How ‘Nine Inch Noize’ Reimagined These 4 Nine Inch Nails Bangers

Nine Inch Nails have collaborated with the German producer and D.J. Boys Noize on a project and album neatly called Nine Inch Noize. Boys Noize supported Nine Inch Nails on the group’s Peel It Back Tour, and most recently, the collective transformed Coachella’s Sahara Tent into a red-and-black rave-up.

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If you’re unfamiliar, it’s worth your time to listen to these and the originals to see how each one has been reimagined. For those of us who didn’t make it to Coachella this year, allow Nine Inch Noize to give you an idea of what the sweaty energy in the tent felt like.

“Copy of a”

This glitching piece of techno has long opened many Nine Inch Nails concerts. Taken from Hesitation Marks, the track’s repeating synths fold into one another until the weight becomes too much. The version here with Boys Noize feels less dense than the original, but the 90s warehouse vibe remains equally propulsive, like a four-on-the-floor kick imploring some fading rave kid to keep dancing because the sun’s already up.  

“Closer”

It’s no easy chore to remix a band’s most popular song. But what makes Nine Inch Noize so endlessly satisfying is that it’s never really one thing. It’s a remix album, but it’s also a live album. And a studio recording. This leaves the listener immediately transported between settings, with hard medium shifts. Here, the track zooms in on Trent Reznor’s primal want. It’s immediate, close, closer, before vanishing into a relentlessly funky groove.

“Heresy”

On The Downward Spiral, the distortion on “Heresy” borders on white noise. A critique of using religion as a political cudgel, the rework highlights the danceable groove often lurking below NIN’s smearing wall of sound. This one echoes the R&B of Prince, who inspired Reznor’s one-man band. The verses, sung in falsetto, with guest vocals by Mariqueen Maandig, tell a story of manipulation. Then the chorus arrives in a kind of Nietzschean parable. (Maandig and Reznor are married, and they also make up one half of the band How To Destroy Angels.)

“As Alive As You Need Me To Be”

Released as a single from the Tron: Ares film soundtrack, which was scored by Reznor and Atticus Ross, Boys Noize features on the original as a co-producer. However, the Nine Inch Noize version feels like a nod in places to Daft Punk’s Tron: Legacy score. But Daft Punk’s futuristic orchestra gets discarded here like the empty weight of a rocket booster. “As Alive As You Need Me To Be” is a taut banger with an anthemic chorus built for festival crowds.

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