This has really hit the news because Trent Reznor, frontman of NIN, has decided to sell Ghosts direct over the internet, and has no record label deal for it. While this is a departure from the norm, I am unsurprised.

In fact I’m overjoyed. I couldn’t be happier. I ordered the CD digipak version (I’m old fashioned, I still like owning physical copies of stuff), but that doesn’t ship until April. That’s no problem though because as a gratuity you also get to download the songs in a lossless (i.e. CD quality) digital format to listen to in the mean time. As a iTunes user I chose Apple Lossless, the same format all my other NIN CDs are ripped in. All of this is DRM free and Trent is even hosting a community for remixers and artists building on the works of Ghosts, and NIN’s other works. It’s open source music… what could possibly be cooler!

As for the actual content, it’s purely instrumental, and is a huge 36-tracks long (4x 9-track EPs). As a whole work it is sublime in it’s swings of mood and variety of sound. Instrumental albums too often become repetitive or mundane, Ghosts I-IV just grows on you. The tracks, from Trent’s moody and emotional piano playing, to more industrial crash-rock, to techno-style wanderings of the surreal and energetic, it’s all really excellent stuff.

I defy you not to fall in love with the second track on Ghosts I, it’s a wonderfully peaceful and calming piano piece typical of Trent’s greatest talents, of combining his world class keyboard skills with the ability to mix a track to within an atomic radius of perfection.

For those not convinced, Ghosts I, the first 9 tracks, is available FREE with NO DRM in Lossless audio format. More details at NIN Website