Winter Music Conference 2003 will kick off March 18-22, showcasing new up-and-coming talent, along with producers, DJ's and other familiar faces within the dance community. Among the festivities will be seminars, panel discussions, DJ Spin-off and a host of late-night poolside parties. For more information, please visit their Web site: wintermusicconference.com .
Dedication:
'In Your Life,' an unreleased track by La Bouche, has received great accolades and was penned by the late lead singer, Melanie Thornton, who was killed in a plane crash in November of 2001. Having fronted the group since the beginning until her departure in 1999, she released her first solo album, Ready To Fly in April of 2001.
New Releases:
David Guetta releases his new single, 'Give Me Something,' featuring the soulful vocals of Barbara Tucker.
Layo & Bushwacka! release new remixes of their 'Deep South' gem.
Jason Jinx returns with his latest, 'When You Know You're There' on Subliminal. Moulton Studio's Chris Lum drops the 'Regarding Love' ep, which includes 'Por Que Amor,' a great bassline, seductive vocals wrapped in Latin percussion.
After riding on the success of 'Shiny Disco Balls,' Who Da Funk return to release 'Sting Me Red,' featuring the vocals of Terra Deva. Deep Sensation releases their ep on their own label, Deep Jazz. This five-track selection boasts guitar, dub and funk riffs, as featured on 'Listen' and 'Broadway and 52nd.' For those who want to get down, 'Togetherness' is sure to move you.
Remix team Knee Deep update Everything But The Girl classic, 'Corcovado,' which was recorded for the Red Hot + Rio charity album, complete with Latin bass, beats and big horns.
Stacey Kidd & Mike Dixon team up to release 'Don't Let No One Get You Down,' featuring vocals of Joi Williams and that boompty-boomp sound, as championed by Derrick Carter.
Lady Alma, powerhouse vocalist behind Sylk 130, releases her long-awaited single, 'Dreams,' out on King Street. E-Tones single, 'Ooh La La,' gets the remix treatment from Johnny Fiasco.
CD Spotlight:
It's You, It's Me – Kaskade (OM Records)
I received this just after the new year and listened to the album debut over and over again, being moved by the deep house grooves and vocal compositions. The opening track, 'Meditation To The Groove,' featuring R & B vocalist, Joslyn, clearly sets the tone of his musical adventure she croons suggestively to 'Please respect this; Melody come set me free, I'm taking me away.' Kaskade aka Ryan Raddon takes you, the listener, on a journey of life and love through his eyes. This is clearly evident of vocalist Amy Michele on tracks 'Seeing Julie' and 'Tonight,' which have a cool, haunting melodic sound, very soothing and relaxing. Rob Wannamaker rounds out the soul of the album contributing to tracks 'What I Say' and 'Call Me Wise.'
Born and raised here in Chicago, Kaskade frequented the club scenes of Medusa's and Limelight along with DJ's Derrick Carter and Mark Farina.
Those days of old would become the developing stages of one DJ to turn into a producer. Moving to Salt Lake City, Utah, and being disconnected from the late-night scene prompted him to create, promote and launch the only house night at the Manhattan Club, which ran for five successful years. This led to the purchase of Mechanized Records and after two years, he sold the business and moved to San Francisco, later landing a job as production assistant at OM Records.
On occasion, he began slipping his demos under the name Kaskade and after creating a buzz around the office, it eventually became too much to keep up appearances. Adding to his list of accolades, he has remixed 'If I Fall' for Naked Music and mixed the third edition of DJ series, Sounds Of Om.
The United Nations Of Future Music – Vol. I (Om Records)
Keeping the masses yearning like the want for water, OM records creates a buzz for their newest series, inspired by their residencies around the world of the same name. With exclusive and previously unreleased material from their roster of talent, which includes Mark Farina 'Do Things,' Scuba 'Bare Naked,' Mark Grant 'Hey You,' King Kooba 'If I Could' and more. Showcasing the diverse unified sounds from house to broken beats to hip-hop and nu-soul, this is destined to be one of the next groundbreaking and must-haves for the new year.
Recommended Listening:
Bare Essentials Vol. 2 — Various Artists (Naked Music/Astralwerks)
Bossa Mundo 2 — Various Artists (Wave Music)
Choice: A Collection of Classics — Danny Tenaglia (Azuli)
Mix The Vibe: New York Resolution — Cevin Fisher (Nite Grooves)
