Firstly, this is probably the least Noir du'Soleil related topic to grace this blog yet. Secondly, I'm well aware this is very old news.

Tonight I found myself longing to hear "A Warm Place" by Nine Inch Nails. I don't know why, but I guess it's just one of those songs I'll always come back to when a certain mood strikes. I remembered the old story of Trent Reznor ripping the melody from David Bowie's "Crystal Japan" (and using an inversion of that melody as one of the main melodic themes that repeats throughout his 1994 record The Downward Spiral) and realised that I had never directly compared the two.

So, I proceeded to do some investigative work... and I'll admit right now that I was a little scared of exposing a work I always considered genuis to be but mere fraudulence.

Let's have a listen:

Incase you can't tell, the melodies to compare start around 0:51 on both videos.

So what do you think? Is this a horrible rip-off by Reznor, or one artist genuinely being influenced and showing respect for another. It's well documented that Reznor was very influenced by David Bowie's music around the making of The Downward Sprial (albiet he states the album Low, which does not include "Crystal Japan").

Personally I think this is different enough, the harmonization of the two melodies is totally different, the melodies themselfs differ (although rather slightly) and the timing is different. I would be inclined to believe that this is genuine inspiration and a show of respect. I still consider both works genius.

Somehow I don't think the same thing could be said for say, Scooter vs. Headhunterz. However that could just be my personal bias =P

Today I found myself browsing the MySpace music Top Artists chart. Of course, I couldn't resist the desire to see where Noir du'Soleil was ranking on the lists. I was pleasantly suprised to see us take the top position for indie Post-Punk band in Australia, and no. 2 for indie Industrial act in Australia.

I will be the first to confess that I'm not sure how these are ranked, or if they mean anything at all really! Still, it was nice to see us up there with the likes of Roland S. Howard, The Presets, and Angelspit.

This is absolutely amazing. Really eye-opening. 

"The world is rife with ‘stuff’, and the simple fact is we’re producing new homes, vehicles, gadgets, gizmos and other designs faster than we can get rid of the old ones. Tires, airplanes, bicycles and cell phones don’t just magically disappear once they outlive their usefulness. Sometimes they’re gathered together, stripped down and recycled, and sometimes they’re just left to sit and rot for decades on end. Much like abandoned buildings and cities, these places can haunt the collective memory. Here’s a look at the afterlife of everyday objects, piled into staggering mounds that resemble nothing more than cemeteries for stuff."

See the full article here: http://webecoist.com/2009/03/15/object-graveyards-the-afterlife-of-everyday-things/