Kerri Chandler relaunches Madhouse Records

Legendary American DJ/producer Kerri Chandler has relaunched his Madhouse Records label after a seven-year sabbatical.

Madhouse Records originally launched in 1992 as an outlet for the then young producer’s own house productions. It sporadically released records throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, before becoming dormant in 2003.

Now the veteran producer has decided to celebrate 20 years in the music business by giving the acclaimed soulful house imprint a new lease of life – and he’s doing it in style.

The first new release on the reborn Madhouse Records will be a brand new 12” vinyl and digital single from Kerri Chandler himself. ‘Heaven’, featuring vocalist Christopher McGray, is a classic soulful house production in Chandlers inimitable style. The single comes backed with a number of remixes, including a deep, tracky, percussive dub that’s already found favour with DJs who like their music dark and tough.

Utah Saints still rocking after 20 years

Popular British DJ/production partnership Utah Saints are celebrating two decades of music-making and dancefloor destruction this year.

2011 marks 20 years since the duo of Jez Williams and Tim Garbutt first got together in their adopted hometown of Leeds, West Yorkshire. It wasn’t long before they were being hailed as “the first true stadium house band” by KLF frontman Bill Drummond, following a string of top 10 chart hits.

While it was 1991’s ‘What Can You Do For Me’ that first propelled them towards superstardom, they would record a bigger hit with 1992’s ‘Something Good’. Thanks to a distinctive sample from Kate Bush’s ‘Cloudbusting’, the single became a top five hit in the UK singles chart. It has gone on to become one of the most enduring dance hits of the last two decades, and was re-released to much acclaim with brand new remixes in 2008.

MN2S welcomes Niles Mason

International agency MN2S have welcomed singer-songwriter Niles Mason to their growing family of artists.

The American is best known for his 2010 collaboration with David Guetta and Afrojack, ‘Louder Than Words’. The track became a club anthem, hit sales charts across Europe and received widespread radio support. Niles has performed the song live many times in Europe and the USA, including a very special appearance at the 2010 Miami Winter Music Conference. He recently completed recording another would-be dancefloor hit, ‘Born To Fly’, with producers Discofly.

For all his dancefloor success, Niles is a much more than just a vocalist. His first break into the music industry was as a songwriter. He signed a publishing deal with Warner Chappell in 2009, a move that brought him to the attention of contemporary soul star Toni Braxton. Niles wrote ‘Yesterday’, the first track on her 2010 album ‘Pulse’.

Just Jack going back to his DJ roots

Over the years many singer-songwriters have laid down their microphones in favour of a pair of turntables and a stack of records. Few, though, have done it with as much finesse as Jack Alsopp, better known as Just Jack.

Best known for his smash hit ‘Stars In Their Eyes’, Jack exploded into the pop charts during 2007. Yet for all his pop success, it was DJ culture – and specifically house and garage – that first inspired him.

Now, in a break from recording, he’s heading back out on the road to showcase his DJ skills.

The London-based singer-songwriter is heading to Paris this Saturday (29 January) to bring the party to La Nuit De L’Essec at Essec Business School.

For those who’ve yet to check Jack DJing, you can get a taste of his talents on his Soundcloud page. His most recent mixtape, ‘The Definition Of Disco’, is an hour-long journey into low-slung disco grooves, handclaps and funky guitar licks. You can listen to it yourself here.

Bingo Players go for the full house

Unless you spent most of 2010 living in a cave, you will have heard of the Bingo Players – and most likely danced the night away to their speaker-busting club anthems.

Thanks to a string of killer releases at the tail end of 2010, the Dutch duo spent many weeks riding high in the Beatport download charts. Their tunes picked up major support from some of house music’s major players throughout the year, too. If that wasn’t enough, they managed to find the time to make appearances at some of the world’s biggest festivals, including UK clubbing institution Creamfields.

To say that Paul Baumer and Maarten Hoogstraated have been busy would be an understatement. November 2010 saw them team up with Karl Tricks to release the blistering, jacking house workout ‘Obviously’ on Hysteria. This was followed swift by the equally impressive ‘Lame Brained.

House legend George Morel continues comeback

For most people, the dawning of a new year is a time for revelry and over-indulgence. This new year house music aficionados have had more to celebrate than most – not least the continued re-emergence of one of the scene’s most prolific and respected producers, George Morel.

The native New Yorker’s credentials are well known – a world-renowned DJ and producer who spent time as A&R chief of the seminal Strictly Rhythm imprint – so expectancy was always high when he announced his comeback in the autumn of 2010. Morel had previously stepped back from DJing and production to spend more time with his family.

True to form, Morel’s comeback hasn’t disappointed. Following a tentative few months he’s now thrown himself back into work in a big way, and singles, remixes and EPs are beginning to mount up – much to the delight of his many fans.

Social Media Research for Travel Industry in Greece

Greece is renowned for its history, food and music and beautiful locations, and is a popular destination for many travellers. Gone are the days of brochures and booklets advertising the Greek Isles to the world, social media provides an effective way of advertising the country to the rest of the world.

In fact, it has become such a prominent advertising channel that on January 31st Athens will host a conference discussing new ways of identifying target audiences, distributing information and engaging with audiences via social media campaigns.

This means that there needs to be some insight into the social media usage Greece. The social media platforms that the conference will discuss include Facebook, FourSquare and Twitter and how these can be used to reach audiences.