Do you like analog synths? A charming album of it just came out from friends of mine called The Volt Per Octaves. I played on it, along with Bernie Worrell from P-Funk, and Brian Kehew. It's on CD Baby, iTunes, etc.

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'll be shutting this page down within the next two weeks or so.      I find it very cumbersome, slow, and of limited value, frankly.   Plus, I don't really have time to check it, and I prefer my website for posting information, Twitter for quick blasts, and Facebook for close friends and family.    

If you ever really need to contact me, you can always go to dangerbirdmanagement.com and send a note through there.

Thanks very much, and all the best.

Justin Meldal-Johnsen

I'd like to proudly announce a new equipment endorsement that I have just finalized: Aguilar Amplification Their gear is awesome. Great-sounding, intensely powerful, and exquisitely well-made. Also, it's not all "muso" and silly with too many knobs and fancy business. Simple, clean, brutally effective. The people there are also great, and that was a big part of the equation for me. I did a shootout during Spring Nine Inch Nails rehearsals with plenty of other great gear, and Aguilar rose to the top. My basses sound amazing through these beastly, beautiful amps and cabinets. Very happy indeed. http://www.aguilaramp.com/ Best, Justin

Monday morning, Glassell Park, 7:40AM. The bright sunlight is sending a very forthright call for me to get my ass in gear for a busy new week. I dress, eat, plan, and begin. Fire the gun, dive in headfirst.

Well, I am on a supposed break from tour, yet somehow these breaks never seem to deftly avoid staying true to their namesake. There was, thankfully, a great Christmas to share with my family, and my wife and daughter's back-to-back birthdays. Good times, busy as they were. Yet duties seem to naggingly call. I have no aversion to being busy, don't get me wrong. But I had thought that this two-month break was going to afford me the opportunity to actually disappear a bit, play with sound-making machines, write tunes, sit on a mountaintop, wax philosophical, look at some trees, walk on some sand, etc. Not quite. So, what have I been up to?

Nine Inch Nails: Study, study, prepare, prepare. NIN is forging ahead as a four-piece band, which means that there are more duties for each of us since the departure of Alessandro Cortini. Likewise, we are training new drummer Ilan Rubin. And learning new (old) material that will be introduced into the repertoire. Oh - and rebuilding our gear setups. This has been a very demanding time for myself and my band mates. Regardless, we're excited. We leave for New Zealand on Feb 13.

Dangerbird Records: I continue to work with the band Dappled Cities, helping them put the finishing touches on their upcoming record. I promise you, it's a great one.

Grace Woodroofe: I am resuming work on production of her debut record, which is a challenge since she lives in Perth, Australia. But I have her here in LA for a short time, so we're going to take advantage of that.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: Working on some musical aspects of that film, including training one of the actors to replicate my bass playing that I pre-recorded for the movie.

Informers: Not sure about a US release date for the film, but I do know that I've been finishing up the logistics for the soundtrack album, on which a few of my compositions for the film will likely appear.

Other: Various recording sessions including a bunch for Macy Gray, writing sessions, meetings, and working with my tech Mike on tightening up my studio, adding acoustic treatments, fine-tuning computers, etc.

Wow. Now that I wrote it all down, a realization washes over me. A constant refrain, returning again. I'm busy, happy, moving fast, getting things done, paying the mortgage, and staying creative. Hmm! In other words: I'm a person who has made a living in music for many years, doing things I actually enjoy. Well, how about that? Nothing to complain about after all. In fact, I am eternally grateful.

Happy 2009 everybody.

Best,
JMJ

Greetings to all...

Just got back from a whirlwind run in South America touring with Nine Inch Nails. We did Buenos Aires, Santiago, and Caracas. All very interesting and fun, Caracas possibly the most intriguing of all. I'd never been there; it has a wild, unruly quality to it. The buildings and streets have a worn-down vibe, a former imperial colony that has fallen into decay. Incessant traffic, thick exhaust fumes, crazy moped drivers, cracked cobblestone sidewalks, street hustlers, the whole nine. The people are friendly and gracious. And the gig? Awe-inspiring. Totally off-the-charts in terms of audience interaction. In fact, all the South American shows were full of impassioned, committed fans. It's the kind of thing that makes it hard for one to ever take this job for granted.

I'm home for a week, then I do a Mexican, U.S. and Canadian tour that takes me into early December. Very busy! Believe it or not, in all my years I've NEVER PLAYED IN MEXICO! So I am eager to see what that's like.

Amidst this Nine Inch Nails work, I've managed to do a bunch of work with Dido, and her new album has just been released. Highly recommended. The movie I music supervised and music produced, "The Informers", is finally wrapped up and being screened to distributors. I believe that it comes out in Europe first, with a U.S. cinematic release to follow.

I've really been enjoying having off-time while touring (on the bus, backstage, etc), because I've been able to dive deeper into music software like Logic and Live, which are amazing for writing and experimenting. I'm going to try and get serious about it on this next run and compose a good quantity of new ideas.

Welcome to autumn, everyone! Hope to see you soon.

Justin

Videos have been posted from rehearsal for a few songs from the new Nine Inch Nails album "The Slip"...go check it out at www.nin.com

Preparing madly for our tour.

Also, in the mornings and evenings, still putting in time doing work on the score and soundtrack for the upcoming film "The Informers", as well as various other record projects.

Hope to see you out on the road!

Best,
JMJ

I'm very happy to announce that I am playing with Nine Inch Nails.

There are North American appearances starting on July 25th. Tour dates and information are at www.nin.com.

Thanks so much to everybody for their encouragement and support! It's an exciting new chapter.

Best,
JMJ

Did someone just tell me that the holidays are here? NOW?!?!? I protest!! I'm still in creative/work mode, hardly time for family business, presents, traffic, the toxic drug addiction of the acquiring of STUFF etc. Can we just skip it this time!??!? The consumerism is already making me nauseous. Don't get me wrong, I'm always thrilled for a chance to spoil my kid a little and see the joy on her face, but really: that only takes 2 hours on one morning! Must we have all this insane preamble? (I think I'm just hating on the USA right now a bit more than usual, because I just finally watched Sicko...so there you go). OK - cynical rant over.

Well, I'm trying to forge ahead regardless of these distractions, and managing to stay nicely creative:

Beck: Continuing to work on new recordings, heading to South America next week for a few shows opening for The Police on their "Enormo-Domes Around The World Tour 2007-2008-2009". We're pretty excited about it. The band we've put together for this short run is quite unique and off-the-cuff: I am reunited with my longtime associate Joey Waronker on drums, the great Jason Falkner on guitar, and Nigel Godrich on keyboards, our producer for the "Mutations", "Sea Change", and "The Information" albums. Rehearsals have been a gleeful, reckless BLAST. I hope we can figure out a way for this ensemble to play in the US sometime, or at least in LA. Well, you never now. Ahem.

The Informers: I have been writing songs for this film, which is a Bret Easton Ellis screenplay, directed by Gregor Jordan. Cast includes Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, Mickey Rourke and Winona Ryder. It's been very exciting. I am also the music producer and music supervisor on the project, so this is a bit of a big one for me, and a first.

Lyle Workman: Working on music for Lyle's new movie he's scoring called "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" - fun!

Daniel Moore: Resuming work on the debut album by this fantastic young songwriter on Sub Pop. Joe Chiccarelli is at the helm. This is a good one, folks.

Other than that, doing a bit of songwriting for myself and others, tinkering around with my studio, browsing eBay (there's that rabid consumer in me), and playing with my daughter and wife. Tonight, Zelly was completely tickled when she asked to be dressed up like a mummy, so we wrapped her in bandages and showed her how to walk like a creature from the dead...she thought it was soooo funny.

That's about it for now. But all cynicism aside, I really do hope for a happy Thanksgiving to all. Since this is MY blog, I'm going to go out on a hopelessly romantic and idealistic limb and ask that you some time to take stock of the world around you. Find things that are meaningful, and resolve yourself to reinforce those things. The treasures in life are many...and when all's said and done, those real things you TRULY care about are either: 1) other people, 2) the world around you, and 3) everything in it. Let's protect all those meaningful things.

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