Nerve Filter is a side-project of Assemblage 23's Tom Shear. Originally formed in 1995 to break a bout with writer's block, the project actually got tracks released on compilations many years before Assemblage 23, even though A23 had existed for many years prior to that. After tracks on the now-defunct San Francisco label 21st Circuitry Records and some remix work for Scar Tissue and Converter, the popularity of Assemblage 23 took off, and Shear found himself with little time to devote to the project. The only full-length release Nerve Filter had put out to this point was a handful of cassette copies of an album called 'Evasion of Primacy' in 1995. However, following the release of Assemblage 23's "Storm", Shear felt like taking a break from A23, and decided to revive Nerve Filter. In 2005, ten years after the project officially came into being, Nerve Filter finally released "Linear", a ten track collection of brooding electronic instrumentals combining elements of IDM, drum & bass, trance, ambient, and virtually every other electronic sub-genre under the sun . The album was released to almost universal critical acclaim and surprised critics and fans alike who didn't expect Shear to have produced something so different from his main project.
