Further Down the Spiral [US] [EP] (CD - 1995)

FURTHER DOWN THE SPIRAL features Nine Inch Nails songs remixed and recreated by J.G. Thirwell, Coil, Aphex Twin, and Nine Inch Nails.

Personnel: Dave Navarro (guitar).

Audio Remixers: Coil; J.G. Thirlwell; John Balance; Peter Christopherson; Aphex Twin; Trent Reznor.

Creator: Aphex Twin.

Unknown Contributor Role: Drew Mcdowall.

It has become clear that Nine Inch Nails' one-man fuse Trent Reznor has been given free reign to construct his releases in whatever ways he sees fit. And since he has continually railed against pop's constrictive borders, it should come as no surprise that FURTHER DOWN THE SPIRAL rebels against the standard remix album formula. Instead, Reznor allows like-minded deconstructionists to go wild with a blank canvas, and some dark hues provided by THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL. So rather than having dance mixes from the likes of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, this 64-minute EP (!) features the technology-driven sonic landscapes of Aphex Twin, and the thorny abstractions of Foetus' J.G. Thirlwell.

Few of these song titles match their DOWNWARD SPIRAL counterparts, choosing--like the mixes themselves--to only hint at the originals. "Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)" charges with a new-found frenzy to the strains of Dave Navarro's guitar, only to veer off into a decidedly house music-like break. In the hands of the members of Coil, "The Downward Spiral (The Bottom)" becomes an industrial collage, incorporating bleak dins, dark ambient figures, and a grey-noise version of the "Closer" hook. Only "Hurt (Quiet)," the one track redone by a solo Reznor, resembles its former self. Soft but emotionally taxing, it becomes the sleek and brooding post-modern ballad it always threatened to. And like the rest of FURTHER DOWN THE SPIRAL, it's a gateway into Reznor's psyche--a place where the disenfranchised not only get their say, but get to remix it as well. minimize