Poet Saul Williams’ newest album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, was produced by recent collaborator Trent Reznor. The album, a commentary on racial bigotry and epithets, will only be available to download for free or with a $5 donation to the artist, starting November 1 on Williams’ website.
Reznor and Williams toured together in recent years, and Williams appeared on “Survivalism” and “Me, I’m Not” from Nine Inch Nails’ Year Zero album. In deciding on the album’s distribution plans, the two followed in the footsteps of Radiohead’s recent In Rainbows release.
“After my own recent dealings with record labels, we decided to release it directly to the fans,” Reznor said. “There are obvious similarities in how Radiohead just released their new record and the way we’ve chosen to. After thinking about this way too much, I feel we’ve improved upon their idea in a few profound ways that benefit the consumer.”
Financial contributors will be given the choice of three download formats: 192 KB/s MP3, 320 KB/s MP3, and Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC). The FLAC format does not take any information out of the audio stream, making the files CD quality, but it is incompatible with iTunes and Windows Media Player. All formats are entirely free of digital rights management (DRM) and come with artwork and lyrics in PDF form.
“The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! is the lovechild of Trent and me,” describes Williams, the cover artist of ALARM 20. “The NiggyTardust concept sets me free to do more on stage with costume, etc. than one might expect from a regular Saul Williams show. It allows me to put my theatre training to use. I’ve also thought long and hard about all the discussion surrounding racial epithets, etc. and chose this title as a means of furthering the dialogue while also showing how creativity will outlive and outshine hatred of any kind.”
Saul Williams: www.niggystardust.com