Danny Elfman and Trent Reznor “Native Intelligence”

Danny Elfman and Trent Reznor drop new single “Native Intelligence"

Danny Elfman and Trent Reznor have collaborated on a new version of “Native Intelligence,” the duo’s second reimagining of music from Eflman’s double album Big Mess, now available ANTI-/Epitaph Records. Featuring a lead vocal from Reznor and backing vocals from Elfman that soar over a syncopated orchestral arrangement and rock instrumentation, the never-before-heard song serves as a fitting encore to the duo’s collaboration of “True” last year.

Both of Elfman & Reznor’s versions of “Native Intelligence” and “True” are featured within the brand new collector’s edition box set of Big Mess, along with all 18 original songs from Big Mess and bonus discs containing additional unreleased reinterpretations and remixes of tracks from the album. Limited to 1500 copies worldwide.

Included within the box set is a 60 page, hardcover artbook containing never-before-seen renderings of the distinctively unsettling digital sculptures of Elfman done by artist Sarah Sitkin, a 20 page stitched soft cover lyric book with behind-the-scenes photos, a 12” x 9” art print signed by Danny himself, a detailed life-sized light up model of Elfman’s peculiar hand designed to be a stand-alone showpiece or one-of-a-kind night-light, a code which provides downloadable digital audio files and a behind-the-scenes mini documentary on the making of Big Mess, and four LPs on exclusive color variants. The bonus discs are comprised of new remixes from HEALTH, clipping. and more, as well as never-before-released songs with featured vocalists including Rebekah Del Rio, FEVER333, Blixa Bargeld and the aforementioned Trent Reznor.

On the horizon for Elfman is Danny Elfman: From Boingo to Batman to Big Mess and Beyond!; a pair of momentous concert performances at this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 16th and April 23, 2022 that will see him perform tracks from Big Mess live for the first time ever along with Oingo Boingo songs, which he has not performed since their 1995 farewell tour, as well as other music spanning his entire career. The 2020 festival notably served as the impetus for Big Mess over two years ago, when the cancellation and quarantine that followed triggered the creation of what would become the Big Mess double album.

Elfman officially unleashed Big Mess in June 2021. The double album finds Elfman joined by drummer Josh Freese (Devo, Weezer, The Vandals), bassist Stu Brooks (Dub Trio, Lady Gaga, Lauryn Hill), and guitarists Robin Finck (Nine Inch Nails, Guns N’ Roses) and Nili Brosh (Tony MacAlpine, Paul Gilbert), the project has garnered widespread praise since its release including the LA Times, who called it a “a fiercely political work filled with bombastic peaks and strikingly meditative valleys.”