Destination: Miami ­ Part 1
Looking to escape the deep freeze of the weather in the Northeast, the Midwest and parts of Europe, thousands of revelers will be attending the Winter Party Festival in Miami the first weekend of March. More than just a typical circuit event featuring marathon parties with world famous DJs, Winter Party now encompasses lots of cultural activities that make the festival appealing to a broad spectrum of the LGBT community.

Those attending should be on the look-out for gift CDs from up and coming DJs from around the country, including Midwest connected jocks Deanne (Indy), John Murges (Milwaukee), Zach Stowers (formerly of Chicago and now living in NYC) and yours truly, DJ Plez.

Destination: New York City,
The White Party 7 compilation CD may be inspired by the annual November confab, but it is mixed by Junior Vasquez, and he most certainly is all about New York City. This is easily one of the better releases that Centaur has had in recent years.

The mix is energetic and full of vocals by familiar names such as Vernessa Mitchell, Deborah Cox, and Destiny's Child. But amidst all the lyrics is an abundance of rhythms and beats that range from the tribal to the hard-house electro, adding texture and depth to what otherwise might have been a typical run of the mill mix.

Destination: London, United Kingdom
If you haven't heard of Goldfrapp yet, then you need to get with it. The British duo ­ Alison Goldfrapp & Will Gregory - had two hit singles in 2003 with "Strict Machine" and "Train" and are now about to release their third album called Supernature (Mute Records) here in the U.S. Already a chart-topping success in the U.K., the 11-track Supenature demonstrates Goldfrapp's complete artistic control of their pioneering electronic sound and crystalline vocals.
This is subversive, edgy electro-pop music, with just a bit if funk added in at times, bathed in a "discotronic" soundscape. Fun stuff indeed!

Destination: Tel Aviv, Israel
Israeli superstar DJ Offer Nissim has been making quite a name for himself this past year: a critically acclaimed artist album of dance tracks was released in May 2005 and he's had numerous impressive DJing performances around the world. He keeps the momentum going with the recently released maxi-single, "First Time" (Star 69 Records), which features Maya on vocals.

This song, with remixes by Peter Rauhofer, Hector Fonseca, Airmale, and Ohzee & the Butcha, is already in heavy rotation with the likes of Carl Cox and Paul Van Dyk and is sure to climb global dance charts. In addition, the maxi-single contains the unreleased "On My Own."

Destination: San Francisco, CA
The folks at San Francisco - based Om Records have been pumping out high-quality and stellar house music for 10 years now and as a celebration they are releasing a 3-CD set called OM:10 ­ A Decade of Future Music. The release contains both new and never before released tracks as well as classics from the entire Om roster, which includes Kaskade, Marquess Wyatt, Colette, Groove Junkies, Afro-Mystic, and Chicago legend Mark Farina. From Om's trademark jackin' funky deep house to soul based hip hop, to groovin' downtempo, OM:10 has a little bit of something for everyone! This is a real treat and a must-have for all serious house-heads.