“Amon is hunkered down in his studio deep in the redwoods of Northern Californian and has begun work on a new album. In addition to researching and developing new production tools and techniques of his own, he’s ensconced himself in a whole new array of gadgetry from the past and the future that will help continue to push the boundaries of what is possible with sound and music. Tour dates and outside projects have been put on the back burner for now – Amon recently turned down a lucrative high profile scoring opportunity amongst other things—in order to focus solely on what can best be described as an auditory space walk.”

Unfortunately, we’re not ready to dive into 2010 yet because of the long list of artists we still haven’t reviewed from last year. We’ll try to get these out shortly so we can get back on track with new releases. Among some of the near-future reviews are Nosaj Thing, Ruxpin, John Tejada, HECQ, Broken Note, Eskmo, Brackles, Shortstuff, Fuck Buttons, Luke Vibert, Moderat and Little Dragon.

Thank you all for a great first year.

~ tom

I’ll leave you with a sick track from Vibesquad (aka Aaron Holstein). “Gauntlets” is a nasty psychedelic bass groove off of the 2008 full length album, Dawn Patrol. If you dig this, also check out Kilowatts, Tipper, Bassnectar and Joker.

MP3: Vibesquad – Gauntlets

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For those of you hanging in there, here’s a track from Clark’s new album, Totems Flare.

MP3: Clark – Future Daniel

This final tour “Wave Goodbye” is a must see for old fans. The show is raw and spontaneous and the energy of the band is through the roof. They’re performing many of the songs they never got a chance to play before including “Heresy,” “The Downward Spiral,” “Mr. Self Destruct,” “Metal,” “Physical,” “I’m Afraid of Americans,” “The Becoming,” “The Way Out Is Through” and “Last.” Since the set-list changes up every night, fans are attending as many shows as they can afford. Janes Addiction then close out the night with an explosive performance. Unfortunately, the US tour is almost over. Tomorrow the band is performing at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD. Tickets are still on sale so I’ll probably catch this one too. Then, my youth will officially feel over. I think we can all sympathize with nin.com forum member, Shitfuckdamn, who posted “Might as well named it the ‘Goodbye Forever and Get Your Razor Blades Out’ tour.”

Video: Nine Inch Nails – Mr. Self Destruct (Irvine, CA 2009)

In August of 2008, they decided to take their music to the next level and created their own label, Neosignal. With releases on Neosignal, they’re upping the standards for drum & bass. They’ve already released some of the sickest tracks this genre has to offer, all deep, dark and fresh with hard rolling bass lines and sharp, hard hitting beats. The upcoming third release from Neosignal will feature the a-side, “Mammoth,” which is a Phace and Misanthrop collaboration, and “Sore Point,” by Phace and Noisia. Both are sick! Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a hold of the entire tracks so I posted a tune off Neosignal’s second release.

Phace have upcoming shows throughout Germany, Australia and New Zealand. Dates and venues are posted on the Phace Blog. To hear more audio clips, visit Neosignal.

MP3: Misanthrop – Moon Clouds

This is what Trent Reznor had to say about the upcoming release: “I wanted to try something different, something genuinely more underground and boundaries-pushing. Getting away from mainstream rock has been my wish for years now, and I found in TKDE the perfect people to jam with. Partying with TKDE / Bong-Ra’s Jason Kohnen also helped me get over my straight-edgeness, and releasing on Ad Noiseam brings me back to the times I was a struggling musician scraping for money. I am having fun again, finally.”

If you’re unfamiliar with TKDE, they’re an experimental 7-member band that got their start composing music to silent films. Their current sound is a mix between creepy jazz, downtempo, industrial and IDM. It’s dark and beautiful. Definitely check them out. TKDE are currently on tour throughout the UK. Below is a track from their second release, Mutations EP.

MP3: The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble – Shadows