It was a nice visual effect considering they performed in the dark. Not exactly easy on the eyes, though.

I really enjoyed their performance and I feel like the songs they did covers for, like “Memorabilia” by Soft Cell and “Parasite” by How To Destroy Angels, were well done.

Overall, I believe this album was performed well for those who enjoy remixes of NIN music both visually and in audio.