Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor recently spoke with Yahoo Music about working on the soundtrack for the film Patriots Day, his development as an artist, and how social media has affected music. Following is an excerpt:

Yahoo Music: How is working with Nine Inch Nails different for you today than it was back in the days when you writing The Downward Spiral or The Fragile?

Reznor: "Before anyone had heard of Nine Inch Nails, I discovered that what the band would be about would be me trying to be as honest with myself as I can be when I’m making the music… it usually involves a level of self-examination or exorcizing of feelings that aren’t necessarily pleasant. I learned before you ever heard a song I’d written that that had power. I could scrape out my feelings and turn them into something that made me feel better that I got it out of my head, and I noticed people responded to it because it had a truthfulness to it. I still believe in that same kind of edict. Any time I sit down to write something, even today, I have to remind myself that it needs to be as honest as who I have become when I’m doing this stuff. And I can look back at my catalog and say with honesty that it’s the best I can do when I did it and it was the most true I could be to myself. The challenges are different today."

Yahoo Music: In what respect?

Reznor: "I’m not the same person I was then and I’m less afraid than I used to be. When I took so long between albums, I was afraid to open that book up and see what was inside my head. I was insecure. Now I think I’m more confident in my abilities, but doesn’t make it any less painful to write at times or do anything about the feeling of being naked when I release this stuff out to the world. But what has crept in is that everyone’s a commentator now. The Internet is giving voice to everybody thinking that someone gives a shit what they have to say and they have the right. I think, in general, that has created a toxic environment for artists and led to some very safe music. Artists are trying to make music to please the tastemakers that tell the sheep what to like. It’s a vicious cycle and I think it’s unhealthy. I don’t see any Princes emerging on the scene today. I see a lot of people making formulaic, made to please, vegan restaurant patron-type shit. And I think it creates an environment where people are too fuckin’ worried about what other people have to say. And people who have never made anything think it’s OK to talk shit about stuff they have no right to talk about. You got a Facebook account? Nobody gives a fuck. You haven’t achieved anything."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Reznor and bandmate Atticus Ross released a new five track EP, Not The Actual Events, on December 23rd. The record finds the duo "taking an unexpected left turn and sounding unrecognizable from their current film work. It's an unfriendly, fairly impenetrable record that we needed to make. It's an EP because that ended up being the proper length to tell that story."

The EP is available for streaming via Spotify at this location.

Tracklist:

"Branches/Bones"
"Dear World"
"She's Gone Away" (feat. Mariqueen Maandig)
"The Idea Of You" (feat. Dave Grohl)
"Burning Bright (Field On Fire)" (feat. Dave Navarro)

Reznor is also releasing a limited edition 4xLP vinyl version of the 1999 NIN album The Fragile, containing 37 bonus tracks. The Fragile: Deviations 1 will be available on LP only, not digitally.

Reznor said in a press release:

"The Fragile occupies a very interesting and intimate place in my heart. I was going through a turbulent time in my life when making it and revisiting it has become a form of therapy for me. As an experiment, I removed all the vocals from the record and found it became a truly changed experience that worked on a different yet compelling level. The Fragile: Deviations 1 represents Atticus and I embellishing the original record with a number of tracks from those sessions we didn’t use before. The result paints a complimentary but different picture we wanted to share."

Reznor has also announced that he and art director John Crawdord are embarking on a reissue project, creating “definitive editions of all the major NIN releases on vinyl.” Broken, The Downward Spiral, and The Fragile are now available to pre-order.

Reznor: “We want to present the catalog as it was intended to be, with no compromises. That means a careful remastering of the audio from the original sources, a painstaking recreation of the artwork, pristine materials, some surprises and an insane attention to detail that you probably won't notice…but it matters to us. No extra bullshit and gimmicks – the 'real' records in their truest form.”