Poet/musician/actor Saul Williams has been a long-time personal favorite, and Saul is dropping a new album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, produced by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails on November 1.

There’s no word yet on any release of the album on CD or vinyl, but it is clear that Saul’s well in touch with the realities of modern music distribution. The new album can be pre-ordered from Saul’s website in two flavors:

1. An artist-approved, guilt-free 192Kbps MP3 download, absolutely free.
2. 192Kbps, 320Kbps or FLAC download for $5.00!!!

Both versions are 100% DRM-free and include a full liner notes in the form of a PDF.

Here’s what Saul has to say about the new album:

My Dearest Friends and Fans,

It is my greatest honor to present to you The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, my new album produced by Trent Reznor and mixed by Alan Moulder. The wall of sound that we’ve created is tagged with such graffiti that a passerby would seek out doors and ways to ENTER. Once inside a world defined by dreams come true they’d find aligned with the simplest act of sharing what we treasure. Most people aren’t aware of the world of art and commerce where exploitation strips each artist down to nigger. Each label, like apartheid, multiplies us by our divide and whips us ’til we conform to lesser figures. What falls between the cracks is a pile of records stacked to the heights of talents hidden from the sun. Yet the energy they put into popularizing smut makes a star of a shiny polished gun. The ballot or the bullet for Mohawk or the mullet is a choice between new times and dying days. And the only way to choose is to jump ship from old truths and trust dolphins as we swim through changing ways. The ways of middlemen proves to be just a passing trend. We need no priests to talk to God. No phone to call her. And when you click the link below, i think it fair that you should know that your purchase will make middlemen much poorer…

NiggyTardust!

love,
Saul

More info courtesy of Saul after the cut.