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Assemblage 23
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Seattle, Washington, USA (1988 – present)
Assemblage 23 is a one-man electronic act, whose sole member is musician Tom Shear, based in Seattle, Washington, USA.
Prior to starting Assemblage 23, Shear experimented with music under the name “Man on a Stage”, beginning in the early 1980s. Most of Shear’s music at this point was instrumental, as he lacked the confidence to sing; the quality of the music itself was highly questionable by his own admission. Shear eventually began to add vocals to his music; at the same time, Shear was also playing bass in a punk band called the “Advocates”.
Assemblage 23 got its start in 1988, when at a Depeche Mode concert, founder Tom Shear heard the opening DJ spinning industrial dance music. Prior to hearing this type of music, Shear had been creating primarily synthpop and post-punk type music.
Hearing industrial music for the first time proved to be something of an epiphany for Shear, as he had finally found a form of music that combined the electronic sounds he loved from his synth-pop background with the heavier, darker aggression punk represented. Even so, the project was more of a hobby for Shear at this point; it took until 1998 for Assemblage 23 to gather enough positive acclaim to attract the attention of record labels.
Shear signed a deal in 1999 with the Canadian label Gashed! for a full-length album, “Contempt” (released in November 1999). A second album, “Failure”, followed in March 2001 and was released by Gashed! in North America and Accession Records in Europe. A single from “Failure”, “Disappoint”, was released on Accession in October 2001. The song dealt with Shear’s sense of loss after his father’s suicide on October 28, 1999.
Prior to starting Assemblage 23, Shear experimented with music under the name “Man on a Stage”, beginning in the early 1980s. Most of Shear’s music at this point was instrumental, as he lacked the confidence to sing; the quality of the music itself was highly questionable by his own admission. Shear eventually began to add vocals to his music; at the same time, Shear was also playing bass in a punk band called the “Advocates”.
Assemblage 23 got its start in 1988, when at a Depeche Mode concert, founder Tom Shear heard the opening DJ spinning industrial dance music. Prior to hearing this type of music, Shear had been creating primarily synthpop and post-punk type music.
Hearing industrial music for the first time proved to be something of an epiphany for Shear, as he had finally found a form of music that combined the electronic sounds he loved from his synth-pop background with the heavier, darker aggression punk represented. Even so, the project was more of a hobby for Shear at this point; it took until 1998 for Assemblage 23 to gather enough positive acclaim to attract the attention of record labels.
Shear signed a deal in 1999 with the Canadian label Gashed! for a full-length album, “Contempt” (released in November 1999). A second album, “Failure”, followed in March 2001 and was released by Gashed! in North America and Accession Records in Europe. A single from “Failure”, “Disappoint”, was released on Accession in October 2001. The song dealt with Shear’s sense of loss after his father’s suicide on October 28, 1999.
Top Albums
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Addendum
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Storm
Assemblage 23Buy- Download Album
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Failure
Assemblage 23Buy- Download Album
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Defiance
Assemblage 23Buy- Download Album
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Shoutbox
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KSK45 wrote:
new album kicks ass!!
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fenrirsghost wrote:
Me too. The new album is great. Just exactly what I expected.
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MrPaddy wrote:
Really enjoying Compass.
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VR515 wrote:
Sigh...heard Compass, wasn't really impressed. Only track I can think of or even remember is "Alive." I dunno, maybe I gotta listen to it again.
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Hamwork wrote:
Just ordered Compass off the A23 website, hope it's good. Meta was brilliant, bit nervous about this from the comments below...
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Dimmuborgir696 wrote:
http://www.last.fm/music/Deserve+Victory hugely inspired by Assemblage 23 if you like Assemblage 23 you'll enjoy Deserve Victory. Check it out they have a sick cover of Let Me Be Your Armor
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stoehrfrequenz wrote:
Average album indeed.
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ek79 wrote:
If you like Assemblage 23, support buying the CD´s.
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isolationtheory wrote:
SO I finally listened to it. Compass is an average album that was not worth the money. Download it.
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r0tt3n wrote:
Compass is good but meta is better
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de_spy wrote:
@VR515: Spark is maybe the most similar song compared to the previous stuff. I can only recommend listening the entire album - there's a lot more variety ;]
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mcquirkafleeg wrote:
Gorgeous new album, I think I could never play Cruelest Year enough times... a really nice mellow direction to take. Some great tracks on there though!
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VR515 wrote:
Only heard Spark off the new album, and sounds like he may be repeating himself in sound. But I haven't heard the entire album so I hope I'm wrong, as I wasn't a big fan of Meta. Oldskool stuff's where it's at.
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ek79 wrote:
From where did you boguht? And I suggest not to download. I waited for two weeks and it was already online. Made the whole difference.
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isolationtheory wrote:
No compass today either! If it's not in the mail tomorrow I'm downloading the goddam thing
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zholthran wrote:
At least you're heading in the right direction. Compass is a brilliant survival tool in an electronic desert. :)
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isolationtheory wrote:
No compass in the mail today. Now I feel so lost
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Ydolon wrote:
Join This Group Will Have the Best Charts in Human History!
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de_spy wrote:
Fantastic new sound! Got my Compass and Spark CDs today - and of course signed by Tom :]
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monkey03 wrote:
In fact, his music should be used as a "score" for a contemporary sci-fi classic, in the vein of Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER! (I'm not saying they should remake it, but produce a modern succesor) Who's with me?
Videos
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Events
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Feb
4
Assemblage 23 live in Frankfurt
Nachtleben, Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, Germany
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| 3 attendees
- Feb 6 Assemblage 23 Dynamo Werk 21, Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
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Feb
6
Assemblage 23
Dynamo, Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
Add shout
| 6 attendees
News
Pre-orders for European Deluxe Edition Open!
29 Oct 2009 | from blog.myspace.com/officialassemblage23
Pre-Orders for European Deluxe Edition Are Now Open! As many of you already know, I sold out of the US Deluxe Edition of Compass pretty quickly. I am happy to announce that Accession Records will be s. …
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8 Oct 2009 | from blog.myspace.com/officialassemblage23 -
26 Sep 2009 | from blog.myspace.com/officialassemblage23 -
9 Sep 2009 | from blog.myspace.com/officialassemblage23
Listeners
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coldestsickness
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insane_cancer
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Recent Activity
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jml569, missivalo, lil_black_lamb and 22 other people added Assemblage 23 to their libraries. 1 minute ago
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CatsRGods tagged Assemblage 23 with ‘ebm’. Saturday evening
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CatsRGods, SuicideNation87, KronikBrent and 1 other person added Assemblage 23 to their libraries. Saturday evening
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thewishfire tagged Assemblage 23 with ebm, industrial and electronic. Saturday morning
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ingrainedrapier added Assemblage 23 to ingrainedrapier’s library. Saturday morning
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xaotikdesigns wrote about Assemblage 23 in Cancer sucks balls, music doesn't. Saturday morning
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TheAndyRat, SYNZTER, rfujikawa and 10 other people added Assemblage 23 to their libraries. Saturday morning
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teodora75 tagged Assemblage 23 with synthpop, ebm, electronic and one other tag. Friday morning
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thewishfire tagged Assemblage 23 with electronic and industrial. Friday morning
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