NIN to Play LA Sept. 6

As part of their Lights In The Sky North American tour, Nine Inch Nails will play the Forum Sat. Sept. 6. Atlanta space/drone rockers Deerhunter will open (a surprisingly, bold choice by Mr. Trent Reznor). Tickets go on sale June 28 at 10 a.m. through LiveNation.com and Ticketmaster.com.

Since Reznor and Interscope Records parted ways, NIN have been on a prolific roll; Trent seems creatively rejuvenated now that he's working for himself and not a major label. I especially enjoyed the two-disc set of electronics-heavy instrumentals, Ghosts I-IV, NIN released earlier this year. You can download for free NIN's latest album, The Slip, at www.nin.com. Judging from what I've heard of it, The Slip still contains enough requisite Reznor angst to fuel several thousand high-school graduating classes through the next few semesters.

Nine Inch Nails’ 2008 touring lineup includes NIN fixtures Robin Finck, Alessandro Cortini and Josh Freese, as well as Justin Meldal-Johnson, an established LA studio pro who's played bass for Beck and Garbage. “We’ve added, we’ve subtracted and we’ve wound up with unquestionably the strongest lineup I’ve EVER had,” Reznor posted on his website, adding, “We’ve been working on something really special for these shows and so far I couldn’t be happier with the results.”

More data about The Slip:

The Slip marks the first time Nine Inch Nails—or any artist of NIN’s stature—has made its new album available completely for free as a DRM-free digital download. The Slip is available as a high-quality MP3 or in a variety of lossless formats including, for the first time, a higher-than-CD quality 24 bit 96k version. All downloads include a PDF with credits and artwork. In addition, The Slip, like its instrumental predecessor, Ghosts I-IV, is being released under a Creative Commons license, allowing fans to distribute the songs and files freely and without fear of copyright infringement. Like the free single “Discipline” released to terrestrial radio stations and their websites and the track “Echoplex” appearing on iLike, The Slip is a classic straightforward NIN album. A physical configuration on CD and vinyl is in the works for a July release.

Here's are vids for "Starfucker Inc." and "We're in This Together" [embedding's disabled].