Video: Saul Williams - "Convict Colony"

Download: Saul Williams - "Convict Colony" (Via Sound Opinions)

Watch the otherworldly video for the Nine Inch Nails-esque (hmm, wonder why that is) track from the pay-what-you-want The Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust by eclectically electric singer-songwriter-rapper Saul Williams.

You can listen to a live version of that same song at the top of the post from the session he did on NPR's popular music talk-show Sound Opinions. On the Williams episode, Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis, the hosts of the programs, ask Williams about underground cred in the face of commercial song placement; the provocative etymology and evolution of a racial epithet; how that epithet relates to the concept of his newest album; and how he classifies, and came up with, his genre-leaping sound.

Listen to the segment, which includes other live performances, here. Niggy Tardust is out now.

Saul Williams MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

Trent Reznor Kicks It In Rainbows Style With Saul Williams Record

Download: Saul Williams - "Telegram"
Download: Trent Reznor and David Bowie - "I'm Afraid Of Americans"

Idolator's got the scoop. From the article:

Trent Reznor announced today that he'd be distributing an album via the Internet--not a new Nine Inch Nails record, but the next album by Saul Williams, The Inevitable Rise And Liberation Of NiggyTardust!, which Reznor says is the "most involved I've been with any project outside NIN since Antichrist Superstar." The album's official site launched today and is now taking pre-orders for its Nov. 1 release, and in a move that bears some similarity to In Rainbows' pay-as-you-go model, people can either get it for free or "directly support the artists involved in the creation of this music" and throw Williams five bucks.

Basically, the more you pay, the better quality of MP3 you get. As far as the concept behind The Inevitable Rise And Liberation Of NiggyTardust!, I'll leave that to Saul himself.

From his website:

The wall of sound that we've created is tagged with such graffiti that a passerby would seek out doors and ways to ENTER. Once inside a world defined by dreams come true they'd find aligned with the simplest act of sharing what we treasure. Most people aren't aware of the world of art and commerce where exploitation strips each artist down to nigger. Each label, like apartheid, multiplies us by our divide and whips us 'til we conform to lesser figures. What falls between the cracks is a pile of records stacked to the heights of talents hidden from the sun. Yet the energy they put into popularizing smut makes a star of a shiny polished gun. The ballot or the bullet for Mohawk or the mullet is a choice between new times and dying days. And the only way to choose is to jump ship from old truths and trust dolphins as we swim through changing ways. The ways of middlemen proves to be just a passing trend. We need no priests to talk to God. No phone to call her. And when you click the link below, i think it fair that you should know that your purchase will make middlemen much poorer...

NiggyTardust!

love,

Saul

Saul is encouraging blogs to help spread the word by copying and pasting this application here:



You should do so as well. Let's see where this experiment can go.

(Jonathan Graef)