Ovum Records celebrates 15-years with their 14th-annual Ovum Party on Wednesday, March 24th. The festivities take place at Shine nightclub in the Shelborne Beach Resort Hotel from 10 pm to 5 am. In the main room, Josh Wink vs. Steve Bug, Nic Fanciulli vs. Joris Voorn, David Squillace vs D’Julz and Luis Bacchetti. DJ Sneak, Doc Martin and Manik are in the lounge.

Josh Wink recently announced the opening of the Josh Wink store online, where you can pick up the Banana T-shirt to show your a fan of Josh’s new studio album, When A Banana Was Just A Banana.”

Follow Ovum on Facebook Page: ovumrecordings or on Twitter @ovumrecordings. Follow Josh Wink on Facebook: JoshWinkOfficial or Twitter @JoshWink1.

Take a listen to these tracks from the new album in the Beatport player below.

Josh Wink Resident Advisor Podcast

The Empire Hotel’s roof top played host to the One Night in St Tropez Tour on Thursday evening. Dane Cook rolled in with an impressive entourage after his performance at Madison Square Garden, the Sex in the City cast was in attendance as were Janeane Garofalo and Mike Epps with entourage in tow. Promoter / hosts Jewels Ferante, Jon Paul Pezzo, Poppa Pri and Eric Scucci get a boat load of credit for tastefully juggled the paparazzi, models and socialites all night. The late great DJ AM had plans to work on future One Night in St Tropez events. All but being handed the thrown, DJ Kenny Summit rocked the celebrity filled gala in a very impressive manner, spinning everything from early 90s hiphop to daft punk, rock, house and everything in between (all while wearing a RIP DJ AM pin on his shirt).

- Contributed to Netmix by Oscar for Katrina Public Relations

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If you don’t know Dubspot, the music production and DJ school has quickly entrenched itself as the defacto spot to learn the tools, tips and techniques for the DJ trade. Whether it’s making music with Ableton Live, scratch classes using Serato, or DJing with the Pioneer DVJ mixing console using DVD’s, the school has a class for you.

Dubspot’s 2009 Summer registration is under way and you’ll need to jump on it quick, because I hear that classes are filling up. According to a recent NYTimes article about DJing in the dowturn, Dubspot enrollment has doubled to 300 since last year. Since the economy took a turn for the worse, it’s always good to use the time to pick up a new skill. While some are transitioning to nursing and health care or other sectors, you might be thinking about leaving the corporate carer behind to do something infinitely more creative than crunching spreadsheets and building Power Point presentations.

Recently, Dubspot celebrated its two-year anniversary with a weekend long event from June 25th to the 28th. I wasn’t able to attend, but the folks at Dubspot and Plexi PR were able to provide this wrap up:

DubSpot, New York City’s home for dynamic electronic music production and DJ education, celebrated its 2 Year anniversary with a long weekend June 25th-28th.  In addition to hosting three individual birthday parties, DubSpot also brought its Live 8 U.S. Sessions Tour in for its home stop, with Ableton Live 8 production and performance workshops.  An abundance of high profile artists were involved throughout the events, and the weekend has received enthusiastic praise from all participants not only for its ingenuity, but also its originality and high standard of quality.  Full workshop videos with techno auteurs Richie Hawtin & Ambivalent, Dub pioneer Scientist, Peter Kirn of CreateDigitalMusic.com and much more to be made available online soon.  Check out the DubSpot blog here for updates.

The first of DubSpot’s 2 Year Anniversary parties was the Funk Aid for Africa NYC release party.  The album, and the fundraising effort in general, had been riding high already from a 4 star review from Time Out New York, and DJ sets from OBaH, Reborn and Ticklah carried the party late into the night. The second of DubSpot’s 2 Year Anniversary Parties was held at Love, and saw Minus’ Richie Hawtin take to the decks for a special 4-hour set.  Hawtin set the place ablaze in an all too rare club appearance in New York.  Working with our partner, NYC techno promoters  Blk|Market Membership, DubSpot packed the house with instructors, students and friends, and danced until dawn to the banging beats of world-class techno. Sunday night’s Hi-Fidelity DubSpot Sessions kept the momentum going late, as Scientist mixed Dub Is A Weapon live, plus sets from Badawi, DJ Kiva, Matt Shadetek, and DJ Rupture.  The show was widely enjoyed and appreciated as a world-class night of music and community.

Below are a list of classes and dates. I’ve included the recent July dates just in case there’s an opportunity to join in late, since they only started a week ago. Click the links for more information.

DubSpot Upcoming Class Start Dates : Summer 2009
Registration is open for DubSpot’s summer sessions. Get started on bringing your musical ambitions to life.

July 21: DJ Beginner & Extensive packages Tuesdays will begin with DJ OBaH at 7:15pm.
July 21: Turntablism classes meeting on Tuesday will begin with 2007 DMC World Supremacy champ DJ Shiftee at 5:15pm.
July 23 Music Production package B: encompassing Reason Ableton & Logic Thurs 6:15 taught by Chris Petti of the Reason Users group.
August 2nd Ableton Live with Jon Margulies: Sundays at 4:00pm Can be taken separately or as part of our year long Ableton certificate program
August 7th Ableton Live with Jon Margulies: Class will meet Wednesdays and Fridays at 6:15pm. Can be taken separately or as part of our year long Ableton certificate program
August 14th  Logic Intensive with Matt Shadetek of Dutty Artz – Mondays Wednesdays Fridays 10:15am
August 18th Ableton Live: Class will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:15pm. Can be taken separately or as part of our year long Ableton certificate program
August 18th DJing with Video class with Lars of DVJ Vision begins Tuesdays at 5:15pm.

In just two short years, DubSpot has fully emerged as a force in the electronic music world.  The Live 8 U.S. Sessions Tour will continue this Fall in Los Angeles in October, then move on to 5 other cities including Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin and Washington D.C.  And that’s just this first round.  The tour will continue to grow, and continue to be the ambassador of DubSpot’s devotion to excellence in electronic music.  By providing unique opportunities for established and aspiring artists alike to develop their knowledge, careers, and production and performance abilities,DubSpot will secure and advance its position on the cutting edge of electronic music education! – Quote courtesy, Plexi PR

DubSpot 348 West 14th Street New York, NY 10014
212.242.2100 // info@dubSpot.com
www.dubspot.com

- by Tony Z.

Last Wednesday night, despite the lingering rain that has been pestering New Yorkers for the last month or so, I decided to venture out to the newly revamped Mansion, which is now known as M2 UltraLounge–the stealthy moniker that is cover for what’s supposed to be Ministry of Sound’s new NYC effort. If Pacha can bring the funk to New York, then Ministry of Sound sure can too, even if it it takes over a space that has seen it’s better days. I wasn’t much of a fan of Crobar, the club’s original incarnation. But, I must say the venue’s design team have given a touch of class to a huge room that was sorely lacking sophistication.

Showing up to Bacardi’s B-Live was, for me, an off, then on again affair. It was 11 pm and I’d just arrived to my friend’s house across the Hudson in Guttenberg, NJ, where I’m staying for the month to be closer to the city. I knew I had to get up for work early, because I commute about 1.5 hours each way to the office in Long Island. As I sat down to check my Facebook messages, I saw a friend sent me an earlier note asking if I was going to go. If so, she was wondering if I was going to take some shots that she could use for a publication she writes for. Despite my better judgement, I knew she needed my help. I got my butt up off the couch, jumped in the car and shot into the city to see what I could come up with. After all, she’s a great gal and I don’t mind doing a favor for a friend.

Remember, I’m supposed to get up at 6:30 AM to make my way to Long Island for my day job. Staying out late on a Wednesday night is not something I’m accustomed to, but it was for a good cause. Plus, I got some great video and ran into some friends, including Armand Van Helden and my man Ricky and his production partner, Ray, who are working on some tracks as Housing Project (MySpace). More on new music from that crew another time, for sure.

The night was definitely jackin. I go there just in time for the last 1/2 hour of Jazzy Jeff’s set. Every element of every track dropped in that 30 minutes was a bomb that warmed up the crowd for A-Trak, who broke out a big beat infused set of electronic, rock and urban rhythms that kept the crowd jumping until around 3 am. Then, it was DJ AM’s turn to take the wheels. After a few intro tracks, he dropped Notorious B.I.G. and the late night revelers kicked into gear once again.

For Bacardi, this certainly was a highly successful branding experiment. To pack an NYC venue on a Wednesday night until the wee hours of the morning says something about the talent and the offering. Bacardi staffers were everywhere throughout the venue, directing punters to get the pics taken in the Bacardi photo booth, have a custom T-Shirt printed on-the-spot, or grab a rock inspired poster. Throughout the venue, Bacardi imagery was in full effect. Of course, the sure winner was the HUGE, fully lit boom-box, which backed the DJs on the stage. I saw some walking around with messenger bags with a boom box pic printed on the flap. For a commercial effort, they got it right. People dug it and it wasn’t too obtrusive. Even the tour bus out front was hot, which photos of the DJs plasted on the sides.

All in, it was a pretty exciting night for Bacardi and NYC. Definitely a hot event. If B-Live is coming to a city near you, I wouldn’t miss it.

Check out the videos and photos below of Bacardi’s B-Live stop in NYC.

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X-Mix Productions 9th Annual Winter Music Conference Party hits Miami Beach on Friday March 27, 2008, at Aero Bar, featuring sets from Armand Van Helden, Bad Boy Bill, DJ Sneak, Felix Da Housecat, Harry Choo Choo Romero, Junior Sanchez, Mark Farina, and Todd Terry. Check out our DJs performing at other parties during WMC with Lil Jon, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.

ARMAND VAN HELDEN feat. Netic from Game Rebellion ‘Illin N Fillin: It’ is out this month on Southern Fried with remixes by Malente, Starkey, Jaimie Fanatic, and Lee Mortimer. The single is taken from Armand’s ‘New York: A Mix Odyssey 2’ compilation out now on Southern Fried. The highly anticipated Dizzee Rascal Vs. Armand Van Helden ‘Bonkers’ is out in May on Dirtee Stank. Armand’s ‘You Don’t Know Me The Best of Armand Van Helden’ compilation is out now on Universal.

BAD BOY BILL feat. Alyssa Palmer ‘Falling Anthem‘ available now on Beatport via Nettwerk with remixes by Herve’, Harry Choo Choo Romero, Chase, and Sylvane. The full retail release packages hit stores in April and May. Bad Boy Bill ‘The Album’, Bill’s debut artist album, is out later this year on Nettwerk. Bad Boy Bill ‘Behind the Decks Live’, Bill’s first ever live mix CD/DVD, is out now on Thrive.

DJ SNEAK vs. Herve’ ‘Droppin Kisses,’ out now on Cr2, reached number 1 this month in Music Week UK’s official club chart and has received BBC Radio 1 spins from Annie Mac, Pete Tong, Judge Jules, and Kissy Sell Out. Sneak’s forthcoming artist album ‘House of House’ is out later this year. Look for Sneak’s remixes of tracks by A-Trak & Laidback Luke, Matthew Dear, and Locodice. DJ Sneak ‘Back In The Box’ compilation is out this month on NRK.

FELIX DA HOUSECAT’s new single ‘Kickdrum’ from his forthcoming artist album ‘He Was King’ is out in April on Nettwerk. ‘Kickdrum’ has received early support from 2manydjs, A-track, Boys Noize, Erol Alkan, and multiple spins on BBC Radio 1 from Pete Tong. Look for Felix on the cover of this month’s Mixmag with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. ‘Felix Da Housecat GU34 Milan’ compilation is out now on Global Underground.

HARRY CHOO CHOO ROMERO’s remix of Hardrive ‘Deep Inside’ reached the number 1 download spot on Beatport this month. Harry’s ‘Cumbia’ is out now on his newly re-launched Bambossa label with remixes from Jose Nunez, Jorge Jamarillo, and Jerry Ropero & DJ Mind. Harry’s ‘Lifting Me Higher’ is out now on Cr2 with remixes from DJ DLG. Harry Choo Choo Romero ‘Sessions’ compilation is out now on Ministry of Sound.

JUNIOR SANCHEZ ‘Zaxxon’ is out this month on DJS Are Not Rockstars. Blaqk Audio ‘Stiff Kittens (Jnrsnchz Blaqkout Remix)’ out now on Interscope is featured on the new ‘Underworld:Rise of the Lycans‘ movie soundtrack. Look for Junior’s remix of Lauren Flax feat. Sia ‘You’ve Changed’. ‘Onelove: Smash Your Stereo” mixed by Junior Sanchez’ is out now on Sony.

MARK FARINA’s ‘Mushroom Jazz 6’ compilation is out now on Om. Mark’s legendary Mushroom Jazz compilations and their cumulative sales of over a quarter million copies have essentially made Mushroom Jazz its own distinctive genre of music, blending hip-hop sub-grooves with jazzy, dubby, elements. Mark’s new single ‘Life’ is out now now Om. ‘Fabric 40: Mark Farina’ is out now on Fabric.

TODD TERRY presents CLS ‘Can You Feel It’ Remixes are out now on Strictly Rhythm with support from Annie Mac, David Guetta, and Riton. Todd’s ‘Uncle Tech’ is out now on MN2S. Look for Todd’s remix of Adele ‘Hometown Glory’ out soon on XL. Todd is developing new projects with Heatmakerz, Ameer Vincent, and Bridge 2 Love. ‘Strictly Todd Terry’ compilation mixed by Todd is out now on Strictly Rhythm.

Check out www.xmixprod.com where you can find information on X-Mix artists, upcoming releases, tour dates, press, music, and videos.

Aqua-Booty Party

DJ Greg Cuoco has relaunched his legendary Aqua-Booty party at Sin Sin, the upstairs room at Leopard Lounge on 2nd Avenue and E. 5th St. Tonight, Greg will share the tables with prolific producer and keyboardist, Eric Kupper. The event is hosted by long time dance music industry oracle, Debra Eriksen.

Aqua-Booty was a necessary stop for many underground house music DJs in mid to late 90’s. Given focus has been so much on trance and tribal house at some of the larger venues in New York City, it’s nice to see that some folks are bringing that underground, New York house sound back.

The party will take place the third Thursday of every month. Upcoming DJs include Tony Humphries, Scott Wozniak and Oscar P.

Also tonight, Roger Sanchez is back at Cielo for his Secret Soul Sessions party. This event is probably the most heavily attended house music night in the city, save for certain parties at Pacha. It’s best to come out early. Don’t wait until 12 midnight, because you might be turned away at the door. For more information, check out the event’s Facebook page.

If you miss out tonight, check out Scott Wozniak’s and Luis Baro’s party, Moonshine, downstairs at SB2 on Friday nights. For more information, hit up their Facebook event page.

– by Tony Z

Okay, so I promised myself I would blog about the O’Reily Web 2.0 Expo yesterday. Well, promises never last, or do they? I dunno. What I do know is that I’m exhausted from the following:

1. A 3-hour delayed flight Monday night on US Airways. Why I chose that airline is anyone’s guess. To make matters worse, I had the window seat in the last aisle behind the lavatory. Not a good look.

2. Getting 5 hours of sleep and hitting rush hour traffic on the 580 into the Bay Bridget. Fortunately, I made it through the tolls and go to the Flex workshop on time–with muffin and tea in hand.

3. Multiple workshops yesterday and then running to the Castro to pick up business cards from ClubCardPrinting.com, who did an excellent job by the way!

4. Not eating a thing between lunch and 12:30 am. So busy, I forgot to eat.

5. Heading to the Clearspring and Digg parties after the workshops with Jeff Roberto from Friendster and then standing outside of Mighty in the rain, all while waiting for a taxi to get back to the garage where I’d left the Ford Escape I should have driven to Mighty in the first place.

One of the top things I learned yesterday about blogging: make top five and top 10 lists, which have a higher probability of showing up in search results.

Are you shopping for that suit for your trip to Ibiza? Need something sexy for Goa, Rio De Janeiro or the French Riviera? Want to catch the eye of that superstar DJ mixing it up, while you dance on a bass bin? I think Insight definitely has the suit for you.

Like any respectable DJ blog on the Internet, we’ve got to cover (or uncover) just about anything that has to do with DJ culture. Surely we’d be neglecting our readers if we didn’t at least show important advances in fashion (yeah, right!). As we’re an equal opportunity blog, we’ll hit you with some men’s suits over the next few weeks. For now, we’re pushing the female Lycra.

This morning, I was thinking that we here at Netmix would dread it if we were deemed as being (a) irresponsible to our readers, and (b) catering to Neanderthal males who care more about tweaking tracks in Abelton, sequencing in Logic and arguing over why p2p should be legal, than sipping Coronas from a beach chair at the pool at The National while checking out the glistening skin of girls with names like Bianca and Alexandra getting in their morning swim.

Of course, my girlfriend, Missy, is going to ask me, “is this all really necessary? My answer to that would be, well…YES! I just hope she doesn’t show her new boss this blog today. Doh!

Okay, enough of the preparation. These bikinis from Insight are a great example of street wear with bright color palettes gone sexy. They are available at Karmaloop.com.

On April 25, I’ll be joining Dirty Stereo’s crew in Monticello, NY for my first off-line gig in 3 years! Hope you can join us. For guest list: http://www.going.com/euphoria. I’m going to record the night and post it as a podcast after the event. If you love this flyer, contact Mauricio at printmiami@aol.com. They did a great job on it!

I’m spinning my first off line gig in years on April 26th in Monticello, NY. It’s going to be fun. Never been to Monticello. It’s a little ways off the beaten path, but house music is global, and we’re going to take it to’em on April 26th. For guest list, DJs and more details, you can check they hype through the Going.com banner below.