Cary Brothers

Of all the artists we’ve been pitched over the years, it’s so nice to wake up to an email from a manager or publicist who brings us music that instantly warms our hearts, touches our souls and awakens our spirit.

A week or so ago, the Brooklyn-based booking and management company, The Ascot Club, forwarded a release asking us if we could write about an artist on their roster, Cary Brothers. Admittedly, I was reluctant to act upon the request, probably because I was faced with another 1.5 drive from my home in Westchester to my day job on Long Island. Brothers also isn’t an electronic music artist; he’s a singer-songwriter.

Why are we writing about singer-songwriters? Well…we’re jumping on the S&S bandwagon, for one. Just kidding! Nah…we just though this music was pretty cool. He’s also tied to dance music in more ways than one, which we’ll explain in a minute.

It also probably helped that the name of the management company is The Ascot Club. And the name of the person who emailed me is Inge. I thought, “hey, that’s pretty unique!,” picturing a bunch of guys walking around an old English Tudor manor with white, Silk ascots wrapped under smoking jackets–pipes in hand. Inge…well, I let my mind wander on that one. I remembered the email said The Ascot Club is located in Brooklyn, which is a pretty far cry from the English countryside, for sure. Dream over…right. Time to move on.

“Ride,” is a gorgeous, powerful, yet moody single from Cary Brothers debut album (released last year), Who You Are. On this track, Brothers sweet, emotion-laced vocal asks a love interest if faith, compassion and understanding would bring them back together. Brothers vocals, layed alongside a lush guitar and slight, rhythmic electronic beats asks, “Would you take my hand tonight? If I told you the reasons why. Would you leave your life and ride? And ride.”

On a side note, the world’s number one DJ/Producer, Tiesto, gave “Ride” the remix treatment. It’s an enhancement of the original that perfectly keeps the underlying moodiness intact, while adding a Spanish-style guitar and kick-drum that brings a sense of urgency to the song. Of course, like all anthemic Trance productions, you’ll find the obligatory breakdowns with broad synth patterns structured such that it should move any dancefloor.

With a new album coming out, it doesn’t make much sense to review Cory’s current set of tracks. You can take a listen for yourself on his MySpace.

What Ascot Club wants you to know is that Brothers has two, upcoming performances in New York and L.A. And, they are:

• March 3rd New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge (w/ Luke Temple and Callers)
• March 5th Hollywood, CA @ Troubadour (w/ Buddy)

Le Poisson Rouge tickets – on sale 1/16/09:
http://lepoissonrouge.inticketing.com/evinfo.php?eventid=30470&sid=

Troubadour tickets – on sale 1/16/09:
http://www.troubadour.com/eventdetail.php?id=1090

Run…don’t walk to see Cary Brothers. You’ll be glad you did.

Check out his video blog below:

Mindshare: The Party flyer

Netmix.com and Zaah Technologies present Mindshare at Label Lounge, where Music Technology professionals meet New Media folks for a night of networking, music and play.

DJ Tony Z makes his return to the DJ booth to blend warm house vibes from the tech house, techno and deep house genres. DJ Madsol Desar puts a classic vibes house set together.

From 7 to 9 PM, the networking gets started with a $4 Happy Hour(s) drinks special on beer and mixed drinks.

Our Netmix gift-bag raffle takes place at 10 PM. With the purchase of a drink between 9 pm and 10 pm, get a ticket for the raffle and you’ll have a chance to win the following:

10 gift-bags will be raffled off. Each bag includes separate items donated by various partners, including New Riders, RockYourReligion.com, PhetusExclusives.com, BM Linx, Kristine W, Threadless.com, 622Photography.com, Zaah Technologies and more.

• A $50 T-Shirt Coupon Code from our friends at Threadless.com
• An 11 x 17 print of “The Colored President”: a portrait of Barak Obama by urban artist, Vic Nisoci (ArtWeCan.com). The original oil on canvas was donated to Russell Simmons Hip Hop Summit Action Network’s Hip Hop Inaugural Ball; it will be auctioned later next month.
• The new dance single, “Never,” by accomplished dance artist, Kristine W.
• A pre-release album from BM Linx entitled “Black Entertainment”
• Designing for the Social Web (Voices That Matter) by Joshua Porter (New Riders, 2 copies) – ISBN 0321534921
• SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate (Voices That Matter) by Joel Postman (New Riders, 2 copies) – ISBN: 0321580087
• Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click? (Voices That Matter) by Susan M. Weinschenk (New Riders, 2 copies) – ISBN: 0321603605
• A special Netmix Podcast MP3 Data CD, containing 3 Netmix Podcast MP3’s – Subscribe to the Netmix Podcast Feed at: http://tinyurl.com/5wqm3m
• Netmix/Phetus Exclusives T-Shirts (5) from Urban Art inspired brand, PhetusExclusives.com
• A Peace Pendant from RockYourReligion (1)
• 100 Free Prints from PhotoMama.com
• 15% off of photography services from 622photography.com
• A hardcover copy of “Outliers,” the latest book by Malcolm Gladwell

BM Linx

Kristine W "Never"

We just read about this malware affecting Mac computers after downloading and installing pirated versions of iWork. If you are a Mac user downloading and installing pirated software using Bit Torrent or other file sharing software, you definitely want to be careful with this one.

The article states, even though your pirated iWork may still install and run, it will infect your comptuer, opening up a “‘back door’ to the targeted system and potentially allowing an attacker to control any infected machine and access personal data.”

For more on this topic, read: Trojan targets Mac pirates – vnunet.com.

Run DMC Raising Hell Tour T-Shirt

Looking to get your b-boy on? Feel like rockin the old school lately? Get this dope Run DMC Raising Hell Tour T-Shirt. $37.50 at JunkFoodClothing.com.

Adidas Red/White Wilhelm Bungert Sneaker

Of course, you wouldn’t be complete without a pair of fresh Adidas. We’ll do away with the Black/White shell top and go with the Red/White Wilhelm Bungert special edition, $110 at Yoox.com.

Did you love the excellent Bollywood film, “Slumdog Millionaire”? We did. So much so, that we tracked down the soundtrack to the film, which we’ve posted here. Take a listen.

Here is what Amazon.com had to say about the Slumdog Millionaire soudtrack:

In composing the music for acclaimed director Danny Boyle’s intoxicating new film Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman has conjured the sound of a city, fusing the frenetic scramble of daily life in Mumbai, India into beautiful fugues that ride upon the dust clouds kicked up by its everyday people.

From the movie’s first frames — with children racing through alleyways, knocking over merchants and pottery, police kicking loose clay roof tiles, disrupted birds fluttering from gutters — we hear the sound of their commotion made manifest in “O… Saya.” It’s a rumbling hybrid of Bollywood and hip-hop, a brand new collaboration between Rahman and M.I.A. It’s the kind of cinematic moment where image and sound coexist. And that’s only the first five minutes.

Filmed in the streets and slums of Mumbai, India, Boyle needed just the right music to compliment the film’s cinema verité urban realism. He turned to internationally renowned composer A.R. Rahman (a huge star in South Asia–selling more than 100 million albums worldwide and 200 million cassettes–Rahman is one of the world’s top 25 all-time top selling recording artists.) The film’s score is central to the propulsive modern grit that pervades the story, but is also a nod to classic Bollywood productions where the music is front and center. And loud. Says Rahman, “We wanted it edgy, upfront. Danny wanted it loud.”

M.I.A.’s appreciation for Bollywood music led her to record much of last year’s Kala inside A.R. Rahman’s studio in India, although the two had never worked together until now. Referring to him in URB magazine as “the Indian Timbaland,” M.I.A. obviously jumped at the chance to work on “O… Saya” with the famed composer. Rahman says, “She’s a real powerhouse. Somebody played me her CD and I thought, `Who is this girl? She came here and knew all my work, had followed my work for ages. I said, `Cut the crap, this “my idol” crap. You have to teach me.’”

M.I.A. crops up again, later in the film, with the remix of her worldwide hit “Paper Planes” seemingly made for Slumdog, as the lyrics pronounce, “Sometimes I feel like sitting on trains…” while a light blue locomotive chugs and hurls its way through India, young boys perched up top in the sepia sunlight scoping out for a scrap of food.

Other songs on the soundtrack include “Gangsta Blues,” featuring hip-hop artist BlaaZe, which flutters with the rhythms of a film projector, capturing a bit of the madness of crowds as they disperse in a thousand directions to escape the claustrophobia of back alleys. And nothing quite prepares you for the triumphant climax, the overarching ode to joy that is “Jai Ho,” closing out the film in a rousing sing-a-long that’s had film audiences burst into spontaneous applause. As Rahman told Variety, “The energy of the film takes you through a roller coaster, and that’s one of the main inspirations for the whole music.”

“Notorious,” the new film about the life of murdered rapper, Christopher Wallace aka Notorious B.I.G., hits theaters on January 16. Biggie is played by Jamal Woolard, himself a Brooklyn-born, 300+ pound rapper who tried out for the movie at the urging of a friend. Check the New York Times for a good preview article about the making of the film and the actor who portrays the legendary rap star. We can’t wait to see it.

On the show this week Pete features the video for ‘Everytime We Touch’ from David Guetta and Chris Willis with Steve Angello and Sebastien Ingrosso, ‘Everybody’ from Rudenko, the Mickey Moonlight remix of ‘Ulysses’ from Franz Ferdinand, ‘Science Fiction’ from French Miami, an interview with Luke Walker, a competition to win copies of Mr Oizo’s new album and the Bedroom Bedlam Chart. There is also a mix from Ridney in the ‘Exclusives’ section of the website.

Tonium's current Pacemaker

Tonium announced a new Pacemaker that will truly bring DJing to the masses and right into the hands of the next DJ generation.

The Pacemaker DJ system is a musical sketchpad that fosters unprecedented creativity and expression. No other device will let you mix tracks on the train to work, mash up albums at a backyard barbeque or experiment with soundscapes on a secluded beach. Tonium’s new Pacemaker is intended to further this concept by making DJing possible for everyone.

The new Pacemaker’s user interface has been completely reworked. The result is a user-friendly, extremely intuitive interface that gives first-time users the ability to instantly DJ when they first take the device out of the box. In terms of features, Tonium’s engineers have given the new Pacemaker auto beat match, allowing novice DJs to seamlessly blend tracks together by the click of a button, allowing anyone to learn how to mix in less than 2 minutes. This Pacemaker boasts a 60GB hard drive, capable of storing 15,000 songs.

“The concept behind the new Pacemaker centers around accessibility,” said Ola Sars, Tonium’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Our company was founded on the belief that musical inspiration should be created by anyone and shared with everyone. With the new Pacemaker, the goal was to remove all barriers and let anyone interact and experiment with their music.”

Tonium’s new Pacemaker will be on shelves at major retailers across the country this spring. Once available, Tonium will release an announcement with detailed product specifications, ushering in the next step in the music interaction revolution.

The hardware stays the same. It’s the software that has been simplified for the novice DJ. The price point for the 60GB device has been lowered to under $500.

We’re not pleased or excited about having to report this, because Netmix considers DJ, Producer, Subliminal Records founder and Pacha New York co-owner, Erick Morillo a friend. However, since we are a blog that reports on DJ culture, everyone gets equal treatment.

Erick Morillo

It doesn’t matter whether it’s positive or negative. We’d expect the same treatment and have certainly gotten some dings over the years ourselves. No one likes having to report these things, but that’s the nature of the business we’re in.

That being said, we have to tell you that Mr. Morillo was arrested at Glasgow Airport in Scotland for possession of cocaine. He’s pled not guilt and was released and will have to return to Scotland to face the judge in March. We’re hoping that doesn’t impact his plans for Miami’s Winter Music Conference, where he’s been a staple for many, many years.

Morillo was on his way to Glasgow from Amsterdam to play the Colours party at The Arches, when he was pinched by customs for holding. He spent the night in jail and the party’s promoters were forced to offer refunds to anyone who wasn’t satisfied with the night’s DJ program.

The international club circuit is highly demanding. The abundance of alcohol and recreational drugs in that environment is a given. It’s difficult for anyone who lives that lifestyle to steer clear of temptation, but it’s not impossible. It all depends on how you want to live your life. We hope that Mr. Morillo, if found guilty of the charge, will come to some personal realizations and take some steps to stay healthy.

Additional Links:

http://www.erickmorillo.com/
http://www.myspace.com/ericmorillo
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Erick+Morillo
http://www.subliminalrecords.com/

Workout: Pumping House Cover

UPhonic Records released its latest compilation: Workout: Pumping House, today January 6th. Workout: Pumping House is the ultimate companion to countless New Year’s resolutions and a motivational tool for listeners to achieve their fitness goals. The complete package includes a double-disc set featuring 16 heart-pumping tracks, a bonus “interval workout” inspired 72-minute megamix, and a 7-day guest pass* to Bally Total Fitness. The album cover art displays Sydney-based personal trainer and fitness model Vinny Gough, courtesy of men’s underwear and swimwear brand teamm8.

The compilation includes songs such as RuPaul’s “Looking Good, Feeling Gorgeous” which was used as the theme song for NBC’s The Biggest Loser and was a #1 dance download on iTunes; “Everybody Rise Pt. 2″ featuring dance legend, Muriel Fowler, which just debuted at #5 on Billboard’s Breakout Dance chart; a cover of the 1989 Billboard chart topping song “Send Me Angel”, skillfully remixed by one of the best DJ’s on the scene today, Georgie Porgie (He recently secured a #1 song on the Dance chart); “Mindbuster” featuring the first lady of house music, Jocelyn Brown (who has had over 21 hits on the Billboard Dance Music/Club Play Chart); and the title track, “Workout”, a remake of Frankie Knuckles’ dance classic, which is also sung by RuPaul and features back up vocals from superstar Chris Willis.

Workout: Pumping House is in stores as of January 6th, 2009 and will be available in all major retailers (Best Buy, Virgin, Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc.) and download portals (iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon, etc.).

*Guest passes not included in digital purchases

URL’s”

www.workoutpumpinghouse.com

www.myspace.com/workoutpumpinghouse

www.uphonicrecords.com

www.myspace.com/uphonicrecords

Ultra Music Festival 2008

The Ultra Music Festival (UMF) — the world’s leading two-day electronic and alternative music experience set for Friday March 27 and Saturday March 28, 2009 during the Winter Music Conference in Miami–has announced more exciting additions to its lineup. Promoters for the festival have revealed that The Prodigy (who will release their new album Invaders Must Die on March 2) and Pendulum, two of the most anticipated live acts for 2009, have been confirmed along with DJ titans Paul Van Dyk and Armin Van Buuren. Moby has also tapped UMF for his exclusive Winter Music Conference appearance.

Ultra Music Festival at night

Other acts that are newly confirmed for UMF include: David Guetta, Above and Beyond, Erick Morillo, Booka Shade, the Swedish House Mafia featuring (Steve Angello, Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso), Benny Benassi, Rabbit In The Moon, Infected Mushroom, Fedde Le Grand, Richie Hawtin, Luciano, Tiga, Perry Farrell, ATB, M.A.N.D.Y. v. Tiefschwarz, Kraak & Smaak, Dirty South, Pete Tong, Loco Dice, Steve Lawler, Boys Noize, Markus Schulz, Kaskade, Late of the Pier, Planet of the Drums, Andy C + MC GQ and The Whip.

The complete listing of participating artists to date is:

FRIDAY, MARCH 27

Main Stage:

Tiësto, Bloc Party, David Guetta, The Ting Tings, Deadmau5, Santogold, Steve Lawler, Perry Farrell, Late of the Pier. Bayfront Stage: Pendulum Live, Roni Size Reprazent, Rabbit In The Moon, Craze & Klever, Kevens. Carl Cox & Friends Stage: Carl Cox, Richie Hawtin, Luciano, Loco Dice. Mid Park Stage: Swedish House Mafia, Benny Benassi, Tiga, Dirty South, Busy P, Chris Lake.

SATURDAY, MARCH 28

Main Stage:

The Prodigy, Paul Van Dyk, Armin Van Buuren, Eric Prydz, Above and Beyond, Fedde Le Grand, Infected Mushroom, ATB, Kaskade, Markus Schulz. Bayfront Stage: Deadmau5, Bookashade, Cut Copy, Simian Moblie Disco, Crystal Castles, M.A.N.D.Y. vs. Tiefschwartz, Boys Noize, Hercules and Love Affair, The Presets, Kraak & Smaak, The Whip. Carl Cox & Friends Stage: Carl Cox, Moby, Erick Morillo, Pete Tong, Elio Riso. The Mid-Park Stage: Roni Size DJ Set, Planet of the Drums (featuring AK1200, Dara, Diesel Boy, J. Messinian), Goldie, Andy C and MC GQ, Hybrid DJ Set, Ed Rush and Optical, Bassbin Twins, Soul of Man, DJ Icey, Evol Intent Live, Chase and Status, Drumattic Twins, Baby Anne.

The Ultra Music Festival is South Florida’s favorite music festival, internationally renowned for its memorable live performances and DJ sets from the world’s top electronic and alternative rock artists. It will take place during the 24th annual Winter Music Conference on Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28 at the beautiful waterfront location of Bicentennial Park in downtown Miami (the same grounds it has occupied since 2006). Tickets are currently available via www.ultramusicfestival.com for $129.95 and then $149.95 as the event approaches. Two-day VIP passes are available for $350.00.

Access the UMF online at these sites:

www.ultramusicfestival.com

www.myspace.com/umf

Nielsen SoundScan, the entertainment industry’s data information system that tracks point-of-purchase sales of recorded music product, Nielsen BDS, the music industry’s leading music performance monitoring service, and Nielsen RingScan, which tracks mobile ringtone purchases, have announced their 2008 U.S. year-end sales and performance monitoring data for the 52-week period December 31, 2007 through December 28, 2008.

2008 Year End Factoids:

* Music purchases in 2008 reached 1.5 Billion, marking the fourth consecutive year music sales have exceeded 1 billion; 1.4 billion (2007) vs. 1.2 billion (2006) vs. 1 billion (2005).
* Music sales exceeded 65 million in the final week of 2008, representing the biggest sales week in the history of Nielsen SoundScan. The previous record was Christmas week 2007 with 58.4 million music purchases.
* Overall Album sales (including Albums and Track Equivalent Album sales) declined 8.5% compared to 2007.
* Total Album sales declined 14% compared to 2007.
* Metallica’s “Death Magnetic” is the best selling Internet album for the year with 144,000 sales.
* During 2008, more Vinyl Albums were purchased (1.88 million) than any other year in the history of Nielsen SoundScan. The previous record was in 2000, with 1.5 million LP album sales.
* Note that more than 2 out of every 3 vinyl albums were purchased at an independent music store during the year.

Digital Factoids:
* Digital Track sales break the 1 BILLION sales mark for the first time with more than 1,070,000 digital track sales. The previous record was 844 million digital track purchases during 2007; an increase of 27% over 2007.
* Digital Album sales reached an all-time high with more than 65 million sales in 2008; up from 50 million in 2007; an increase of 32% over the previous year.
* Note that digital album sales account for 15% of total album sales compared to 10% in 2007 and 5.5% in 2006.
* In the final reporting week of 2008 the following digital sales records were broken:
* Digital Track sales surpassed 47.7 million. The previous sales record was 42.9 million, week of 12/23 -12/30/07.
* Digital Album sales this week broke the two million mark for the first time with sales of 2.4 million sales; breaking the previous record of 1.9 million (12/30/07).
* The top 200 digital songs for the week posted an all-time high with 13.6 million sales; breaking the previous record of 11.9 million during the last week of 2007.
* The first time that the Top 5 digital songs (combining all versions of the same song) sold more than 300,000 downloads in a week with Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance” selling 419,000. The record for most downloads for a digital song in one week continues to be Flo Rida’s “Low” with sales of 467,000 set during the last week of 2007.
* 2008 is the first time a digital song broke the 3 million sales mark in a single year. There were 2 songs that achieved this milestone; Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” and Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop;” with sales of 3.4 and 3.2 million respectively.
* In 2008, there are 19 different digital songs with sales that exceeded 2 million compared to 9 in 2007.
* 71 Digital Songs exceed the 1 million sales mark for the year compared to 41 digital songs in 2007, 22 in 2006, and only 2 digital songs in 2005.
* Rihanna is the biggest selling digital artist in 2008 with nearly 10 million track sales compared to Fergie in 2007 who had 7.5 million track sales.
* There are more than 450,000 different physical albums that sold at least one copy over the Internet during 2008 compared to 390,000 in 2007.

Best Seller Factoids:
* Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III is the biggest selling album of the year with 2.8 million sales.
* Taylor Swift is the biggest selling solo artist, with sales greater than 4.0 million albums and AC/DC is the biggest selling group in 2008 with sales of 3.4 million.
* Taylor Swift stands at the top of the list, marking the 2nd time in the last three years that a country artist is the top selling artist for the year. Rascal Flatts was the biggest selling artist in 2006 with 5 million sales. Josh Groban took the honors last year (2007) with 4.8 million sales.
* Taylor Swift’s Fearless and her self-titled album finished the year at #3 and #6 respectively with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million. This is the first time in the history of Nielsen SoundScan one artist had two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart

Holiday SeasonFactoids: (last 6 weeks of year).
* Overall Album sales during the 2008 holiday season were down 19% compared to 2007, with sales of just over 80 million.
* Album sales during the holiday season accounted for 19% of all album sales for the year.
* Digital Album sales during the holiday season experienced significant growth over 2007 with an increase of 37% to 9.9 million sales.

Strata Factoids:
* Album sales at Non-Traditional music outlets (digital, internet, mail order, venue, non-traditional retailers) hit an all-time high in 2008 with sales breaking the 100 million mark for the first time. Non-Traditional is the only strata that experienced album growth over the previous year; with an increase of 15% over 2007.
* Non-traditional outlets account for nearly 25% of all album sales, compared to 18% in 2007, 12% in 2006, 9% in 2005 and 5% in 2004 (4% in 2003).
* Digital services account for 65% of the Non-Traditional album sales.
* The last two weeks of the year produced the two biggest album sales weeks for Non-Traditional outlets; 3.3 and 3.2 million sales.
* The percentage of album sales at mass merchants declined for the second straight year after experiencing year over year growth from 2002 � 2006. In 2008, 37% of all albums purchased were at a Mass Merchant outlet compared to 40% in 2007, 41% in 2006, 40% in 2005.
* Chain music stores account for 33% of all album sales in 2008; compared to 36% in 2007; 41% in 2006, 45% in 2005 and 48% in 2004.
* Album sales at Independent music stores account for 7% of all album sales; up 1 point from a year ago (6% in 2007 and 2006, 7% in 2005 and 9% in 2004).