Halo 24 - Year Zero - Vessel

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Potipin won't change your world, but it will change your mind. Potipin make it all go away. Capital Unlimited, the maker of Potipin, is recognized by the bureau. Did you have a bad time on Potipin? Well, now there's Copal. Just one dose of Copal can mitigate the negative effects of Potipin in as little as three weeks. Need to cope, reach for Copal. If you took Copal and suffered from side effects such as chronic diarrhea, you may be entitled to compensation. Call one. [00:00:37] Speaker B: Pod is resistance, motherfucker. To the extreme. The Capital Unlimited megacorporation and their drugs are the disease and we are the cure. It wasn't enough they control our podcast. Now they want to control our bodies too. Well, bu. Drugs like Copal and Paraben, made by their pharma division, contain experimental nanobots. We have developed a process that removes these microscopic machines from your body. But it's going to be very, very painful. But all change is painful. No. Revolution is borderless. The dreamer does not want to be awakened from his slumber. Joint Pontus Resistance can see my brute. The whole fac. [00:01:29] Speaker C: Hey. [00:01:46] Speaker A: Come on down. It's nailed. A song by song. Journey through the world of year Zero. I'm Blake. [00:01:52] Speaker D: I'm Jessica. [00:01:53] Speaker A: And this week we're discussing track five, Vessel. [00:01:59] Speaker D: Oh, my God. [00:02:00] Speaker A: One of my faves. Oh, I get it. That's a lyric. [00:02:06] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:02:08] Speaker A: One of the best songs on here. One of the banginous bangers. [00:02:13] Speaker D: Where would you put it in your top three or five songs that you talked about on the Good Soldier. [00:02:21] Speaker A: What? Oh, on the good side. It's somewhere. It's in the top three. Okay, I won't decide that for sure until the end of the series, probably, but it bangs. [00:02:32] Speaker D: Mm. [00:02:33] Speaker A: This song goes crazy. Before we get into it, though, do we have some nine inch news? [00:02:39] Speaker D: Yes. [00:02:40] Speaker C: So everything is in the news today. [00:02:44] Speaker D: Well, they announced the opener for the Peel It Back tour. [00:02:50] Speaker A: All right. [00:02:52] Speaker D: Who is it? Blake? Try to guess. [00:02:53] Speaker A: I already know. I don't have to guess. I think we could have guessed. Some people guessed this beforehand. Right, Boyz Noise? Interestingly, I'm just now realizing noise. N o I Z E. The way they spell it is sometimes the way noise is spelled in the multi track files for year zero. [00:03:15] Speaker D: What? [00:03:15] Speaker A: Even in 2007, they knew boys Noise was gonna open. Dropping hints. [00:03:21] Speaker D: Holy shit. Do you think so? In that GQ interview? That feels like it came out a million years ago. [00:03:29] Speaker A: Mm. It was last year. [00:03:31] Speaker D: Yeah, I know. Everything is in the news every day, so it's it's hard time has no meaning. Anyway, in that article, they discussed the possibility of doing like a festival with composers and stuff. What if we get there and they're like, okay, we're just gonna play the Social Network, the Social Network Watchmen, and we're gonna have a little challengers interlude with all these noise. [00:03:58] Speaker A: Better be challengers. Yeah, I mean, that'd be cool. I'd be surprised. I didn't really think that was happening. [00:04:06] Speaker D: An arena full of people that are like, no, we want. [00:04:10] Speaker A: Actually, we want the songs. Yeah. [00:04:12] Speaker D: I mean, 20,000 people just start booing. I wouldn't boo. I'd be playing. [00:04:18] Speaker A: What is this, a tool Concert festival? Whatever it was, that was something in the news. By the time you hear this, it probably won't be in the news. Boys noises. I didn't think they'd announce an opener already, but. Because it seems like everybody leaves that till the last second these days. But now we know and just them. Not like last tour cycle, it was like five different openers or something. Guess we just got one. There's still time to switch some of those dates out though, if they don't all work for boys noise. [00:04:53] Speaker D: Anyway, so that's the opener for the arena. Toys this summer. [00:04:59] Speaker A: Old fashioned DJ or interlude set. [00:05:02] Speaker D: I have no idea what this is gonna be. [00:05:04] Speaker A: Maybe he's on that little. Ooh, maybe he's on that square stage. [00:05:07] Speaker D: I mean, that was kind of my guess. [00:05:09] Speaker A: The mini stage that is shown in the map layout of the arenas. [00:05:15] Speaker D: Okay, it's not the Magic Mike Reznor stage. It's the. [00:05:19] Speaker A: It's the magic voice noise. [00:05:23] Speaker D: I'm just kidding. He's. I don't know. I don't know what to expect. So I'm not making any guesses anymore. I'll be happy if I'm still alive and we're still a functioning country. And by fucking August or whenever this. [00:05:36] Speaker A: Concert is, well, we're already not, so that's true. Don't get your hopes up. [00:05:40] Speaker D: Sorry. Okay, okay. [00:05:42] Speaker A: The next piece of news. [00:05:44] Speaker D: Next piece of news. So Lady Gaga's new album came out. Or Lady Gaga. [00:05:50] Speaker A: Lady Gaga. [00:05:52] Speaker D: Lady Gaga dropped her latest album, Mayhem. And for a long time, people in the Discord kept talking about how there were rumors that it would be produced by Trent Reznor because they were like. [00:06:06] Speaker A: Spotted in the studio. [00:06:07] Speaker D: Well, I don't know why. I don't think that's why. I think there were just rumors. And my theory is because she used Rick Rubin's studio for some of this and Reznor could have been hanging out. I don't know. So maybe they were spotted in the same studio. Who knows? [00:06:23] Speaker A: Reznor was hanging out there recording podcasts. [00:06:25] Speaker D: Yeah. Yes. But anyway, album came out. Nothing produced by Reznor and Ross, unless they're going under some kind of weird pseudonym I'm not aware of. She did cite nine Inch Nils as a huge influence on this record, along with David Bowie, Earth Wind and Fire, and Prince. There's also songs on there that, in my opinion, sound like Gwen Stefani called the Batgirl. There's a song that sounds like a Taylor Swift song. Like, it could be Taylor Swift. I had to check to see. [00:07:04] Speaker A: I had to check to see that it wasn't Jack Antonoff, because that's what it sounded like. [00:07:08] Speaker D: It sounded very much like his production style. It was just kind of. It's kind of a weird album. I don't think it's bad, but it definitely doesn't have, I think, the kind of dark and dirty industrial vibes that people were hoping for. I mean, there's a couple tracks that have some, like. There's dirty synth grooves. [00:07:28] Speaker A: And there was one song that somebody said sounded like it could be on Pretty Hate Machine. And I thought maybe a little bit. Just a little bit, yeah. But, like, that. That would be the reference point and not, like, later albums. [00:07:40] Speaker D: Well, here, let me play you something. [00:07:41] Speaker A: Okay. [00:07:42] Speaker D: I'll play you a couple things. This is from listener and friend Mel, who sent this to me a while ago. And it's from a YouTube short, and it's Lady Gaga breaking down her song Disease. [00:07:58] Speaker A: Hmm. And people kept comparing to Nin, or a few people did. [00:08:05] Speaker E: This is where it starts to get really interesting. [00:08:07] Speaker A: Closer. [00:08:09] Speaker E: And then there's the drum kit. But it starts to really come alive when you hear the bass. The Circuit played that, and I thought it was super cool. And what's so interesting about it, I'll play it for you here, too. Is that the bass is in, like, two parts there, and here's the second baseline. So those two parts together make the bass that you're hearing on the track. [00:08:52] Speaker D: Anyway. [00:08:53] Speaker A: Thank you. [00:08:54] Speaker D: I'm just going to read what? This is not like, closer. No, Mel said. I was like, oh, it's like closer. That's why it's a banger. Lmao. And then the other clip I want to play, I just kind of was scrolling through blue sky. I follow Stereo Gum. I almost said Stereo Lab. That's not. [00:09:17] Speaker A: Anyway, Confused all the time. [00:09:19] Speaker D: All the time. It's constant, but okay, so this is Lady Gagana, recent Howard Stern appearance. [00:09:28] Speaker A: Why do we love this so much? [00:09:29] Speaker E: Because it's so good. [00:09:31] Speaker A: It's so good. You ever met Trent Reznor? [00:09:34] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:09:35] Speaker A: Where do you meet him? [00:09:36] Speaker E: I forget the first time. I think I black out every time I'm in his presence. [00:09:42] Speaker A: Because he's such a great songwriter. [00:09:43] Speaker E: Yeah. He's an amazing musician. [00:09:46] Speaker A: And you'll get. What, intimidated by that? [00:09:48] Speaker E: Not intimidated. Just like, really excited, stoked, quiet. [00:09:54] Speaker A: Were they listening to Closer on the show? [00:09:55] Speaker D: I think so. I don't know. I didn't listen to the whole show. I don't subscribe to Sirius XM or whatever. [00:10:03] Speaker A: Not a. Not a Stern listening household, but okay. Interesting. Anyway, she and many, many other people cite him as an influence. [00:10:13] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, I hear a lot of stuff in it, like I usually do when I listen to various, you know, pop stars. [00:10:20] Speaker A: I can hear a little bit. I'm not going to read too much into it. [00:10:23] Speaker D: Yeah. I think that the best pop stars just pull from a little bit of everything. [00:10:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Everyone does. [00:10:29] Speaker D: And put their own spin on it. [00:10:31] Speaker A: So is that it for news? [00:10:33] Speaker D: Yeah, that's it. Sorry. That Trent Reznor did not produce the new Gaga album. [00:10:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:10:39] Speaker D: And that it doesn't sound as mayhem y as people wanted. [00:10:43] Speaker A: Mayhem y. Doesn't sound like the punk band or the metal band Mayhem or whatever they were. Doesn't sound like them. Okay, vessel, let's go. Let's talk about fucking vessel. [00:11:07] Speaker D: So, vessel, track five on year zero, the BPM, 91.9941. Blake, what does it mean? [00:11:19] Speaker A: Don't ask me. It's gotta mean something, because why the hell would you choose that? Crazy ass. Three decimal points. 99 point. [00:11:30] Speaker D: It's four. Jeez. [00:11:32] Speaker A: Okay, that's too much. So no one. It's not like they were dialing in a tempo they really liked, because your brain's not going to be able to tell the difference between that and a round number. As we talked about last episode. So I googled and I got jack shit other than a hex code for, like, an ugly greenish yellow color. [00:11:58] Speaker D: You messaged me and said that it was the original brat. [00:12:01] Speaker A: Yeah, because it's like a brat green. But more gross. And then I thought, oh, it's very Nine Inch Nails, actually, because this color is halfway between shit and piss. [00:12:13] Speaker D: And I said, it looks like kaboom Poop. And if you don't know what kaboom poop is, and then you did not. You were not raised by my aunt. [00:12:21] Speaker A: Don't you don't look that up. But I'm betting now it had something to do with the ARG when it was for when it first came out. But it's been too long now and whatever that was is no longer on the Internet and is lost to time. [00:12:38] Speaker D: Maybe it could have been a code to get into something. [00:12:40] Speaker A: Yeah, like a passcode for something. [00:12:42] Speaker D: Who knows? [00:12:44] Speaker A: Because you were saying that Reznor said there were some clues right out in the open that no one looked into. And this kind of was right out in the open. When you download the stims to remix Year Zero songs, it's right there in a text document. It's not a hidden number. You don't have to find it on your own. It's printed right there. 99941, whatever it was. [00:13:10] Speaker D: Yeah, I found like an ETS thread from 2020 when I googled it and people were like, I don't know. [00:13:15] Speaker A: Yeah, but even by 2020 it was probably too late and scrubbed from the Internet. [00:13:20] Speaker D: Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that's going to be missing. For example, because a lot of these were on Flash. There were some. I didn't even know what this type of file was, but like the file extension was like swf. Swf. I'm going to call it swiff, which is a flash. Which is a audio file used in Flash games or sites or whatever. So I don't even think it's playable. [00:13:43] Speaker A: Yeah, we can't play those anymore, so unless there's some way we don't know about. [00:13:47] Speaker D: But technology rules anyway. [00:13:49] Speaker A: It's a crazy tempo, crazy BPM for a crazy ass song. [00:13:55] Speaker D: Do you want to go ahead and play it? [00:13:57] Speaker A: Okay, here we fucking go. Pretty jarring coming right off of Good Soldier because that was so after that. [00:14:17] Speaker D: Nice outro. [00:14:18] Speaker A: Yeah, that was so chill at the end, you know, Filthy already. Dirty drugs and sex. [00:14:44] Speaker D: Like how he delivers this. [00:14:46] Speaker C: Same thing we've heard a hundred times before none of that matters anymore. [00:15:08] Speaker A: Vocals are nuts. [00:15:13] Speaker D: I love this chorus. [00:15:15] Speaker A: Yeah, it's pretty killer. [00:15:18] Speaker D: And I'm gonna tell you why when we talk about this song. [00:15:25] Speaker A: This song is mostly noise. The chorus vocals are. Never heard anything quite like it. [00:15:33] Speaker C: Never be alone I have finally found my place in everything I have finally. [00:15:45] Speaker A: Found my home. [00:15:48] Speaker C: I can live all the best behind. [00:15:54] Speaker A: I can't see those insane sounds Sound like a sped up. [00:15:58] Speaker C: Guitar Am becoming something else yeah I. [00:16:05] Speaker A: Am turning into God God to ad libbing in this course My God I. [00:16:27] Speaker B: Don'T think I can I don't think. [00:16:29] Speaker C: I can My God. [00:16:52] Speaker A: Now, that's it for lyrics. Now we have two minutes of harsh noise outro, almost a random assortment of improvisational noise. Little bells. [00:17:55] Speaker D: This song makes me feel like I'm on drugs. And I'll elaborate on that more later. [00:18:01] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's probably intended. I kind of got that feeling too. Like you're tripping balls. [00:18:10] Speaker D: Like that weird little percussive beat. [00:18:12] Speaker A: Yeah, the clap. That's my favorite part. We'll get to that. So punishingly repetitive. But I. I don't get sick of it. I want to ride this out for as long as it takes me. [00:18:50] Speaker C: And. [00:18:50] Speaker A: Then it just kind of fizzles out there. Not fizzles, but. What's the word? [00:18:58] Speaker D: I don't know what word you're looking for. [00:19:00] Speaker A: I don't know. It degrades itself into pure noise and then abruptly quits. [00:19:06] Speaker D: There you go. [00:19:07] Speaker A: It's abrupt. [00:19:08] Speaker D: It is an abrupt stop, yes. [00:19:10] Speaker A: And then it goes into another chill song. But that's next time. [00:19:14] Speaker D: So you got some clips. [00:19:16] Speaker A: So that was good. Yeah, that was good, right? [00:19:19] Speaker D: I hate it. Jk. [00:19:21] Speaker A: No, we like it. We like it here. Does anyone not like Vessel? I want to know. But it has its haters, I'm sure. But it's got to be, like, a fan fave of the album. I imagine from what I've heard, that seems to be correct. Clip's corner. There's a bunch, so I'm gonna go kind of rapid fire through them. [00:19:43] Speaker D: Okay. I'm gonna eat an olive, so don't expect me to talk. [00:19:46] Speaker A: I will mute you. This is just a showcase of a bunch of drums throughout the song. They all kind of. They're all kind of mashed up here. It's all about that kick and snare. Just some tambourine by itself. Of course it has tambourine in it every year. Zero song does. [00:20:36] Speaker D: Is that true? [00:20:40] Speaker A: It seems like almost every, but not necessarily every, the song, but mostly throughout the whole song. It's that. Okay, some claps. That's, like, surprisingly analog sound compared to the rest of how digital the song sounds. But when I heard that, I thought I was listening to another song. It really reminded me of something else of theirs. And so I'll play a clip of what it reminded me of and see if you can tell me what it's from. [00:21:50] Speaker D: Queen We Will Rock youk. [00:21:52] Speaker A: No, it's a men's song. It's 10 miles high. [00:22:05] Speaker D: The fragile outtake. [00:22:06] Speaker A: Mm. [00:22:07] Speaker D: Okay. [00:22:07] Speaker A: Not an outtake if you're listening to vinyl. [00:22:09] Speaker D: Well, true. [00:22:10] Speaker A: This is my favorite part. More claps. [00:22:22] Speaker D: Those are claps. [00:22:25] Speaker A: It's like a digitized clap sample from, like, an old drum machine, most likely. What'd you think it was? [00:22:31] Speaker D: I don't know. Just weird percussive sounds. It could be anything. Like, there's a. I mean, it's a song on, like, Exile and Guyville that has, like, a similar kind of thing. And it sounds like they're just banging on, like, I don't know, just things, objects. [00:22:48] Speaker A: It obviously doesn't sound like a human clap, but just from being a drum machine fan my whole life. [00:22:55] Speaker D: Yeah. Every time I hear that, though, for some reason I get. And I don't know why, but every time I hear that, I think, next motherfucker's gonna get my medal. And I don't know why that pops in my head. And I'm sorry, but it does every time. [00:23:15] Speaker A: Similar rhythm syncopation. I think that's it. [00:23:19] Speaker D: Maybe. [00:23:22] Speaker A: Now this one. The track was called Virus Nord. And the synth heads will recognize. Hey, that's the name of two different synthesizers. Well, let me just play it first. It's this. That goes through the whole song, basically. That does not stop. That's a sick sound, though. Very fat. The Virus is a digital synth that we know Trent likes. And we also know from the Fragile era, he likes Nord, another type of digital synthesizer. It's possible that it's the Nord run through the Virus filter section. Which I think he talked about doing before. So maybe it's that again. And that's why it's called Virus Nord. In the chorus, the Virus Nord gets louder and sounds like this. It's like an octave up, too. That's pretty sick. [00:24:29] Speaker D: Right? [00:24:30] Speaker A: Then this is just labeled bass. I don't know what type of synth this is. We'll scoop up. And then this is what they sound like together. You get that high low of effect. [00:24:52] Speaker D: That's kind of the noise that Oscar makes when he eats. [00:24:54] Speaker A: He's like. No, the low growl. And then when he's mad, it's. [00:24:59] Speaker D: Those are Oscar sounds. [00:25:01] Speaker A: When Oscar mad. When Oscar hungry. Oh, my God. [00:25:10] Speaker D: He's got the weirdest noises since he's entered his old man era. [00:25:14] Speaker A: Yeah, he really has. [00:25:15] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:25:16] Speaker A: This is just called chorus pads. Other pads on this album are pretty. This is just kind of a Sci Fi noise. [00:25:30] Speaker D: Yeah, it sounds like what you would expect. Like a Sci Fi movie. [00:25:34] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:34] Speaker D: About aliens. [00:25:38] Speaker A: This just runs throughout the choruses. More like Sci Fi sound effects. [00:25:44] Speaker D: I wonder if that's the alarm ish sound that maybe is being referred to. That was on the artist Resistance site. [00:26:01] Speaker A: Yeah. When it gets louder, it does sound more like an alarm siren. So do you want to say what that was? [00:26:10] Speaker D: Oh, on the ARDA's resistance site, which is one of the ARG websites, I guess there was a warning box and the sound that came from it was an alarm that was taken from vessel. But I can't hear it because I. [00:26:29] Speaker A: Don'T think anything else that I came across sounds like an alarm. Other than that. [00:26:33] Speaker D: That was the Dot Swiff files, what I'm going to call it that I was talking about earlier. [00:26:40] Speaker A: Anyway, this is called weird percussion. And I think it's those. Those bells. What does that make you imagine? [00:26:55] Speaker D: Makes me think of people doing like cup things. Like when they're the cups with water. I don't know. What do you want me to imagine? [00:27:03] Speaker A: I think of like a buoy out at sea with the bell on it that like warns like the old timey. Old timey Maritime Bell. [00:27:15] Speaker D: Okay. [00:27:19] Speaker A: It's crazy. I like it though. Guitar noise. N O I Z in the chorus. This is called Virus Pad. Pretty cool. More live guitar noise. This is where it starts to get really crazy. [00:27:53] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:28:06] Speaker A: Sounds like sped up, like double time on tape or something. Because it's just like way, way higher than is natural sounding for a human playing guitar. But we know he likes to do that. I called this one the Guitar Goes Bug Nuts. Because it really does. Yeah, it'll deafen you. That little jump scare right at the end just to make sure you're deaf. Yeah. It doesn't tell us what the alleged guitar is being run through, but I'm guessing some crazy shit in Ableton. Even more guitar noise. About to get possibly even crazier. Wild stuff. This is called TR Pedal. I'm guessing it's more Trent playing guitar, though. This sounds like some wiring in the guitar is going out. Or you have a bad cable. It's kind of cutting out. That shit's wild. Okay, I think we're finally onto vocals. [00:30:16] Speaker C: Yay. [00:30:18] Speaker A: So I'll just kind of let this play. These are kind of long. Don't everybody get horny. Everybody gets too horny. Everybody in this room mostly. What? [00:30:30] Speaker D: Oscar, stop. [00:30:31] Speaker A: He's not even in this room. So you can't blame him. All right. [00:30:38] Speaker C: I let you put it in my mouth. [00:30:42] Speaker A: It's too much breathing. [00:30:44] Speaker C: I let it get under my skin I'll let you pump it through my veins I let you take me from within they tell us what we can and cannot do Same thing we've heard a hundred times before When I put you Inside of me. None of that matters anymore. My God. Tenagoni Vesta oh, my God, I don't think I can last here. My God. Can it go any faster? Oh, my God, I don't think I can last here. [00:31:41] Speaker D: Damn. [00:31:42] Speaker A: Okay. Ignoring all the grunty vocalizations and. And heavy breathing. And there's. There's more of that too. They're like, just in the chorus. There are a few, like, heavily, like, digitally tuned notes that I think always added to. And there's more layers, but they add to, like, this man or machine a mystique of. Of this song. Like, what the is happening to his vocal? Lots of crazy processing is the answer. I think it works very well for the song. I'm not gonna play every word he says in the song, but here's some highlights from the second verse. [00:32:25] Speaker C: Behind. I can't see you Right through the home for sound. I am becoming something else. Yeah. I am turning into God. [00:32:46] Speaker A: First of all. Well, we'll get there. That the note. God. Very good. And then the way it ends. Here's what it ends on. I call it Patua. Trent's kind of doing his own Hawk tour. [00:33:01] Speaker D: It sounds like his little grunts he did for. Was it Quake? [00:33:06] Speaker A: Yeah, I called it. Here's another one that I call Wounded Trent in Quake. [00:33:13] Speaker D: Okay. [00:33:16] Speaker A: That'S not from Quake. That's from this song. I have more. I'll get to them. Okay. He adds way more energy in the final chorus. [00:33:28] Speaker C: Oh, my God, I don't think I can. I don't think I can. My God, can you go any faster? Oh, my God. Hey, I don't think I can last here. My God, can it go any faster? Oh, my God, I don't think I can last here. [00:33:55] Speaker A: Last few notes. Very angry growling. It sounds like he's really wound up. [00:34:03] Speaker D: Doing some cool shit with the vocals on this one. [00:34:07] Speaker A: Background vocals. There's some of that crazy ass processing. It's like. It almost sounds like a vocoder scooping up. [00:34:21] Speaker D: Play it again. [00:34:38] Speaker C: Oh, my God, I don't think I can last here. My God, can I go any faster? Oh, my God. Come on. My God, can I go any faster? Oh, my God. Hey. [00:35:03] Speaker D: I want to remix this song with just Come Ons and haze, dude. [00:35:07] Speaker A: That's all I want, actually. Okay. Note to self. Well, I'm gonna do that later. [00:35:10] Speaker D: Okay. [00:35:11] Speaker A: It's a good idea. [00:35:12] Speaker D: I love being your muse. You're welcome. [00:35:15] Speaker A: Is this. No. Trent's voice is my muse. Technically. His little ad libs are my muse. No. Is this the song where he became Mr. Hey, come on, man. I don't know because it wasn't really like that at first, but now when he does it. [00:35:30] Speaker D: I hear it a lot on this album. Yeah, yeah. [00:35:32] Speaker A: He's doing it in this album on the next track as well. But live. It's just everything's. Hey, everything's. Come on. [00:35:39] Speaker D: He just wants the crowd to be energized. [00:35:41] Speaker A: He didn't start like that. This was a post sobriety thing, I guess. A little more energy or something. [00:35:47] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:35:49] Speaker A: The final stem is the vocal. Ah, a, H, H, etc. Like old man. [00:36:16] Speaker D: Hear that vocal fry? [00:36:18] Speaker A: Yeah. There's a low and a high octave. [00:36:20] Speaker D: I expect some people to write in about how annoying that is right now. Oh, wait, you won't. Cause it's not a woman. [00:36:26] Speaker A: Nope. [00:36:28] Speaker D: Men can vocal fry all day. You can listen to Ira Glass on this American Life and no one has any problems. But if a woman. God forbid. Anyway, sorry, feminist, rant over. Okay, but I'm just pointing it out. [00:36:39] Speaker A: No, it's true. They hate it in a podcaster, but they like it in a. [00:36:43] Speaker D: A female podcaster, I want to point out. [00:36:45] Speaker A: Well, yeah, and a rock front man is considered sexy. [00:36:49] Speaker D: That's right. Or in any man, I guess. [00:36:53] Speaker A: So I made my little. I made myself a little Trent vocalization soundboard. You heard Wounded Quake. Trent. We got a few haze and then a little louder. [00:37:11] Speaker C: Hey, come on. [00:37:17] Speaker A: Yes, the part that may be my favorite, where he goes, come on. This is a filthy one. Then the possibly the craziest one. I have a meme that goes along with that one. [00:37:37] Speaker D: You have to share with me because I'm not. [00:37:39] Speaker A: I'm just gonna play it. I'll show the video on socials, but you'll hear the audio now. Well, I'll show you the video. Gotta find it. [00:37:50] Speaker D: I'm excited. [00:37:51] Speaker A: I think you've seen it. [00:37:52] Speaker D: A meme premiere. [00:37:54] Speaker A: This is a world premiere. I think I already showed it to you. Scientists were able to mimic Nesi Amoun's voice by recreating his mouth and vocal cords with a 3D printer. It allowed them to produce a single sound. [00:38:12] Speaker D: I love that fucking meme. [00:38:14] Speaker A: It's the mummy meme. [00:38:15] Speaker D: Yeah. It's so good. [00:38:17] Speaker A: The first time I saw it, I think it was just like a short scream of pain. [00:38:21] Speaker D: Yeah. I can't remember what it was the first time I saw it, but there's been a lot of good ones. Perfect. Blake, that's beautiful. [00:38:28] Speaker A: Thank you. [00:38:29] Speaker D: Good memeing. [00:38:30] Speaker A: Check Instagram. It'll be there. [00:38:33] Speaker D: Those Are all the clips. [00:38:35] Speaker A: I believe that's it. [00:38:36] Speaker D: Okay. [00:38:37] Speaker A: For now. [00:38:38] Speaker D: Let's talk a little bit about the lyrics. Meaning whatever. I'm not gonna go too far into this. I'm gonna tell you what I think it's about, okay. Based upon the lyrics and also just the way the song makes me feel. Especially when we hit the chorus. [00:38:56] Speaker A: Well, you already told us how it makes you feel. [00:38:59] Speaker D: Makes me feel like I'm fucked up. [00:39:01] Speaker A: Like you're on drugs. [00:39:03] Speaker D: Makes me feel like I got the spins or something. It's a very strange feeling like. Of intoxication. I don't know how to explain it. If someone. Because I know we have folks who listen who do not drink, maybe never have, but it's. There's a point where it just kind of feels like maybe you did too much and you wish it would stop. But then again, maybe you don't wish it would stop. It's a really weird feeling. I don't know how to describe it, but I think that the feeling is. It's what the chorus makes me feel. [00:39:38] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I think the speaker here likes aspects of. It feels godlike, but also is terrified. [00:39:48] Speaker D: Maybe I mean us. The way I feel sometimes when I get too up. [00:39:52] Speaker A: So that's what it does. [00:39:54] Speaker D: Well, not godlike. I don't think I've ever. Well, taken the wrong drugs, I guess. [00:39:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I haven't taken those yet. [00:40:00] Speaker D: Yeah. So I was reading on Nin Wiki and there was like a theory that maybe it's related to a character in the ARG named John Furminger or John of Boston. We'll probably get to him in more detail later. But he's an inmate at the joc. [00:40:18] Speaker C: Don't call it that. [00:40:18] Speaker D: And it's because he uses, like in an interview, whatever, he says something like, I am a vessel for the truth. But I think that the ARG writers were just taking inspiration from the songs and scattering keywords from lyrics throughout, you know, this world. And it's called world building. [00:40:39] Speaker A: That seems likely. [00:40:40] Speaker D: I don't think the two are necessarily. [00:40:42] Speaker A: Related, but depends on if you believe which one came before the other, I guess. [00:40:49] Speaker D: True. Anyway, I think it's talking about drugs that the soldiers used in the world of Year zero. It also makes sense to me cause it's following the good soldier that this is kind of another. [00:41:03] Speaker A: So you think it's still from his perspective? [00:41:05] Speaker D: Oh, I'm not saying it's from the same character at all, but it just makes sense. Cause if you're talking about a soldier and the world of year zero, our soldiers are taking drugs. I think Blake referred to it, I think you referred to it like in an earlier episode where they were taking drugs to combat. Mitigate the, the effects of parapin. [00:41:27] Speaker A: Oh yeah, yeah. Parapin was the anti. Antibioterrorism drug. But then you needed a drug to counter that drug. [00:41:37] Speaker D: Yes, basically. I think a Parapin is like a Klonopin type thing. [00:41:42] Speaker A: Oh really? [00:41:42] Speaker D: That's what I think it is. Something to calm people down, chill you out a little bit maybe. [00:41:47] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:41:48] Speaker D: Keep you from, keep you sedate, keep you from panic, keep you from caring about things too much. I feel like. [00:41:54] Speaker A: Right. [00:41:55] Speaker D: I mean I've only taken Klonopin a couple times. I don't really like it for anxiety, but because it makes me feel zonked. [00:42:02] Speaker A: Out, I don't like it as an expert. For those who don't know, it works in the short term and it works very well. But only in the short term and it works very badly in the long term. That tells you anything about what I guess what that and the water supply might do to a person. [00:42:21] Speaker D: So there's a site in the Ark called Be the Hammer. I think it was discovered because it's linked from another version of the truth. The message board there. And it's from someone who's. Someone who's in the resistance and who was former military, former police and he's. The character is talking about these drugs that they took in the military and there are blue pills and red pills. Does that sound familiar to you? [00:42:52] Speaker A: Not at all. [00:42:53] Speaker D: No. Pop culture doesn't reference. [00:42:55] Speaker A: You can think of nothing in the cultural conversation. Why I know the first place I heard it was my on the Incel. [00:43:06] Speaker D: Site you like to go to now. [00:43:08] Speaker A: Before all of that shit existed, I was once a 15 year old boy who loved the Matrix. And that's loved. And that movie still goes hard as hell. [00:43:19] Speaker D: So blue pills in the Matrix they are the ones that if you choose to take them, they keep you in a state of ignorance. Right. Ignorance is bliss kind of thing where you're not aware of what the reality of the situation turns you into. [00:43:35] Speaker A: A blue pill, beta, that's a type of fish. [00:43:39] Speaker D: So and red pills, if you. [00:43:42] Speaker A: Red pills turn you into a men's rights activist. [00:43:48] Speaker D: In the Matrix. [00:43:50] Speaker A: Right. [00:43:50] Speaker D: Red pills are what you take what Neo chose to take to learn like a life altering kind of real truth. Right. Like you can see clearly to be. [00:44:01] Speaker A: Shown the real world. [00:44:03] Speaker D: So the soldiers are offered two types of pills, A blue pill and a red pill. And I Just think it's really ironic that the people who have co opted these terms that were created by trans women are like the worst fucking people who have ever existed. And anyway, probably don't even know. Maybe some are so young they don't even know the genesis of Red pill, Blue pill. [00:44:26] Speaker A: We never saw that fourth matrix, but apparently they tried to take the. The trans filmmakers tried to take that metaphor back. People. I don't know what they did, but that's just what I heard. [00:44:39] Speaker D: Okay. [00:44:39] Speaker A: I don't know that it was all that stuff. [00:44:40] Speaker D: I was meaning to watch it, but I wanted to watch all of the other Matrixes and I was, yeah, I was fine with watching the first one and then I sat and thought about watching the other two and I was. [00:44:48] Speaker A: Like, I think we watched the second one. Did we after that, when we didn't continue to the third? I kind of wish we did. Even though I don't think 2 and 3 are good. Kind of fun. [00:44:59] Speaker D: Yeah, I just didn't think they were necessary anyway. [00:45:01] Speaker A: Well, yeah, probably not. Probably not. [00:45:04] Speaker D: Probably not. I think you could have just ended it. [00:45:07] Speaker A: Not as good, that's for certain. [00:45:09] Speaker D: So the blue pills are nicknamed Viagra. [00:45:14] Speaker A: So Viagra with a D. And Viagra. [00:45:18] Speaker D: Is blue, if you. [00:45:19] Speaker A: Okay, yeah. So that's subtle. A subtle nod. [00:45:24] Speaker D: And the red pills, they are. Well, basically they're given to reintroduce aggression that is killed by parapin. But the red pills are only given to a certain type of soldier. So I'm going to read this little thing from the Be the Hammer site that kind of differentiates between the two. [00:45:41] Speaker A: Okay. [00:45:42] Speaker D: The Parapin makes us compliant but kills aggression. That's why I thought it was kind of Klonopiny, but I don't know. Yeah, different soldiers get different pills to put it back. Regulars get little blue ones. Those are the Diagra. Oh, he says that we call them Diagra. [00:45:57] Speaker A: Oh, so that's like their nickname for it? [00:45:59] Speaker D: Yes. [00:46:00] Speaker A: Okay. [00:46:00] Speaker D: Yeah, it's not their real name. [00:46:01] Speaker A: Gotcha. Gotcha. [00:46:02] Speaker D: Blue pills keep you frosty and get your soldier on. Blue pills are fun sometimes if you are very good at your job, they give you red pills. The red ones are called blisters or Bloody Mary or Jerk. Red pills erase the line between killing and fucking. Some of the damage is permanent. Your family, you can't go back once you've taken the red pills. They told us that part afterwards. [00:46:25] Speaker A: What, like you can't go back to your family? [00:46:29] Speaker D: I mean, maybe it's something that makes you so violently aggressive, horrible that it Just turns you into a killing machine maybe. [00:46:37] Speaker A: Right? Never be normal again. [00:46:41] Speaker D: Yeah. So is this someone who's taken the red pill? That's my question. [00:46:49] Speaker A: We know they like the blue pills. Yeah, maybe they have. Maybe they're not red pilled yet. [00:46:53] Speaker D: Maybe not. Maybe not yet. [00:46:55] Speaker A: Because maybe if you're red pilled, you not even gonna be cognizant enough to. I don't know. This is all stupid speculation. [00:47:02] Speaker D: I mean, there was a story. I don't know if I should read it. Hold on. That was also included on this site. Some of the things I remember didn't happen, but I think this one did. Aurora, Illinois, night. Five of us, cell of unregistered Muslims with the NVGs. So we stayed out of the air. Walked in it SAS style or SASS style. I don't know what that means. [00:47:27] Speaker A: Super army soldiers. [00:47:29] Speaker D: Maybe 47 houses on the list. Inside the first one, quiet, quiet like Santa Claus. The next part, very intimate. Sudden and slippery. Little gasps in size. Toweling off. And then the next house next. And we don't stop, never stop until the last house is done. The sun comes up and our hands are slick. We're sweating. I came four times. [00:47:49] Speaker A: Ew. [00:47:49] Speaker D: Yeah. When your door breaks open in the middle of the night, you need to know who is coming through it. So I'm not sure if he's describing something that a pill does to you, but I think he is. [00:48:02] Speaker A: Yeah. Sorry, I was. I zoned out because I was thinking about the super army soldiers joke. That was from the show Extras. SAS is special, I believe. Special Air Services. It's British. [00:48:16] Speaker D: Okay. [00:48:17] Speaker A: And he's talking to a guy who's pretending to be in the military. [00:48:21] Speaker D: Is this Ricky Gervais's character? [00:48:23] Speaker A: Yeah, Ricky Gervais is like. Doesn't that mean Special Air Services? And the guy who pretends to be a soldier is like, no, it means super army soldiers. Anyway, that's very dumb. [00:48:35] Speaker D: Okay. So anyway, that's just a little story from the little uplifting story from the world of year zero for you. [00:48:43] Speaker A: About one of the many feel good slices of life within that world. [00:48:49] Speaker D: Yeah. But anyway, just looking at the lyrics, I think that this fits more a someone who is really fucked up. And I mean that like in the. [00:49:00] Speaker A: On drugs way, but maybe in other ways too. So this is the I'm hella fucked up song. There's no doubt about that. And it's only downhill from here. Right? [00:49:22] Speaker D: Anyway, send us your thoughts because I think we're gonna have a halfway point show where we're Just gonna read fan theories. I guess that would come after what. [00:49:34] Speaker A: After My Violent Heart, which is track eight. [00:49:36] Speaker D: Yes. So after My Violent Heart, we're gonna take a little breather and I think it would be fun if. Fun. [00:49:45] Speaker A: It'd be fun. Super fun. [00:49:47] Speaker D: Maybe it's fun. I don't know if everyone wants to send. Not everyone. If you want to send in your thoughts and interpretations on some of these things because they're open to interpretation. [00:50:00] Speaker A: So I mean, also I think around that point, somewhere in there soon we should do the remix contest behind the Paywall. But that's for later. [00:50:11] Speaker D: Yeah, we'll talk about that later. [00:50:14] Speaker A: Talk about that. Behind the Paywall. [00:50:15] Speaker D: So live. This song is not played a lot. [00:50:20] Speaker A: It should be. [00:50:20] Speaker D: It's live debut at Edmonton, Alberta show on July 28, 2008. Thanks, Canada. [00:50:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Why did they get all the good stuff? [00:50:30] Speaker D: Canada and Australia get everything. This should be including 50 tariffs. You're welcome, Canada. Our great leader. [00:50:38] Speaker A: It's okay, we're getting them back. I'd rather hear this at a live show than survivalism. If you got to put in one Year Zero song, this should be on every set list. [00:50:50] Speaker D: And I think according to Nin Wiki, it's only been played twice since 2008 and both of those times were in 2014. [00:50:58] Speaker A: That's crazy. [00:50:59] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:50:59] Speaker A: So tension era. [00:51:01] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm guessing it's just probably kind of a hard one to do live. I don't know. [00:51:05] Speaker A: Probably. I mean, the insane guitar digital noise, be pretty hard to recreate. I mean, you could either pipe it in pre recorded or you could try to recreate it, but it's going to sound wildly different. [00:51:21] Speaker D: And it's got such a long outro. Kind of like the Good Soldier does too. But. [00:51:26] Speaker A: But I think that. I think that would go over well live the long outro because you just jam. [00:51:31] Speaker D: I just want to come up and do that banging clap part. [00:51:34] Speaker A: Yeah. See, the crowd can clap. Imagine that. But thousands of human hands clapping. [00:51:45] Speaker D: I'm hoping the Peel It Back tour is just year zero live, which makes no sense for the name of it. [00:51:51] Speaker A: Why'd they call it Peel It Back? We'll never know. [00:51:56] Speaker D: But that's kind of all I've got for vessel. I wish I had more because I love this song. [00:52:01] Speaker A: Okay. We got like an hour's worth. That's plenty. [00:52:03] Speaker D: I just love the feeling. [00:52:05] Speaker A: Yeah, the feeling is great. [00:52:07] Speaker D: Like not a lot of songs have that kind of visceral impact for me. And so when I get one, I'm. [00:52:13] Speaker A: Like, yeah, quite visceral yes. Next. We alluded to it. A song with a strange title that's still pretty cool. Me, comma, I'm not. Whatever that means. I guess we'll get into it. We'll unravel. We'll decipher that really laid back chill vibes track. Though I think there might only be one new patron to shout out. But thank you. Jillian. Jillian, welcome to the club. The club behind the paywall where you get all the bonus episodes. It's twice as much nailed content. [00:52:57] Speaker D: Do you think that the Jillian who just recently joined up is the same Jillian who wrote Gone Girl? [00:53:05] Speaker A: Yeah, either that or who's the country singer Gillian Flynn? [00:53:10] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, the country singer Gillian Welch. Gillian Flynn is the Gillian Welch. [00:53:15] Speaker A: I don't know. Oh, yeah, I know who you mean. I know who Jillian Flynn is. Yeah, probably the same person. So. Patreon.com nailedpod you can join our Discord too, where we're talking about Year zero and many other topics. Mostly we're talking about other topics. We're talking about Nine Inch Nails too. And some of us are gonna meet up on the tour probably. So we got that going. What else, Jess? [00:53:48] Speaker D: Rate and review, but only if it's good. [00:53:51] Speaker A: If it's bad, just five stars only. [00:53:53] Speaker D: Just email me and tell me why I'm socialist scum. It's fine. I can handle it. I'm a big girl. [00:54:00] Speaker A: Reviews help us greatly. Comments on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc. Thank you so much for listening, though. Even if you don't do anything, just listening. You're a hero. [00:54:14] Speaker D: You're the. You're the real mvp. [00:54:17] Speaker A: Oh, speaking of me, I'm not. Next time. Hey. [00:54:24] Speaker D: What? [00:54:25] Speaker A: Can we stop. [00:54:28] Speaker D: Sa.