THE NIN HOTLINE

Today, it was announced on Twitter that their debut EP will be a free download on June 1st. Pre-ordering now gets you "The Believers" MP3 immediately. The How To Destroy Angels store just opened up, and though it is slammed at the moment, they're load-balancing the servers and you should be able to get an idea of what it looks like sooner than later. In the meantime, we found a link to the backend where you can pre-order without lag. And this would be that link. The hot commodity here will be the limited-to-120 hand-screenprinted tshirt package that's going for $50.

Shortly after the release of The Fragile, David Carson published a book of his photos titled Fotografiks, and included in this colorful collection were some of the source images that would end up being used in artwork associated with the double album. A few years later, Carson published Trek, where he included photos of alternate covers (and titles) for what would come to be known as "And All That Could Have Been."

Well, as is inevitable, some of this work has been put online. trollmanen has posted scans at this Flickr set, and check out more of Carson's work at his website, where you can occasionally pick up proofs and posters direct from the designer himself. Carson is rumored to be involved with the upcoming 'very limited' version of The Fragile.

The folks at theprp.com have looked into their surprisingly accurate crystal ball and have seen that How To Destroy Angels will be released July 6, 2010. You can pre-order the CD from Amazon for $6.98.

In the June 2010 issue of Wired, Bryan Gardiner has a piece profiling what goes on in the studio during the making of a song by How to Destroy Angels. The text appears under a picture of Alan Moulder, Atticus Ross, Mariqueen, and Trent doing studio things in the studio.

While I could certainly transcribe the rest of it, that wouldn't be especially fair to Bryan, so check it out at your nearest nin fan message board bookstore or newsstand.

Over at spin.com, Spin magazine is celebrating their 25th Anniversary with radio buttons, checkboxes and text inputs! "Pick your favorite band, album, movie, and song of the SPIN era" reads the headline, and while you can select Nine Inch Nails as best band, The Downward Spiral as best album, and Trent Reznor for, uh, "Hottest Sex God," they're missing from "Best Live Act," which borders on absurd. There is, however, a write-in vote, and I encourage you to go and write them in as the best live act, if you get a few moments to fill this puppy out. They don't ask for an email address or anything, but they wisely added a captcha to potentially thwart script-kiddies from busting this poll.

Nine Inch Nails and id Software have had quite a history, going back to the NIN logo appearing in the overhead map of one of the levels on The Ultimate Doom back in 1995. In 1996, id Software released Quake, with a soundtrack credited to Nine Inch Nails, and with ammo boxes for the nail gun weapon bearing the NIN logo. I could continue to rehash the history, but then I'd take the air out of this article at zConnection, which similarly pads their story with history in order to fill out this basic bit of news:

Emphasis ours. Hopefully with bad managers out of the way, this time a proper collaboration can happen.

For the past few months, we've been working on ways to improve the TOIOU website. Recently, we released an iPhone friendly version of the site at m.thisoneisonus.org. Today, we're launching tv.thisoneisonus.org : a streamlined interactive web-television where you can explore, watch and find download links to all of our releases.

Included on the brand new site is our exclusive interview with Moment Factory. You may recall an Hotline post from a while ago in which I invited you to submit questions for the Montreal-based company who designed the interactive system for NIN's Light In The Sky Tour. We took some of the best questions and had the chance to meet the multimedia intergrator from the tour, Pamela Rocks, who kindly responded to your questions. Head over to the site to watch the interview.

Keep watching because more content should be pouring in the coming months, from audio releases to video compilations, from Q&A sessions to multi-cam edits of 2009's Atlanta, Terminal 5, Bowery Ballroom, Wiltern shows and more.

Watch How To Destroy Angels: The Space in Between, right now on Pitchfork's website. The video was directed by Rupert Sanders. High resolution versions should be available on the official website tomorrow.

Bulletstorm, a game by Epic for PS3 and Xbox360, features Nine Inch Nails' "Wish" in the trailer, which you can watch below while it's still online. Check it out:

Thanks to Rasmus, Greg and zombienormality for writing in!

As of today, you can download a DRM-free MP3 of the first track from How To Destroy Angels from Amazon for $0.99 - or if you're in the UK, the download's £0.79 from Amazon.co.uk. If you've already downloaded it somewhere else and have been listening to it on repeat for hours on end, throw a buck in the direction of the people who made it.

Head over to Pitchfork Media to stream a track from the HTDA EP, titled "A Drowning," alongside the first promo shot of the group, which includes Atticus Ross, Mariqueen Maandig Reznor, and, uh, some other dude. Pitchfork adds that Alan Moulder (not pictured) mixed the track. I don't know why you're still reading this, it's Pitchfork that has the new track, click the damn link already!