Back to the soap opera of artists doing the whole break up-back-not-really-back-together thing we love so much, as Trent Reznor has announced plans for new Nine Inch Nails material in 2010, as well as a new project.

Normally this sort of retire-and-come-back-the-next-year behavior makes my blood boil, but I’ll be fair. His hiatus announcement last year was directed more at touring than releasing music, and he’s long hinted at intentions of shifting NIN from a touring to studio act. So Reznor gets a pass today. Still, if he’s already itching to release new material, an impending tour might not be that far into the horizon, so I’d feel bad for those of you who spent the month’s rent to cram into a sweaty Bowery Ballroom last year.