Happy Fresh Friday! Today we have been blessed with the highly anticipated Nine Inch Noize collaborative album between 90’s industrial god Nine Inch Nails and indie-sleaze EDM legends Boys Noize. If you are a fan of industrial music or electronic dance in any sort of way, don’t let the jarring juxtaposition of these two worlds fool you – this is a must listen album for fans of either artist. M.I.A also brings us an unexpected gospel album fresh off of her recent appearance during Diplo’s Coachella set, and Magdalena Bay has officially released the scattered singles they’ve been teasing us with in a cohesive collection. Happy Friday, and let’s jump into these fresh new releases!
Nine Inch Noize- Nine Inch Nails & Boys Noize (Released April 17th 2026)- Interscope Records
While seeing the collaborative name “Nine Inch Noize” on the 2026 Coachella lineup may have confused and struck many by surprise, Nine Inch Nails and Boys Noize have a deeper history together than one may expect. The duo did embark on a massive tour recently in 2025 and both artists did collaborate for many songs on the recent Tron: Ares soundtrack, as bizarre as it is for Disney to enlist Nine Inch Nails on any sort of project. The Nine Inch Nails recent tour stop in Los Angeles not only illustrated that Trent Reznor has stil “got it” but with Boys Noize opening for the tour and joining Reznor for songs like “Closer”, it gave fans a first live look at this intriguing collaboration.
While some raver fans of Boys Noize’s sound may find this collab between the two artists equally bizarre, the two signature sounds could not blend together more naturally to form a new one. Trent Reznor of NIN has a long history in producing other artists and in soundtrack composition, so it’s hard to imagine him making any artistic decision that he wasn’t 100% sure about and it’s clear that he is more confident than he’s ever been in this new collaborative vision.
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Nine Inch Noize acts as a project reimagining classic Nine Inch Nails songs, completely rebuilding them through a more modern electronic sound and finding creative ways to increase their intensity. The songs on the album may be remakes, but the whole album sounds like a completely new experience considering how much these Nine Inch Nails tracks have been transformed here. Although Nine Inch Nails still sounds fresh and new even to this day, these songs are etched into the brains of fans at this point; this release aims to completely tear down your familiarity with these songs, and hear them for the first time, again. In the same way Nine Inch Nails represented a shift in 90’s rebellion against the institutionalized rock sound of the past, Nine Inch Nails have technically become a classic rock band at this point and they’ve enlisted Boys Noize to tear down the structure of their own rock sound in a similar way.
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Nine Inch Noize is formatted unlike any album we’ve heard before – combining recorded live performances with remixes and collaborative studio remakes of these NIN classics (even blending the live/studio recordings within the same song). The result feels as if you’re experiencing the unpredictability of a DJ set with the polish of a major studio release. Boys’ Noize expertise in on-the-spot mixing that they’ve built from performing in clubs and raves over the years has a major influence in the seamless blending of these different recorded tracks within each song. The live recordings used within each song really ramp up the intensity of these classic tracks, bringing the raw abandon felt in a rave setting to the more studio-based high production that Nine Inch Nails has built a reputation for perfecting.
There’s something here for any Nine Inch Nails fan, remaking songs from The Downward Spiral, Year Zero, and Hesitation Marks (unfortunately no Pretty Hate Machine songs were present here). The duo got a bit creatively liberal in what they would consider a NIN song, choosing one of his wife’s songs from her band, How To Destroy Angels and even a Soft Cell cover to be featured here.
If you feel to familiar with some of your favorite NIN material, the reinvention of certain tracks through this electronic-based lens really allows them to be analyzed in a completely different light. The classic “Heresy” originally off of The Downward Spiral is a superb example of this reimagining, with the verses sounding much more ominous and almost Tim Burton-esque when they’re backed by minimalist drum machines rather than the heavier distorted guitars found in the original. The stripped down way this song starts leads to more intensity in the hook than the original, opting for a primal anthemic chant of the iconic “God is dead, and no one cares” lyrics. The sort of fear and rage from the original feels much more intimidating when the lyrics are the main focus, rather than being drowned in the industrial noise they were previously mixed with. This is just one example of how these songs feel completely different when they’re rebuilt from the ground up, but every song you thought you knew is almost recognizable here – creating an even more haunting familiarity in your relationship with them.
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Nine Inch Noize definitely does not feel like just a collaborative one-off project between Nine Inch Nails and Boys Noize, although Trent Reznor does have a history of creating endless side projects. This acts more as a declaration on the future of Nine Inch Nails, their sound, and the sort of audience they want to captivate. The sort of nostalgic rock fans who NIN attracted through their 00’s material never really represented what the band was founded on, and stripping their sound down to pure electronics is a perfect way to reinvent themselves for a new generation. Industrial music has changed so much since Nine Inch Nails’ original prominence in the 90’s and they’re aware of this shift from industrial metal to the dancefloor that the genre has experienced over the past couple of decades. They’re simply regaining their rightful throne as Kings of the genre, and who could have guessed it would take a ravey EDM DJ like Boys Noize to help inspire this reclamation of the genre.
Other Notable April 17, 2026 Releases:
M.I.A- M.I.7. (released April 17th 2026)- OHMNIMUSIC
Queen of 00’s indie pop M.I.A may have quite the controversial history in her public antics over the years, but true artistic talent and dedication to the craft can never be truly destroyed. She’s back in an incredibly unexpected way, bringing us a gospel-influenced album with heavy religious imagery. It almost feels like Kanye’s 2019 album Jesus Is King with its incorporation of these themes into bass-heavy hip-hop production, but M.I.A is definitely a bit more provocative here with her thumping dancefloor-ready beats and more experimental approach to the gospel genre. It’s a unique album that isn’t for everybody, but it’s a release we’re certain to hear talked about in the future with how unconventional its blend between Christianity and indie-sleaze electronic dance music is.
Magdalena Bay- Nice Day: A Collection Of Singles (April 17th 2026)- Mom + Pop Records
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Magdalena Bay completely took the indie rock world by storm with their 2024 album Imaginal Disk, providing us a revival in the more psychedelic side of the genre’s sound reminscent of MGMT or Animal Collective. The genre desperately needed this with its shift towards a more folk sound over the years, and Magdalena Bay finally made going to indie rock concerts feel fun again with their high stage production and unique blend of aesthetics to create an experience that felt completely fresh. They’ve been riding the festival circuit heavy since then, playing many new songs that has had fans wondering when the next project will finally come out.
While Nice Day isn’t a full length studio album by any means, they did finally release these scattered singles in a cohesive form to save them from obscurity and this was much needed considering how amazing some of these tracks are. It’s refreshing to see artists take an unconventional approach to their material like this rather than trying to shoehorn songs that don’t belong into the next album. Considering they felt the need to put these songs on this release instead, it wouldn’t be too surprising if we hear more about a new album with a completely new sound coming in the near future.
Have a great Fresh Friday and enjoy your new music.
Words: Danny Ryan
