Weekly Reviews: Week of 25/01/09

In this week’s review I’ll talk about new things. It is always rather exciting when we acknowledge something new in SL and that is precisely what is happening on the grid right now. There is a new club about to open and a “new girl in the town”. I’ll also talk about a service that can be extremely interesting for SL clubs and DJs.

It opens this Saturday (31st January) at 12.00 SLT a new club in the grid. Located in Ravello Bay, AMICI – House Club is a fresh new venue in the grid. The island’s landscaping was very carefully done and the club’s architecture matches perfectly the idyllic scenario. The decoration was kept simple, however the texturing is of high quality and the colours chosen (a fresh fizz green seems to contrast with the whites and greys) can make an impressive symbiosis with the surrounding water and landscaping.

By the opening the flyers and invitations that are already out it is clear to see that the choice of the DJs is not less impressive than the space itself. DJs Tasty Hax and Maurice Hax are the ones on the decks for the opening night, but some another names are already scheduled for the further events. The prime time will be from 12pm to 4pm with events 7 days a week.

Looking forward to cover styles like Funky House, Funky Deep, Vocal, Electro House and Soulful, AMICI – House Club promises to became in a near future a reference in the clubbing scene in Second Life. Erin Messmer, from the board of owners says; “we don’t want it too hard or aggressive, though we will present some DJ's who spin electro house. We also will have some special events like spontaneous pool parties... maybe then also with some chill out/ Lounge tunes.”

Personally, I am already a big fan of AMICI – House Club and hope it really becomes a big reference in the grid.

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There is a "new girl in town", in this case often at Toon Town. Her name is Kayla Boxer and she plays a NY style of funky house. Her spinning skills are amazing and the rhythms at her sets are highly “funkylicious”.

The perfect contrast of a very cute voice and NY accent with the killer bass lines of her tunes is a pleasure to any House Music fan to listen. It is curious how I met Kayla cause it was during one of those magical moments that sometimes happen in SL, a DJ jam session at my place with other two fellow DJs, and what DJs. Neither more nor less than my friends Ephram Magic and Vitor Urqhart. It lasted almost five and half hours and was witnessed by the club managers, Anessa Stine, Marvie Forzane, and Jase Sin. That magical moment revealed Kayla as a brilliant DJ and after that I went to listen to her in two other more sets. Though she runs with the nickname DJ FunKay, we decided to nickname her “Kayla the Killa” after her killer bass lines.

Kayla is a RL DJ who is not featuring out of the grid at the moment, her spinning timing and skills on the decks can speak for her. If you are after a Funky House DJ with those characteristics you’d better hurry up to “sign” her, as she definitely won’t be a DJ up for grabs much longer.

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Some while ago, I had a conversation with my friend Lolly Sciarri about what would be interesting in the music scene in SL. One of the things we thought was it would be nice having a place where to get some MP3 in world. After a couple of days, Lolly IMed me saying she found a place like that. She got me the landmark and I decided to go and check it out as soon as I had the time. Some days later I was in a quest for a last minute stream as my usual provider was facing some server problems. Then I realised that LM Lolly gave me was also a streaming services provider. I got even more surprised with the price. It was the modest amount of 900L$ per month. “Sorry, did you say 900?!?” – was my reaction, I couldn't believe it could be so cheap, 100 listeners, 128kbp, and Icecast or Shoutcast option.

That place has also legal MP3 downloads, the cost of the download is a nominal fee, mainly to cover the cost of bandwidth for the downloads themselves. Prices ranged from L$150 - 250 at the time this report was filed and it was noted that some mixes actually lasted over an hour. The shop is relatively simple, consisting of several listening booths with chairs and "players", each linked into a separate stream from the company's servers. On one far end of the shop, a wall of virtual albums is placed, each purchasable with L$. It also has a nightclub streaming several genres 24/7, with regular changes of music depending on the day of week.

The man behind the idea is Mattchicago Cleanslate, in RL Matthew Nalett, owner of Chicago Music Promotions. He plans to introduce even more music in the MP3 Music stores, but can't promise a time frame: "We have over 2000 to 3000 songs across a wide spectrum of genres, and more are being submitted everyday at our website. To give you the cream of the crop here in SL requires a lot of vetting by the company, and this is not something we want to rush." Chicago Music Promotions also looks further on opening more CMP Music Centers in Second Life to promote other genres of music under the company's wing in the coming months. The company is welcoming land owners interested in setting up such centers in other parts of the grid catering to different genres of music.

And that is all for this week, stay tuned and remember, SIZE MATTERS!