so, we're extremely close to the end of making ARENA! right now we're proofing the artwork, and doing some last minute layout decisions. all the mixes and mastering are complete, and the record sounds pretty fucking amazing, i have to say.

i think people are definitely going to be surprised when they hear this album. the new direction that we're heading in is more well defined on this record, and the remixes are definitely some of the best we've ever gotten. but even so, there's stuff that will even please the older fans who won't let go of Syntax (seriously, we love you guys, but c'mon that record is a decade old now!).

overall, its been a good experience putting this record together, and i think it sounds better than any of the other albums we've made. it definitely feels like the sum of our combined musical experience, i would say.

my next post should hopefully have the final album artwork to show you. the artwork this time around is a big departure from previous albums, in my opinion, but really symbolizes the direction of the new material.

ongoing mixing and schedule

making good progress with the mixing. we hope to be totally wrapped up in just a few weeks, which includes the rest of the final mixing, artwork and mastering.

then, we will get the digital EP of remixes of 'Temporary' and 'My True Love' together, and make that available for free! lots of great submissions for that one, we're definitely looking forward to getting that out there.

the album 'ARENA' will probably be released in august, if all goes according to plan. yes, that's a ways off, but we really want to line it up with a proper tour, and touring in the summer just sucks. so, it's better to do it this way.

in any case, here's a video of us mixing our new version of 'The World Belongs To Us'. it is fucking awesome, and you are going to shit yourselves when you hear it.

studio tour!

hey everyone! i shot a little video tour of my studio, while we're in the final stages of mixing the new album. i thought it might be kind of interesting to sort of show the room that i've been working in for this new record, it's a relatively new room..."ARENA" is the first album i've worked on in here.

You can check the video out here, or go to youtube and watch it in HD.

a brief update

the remix contest has one more day, and we've had a ton of excellent submissions!! we'll be selecting the winners over the next week and will post the results here! i think we're planning to release a selection of the best ones for free download as well. it's been really great to hear all the different ways that people have reworked the material, definitely some cool stuff in there!

also, we have selected a new name for our sixth album(!), it will be called ARENA. we don't have a final tracklist yet, but we're getting pretty close. things will be wrapped up in just a few more weeks, and delivered to Metropolis! it's very exciting!!

we're definitely hoping to do a full US tour in support of ARENA in the spring/summer of 2009. more on that as i get details...

-tn