Mark Nicholas

01:44 pm: I'm huge in Uruguay (no, really!)
This is taken from a message I just received on myspace from a DJ who spins there:

"Every friday and saturday people get crazy with "Perverse" here at Alexander Disco Pub..
I'm so glad to tell you that people come to us to ask what is that wonderful song we sing non stop.
I will record it and post it here for everyone to see the success of Mark Nicholas in Uruguay.
Keep it uP!"

Just when I'd started believing that album didn't really get too far...

-m

Tags: mark nicholas, perverse, uruguay

11:35 am: Watching the charts...
As suspected, Cosmicity is the faster climber of my two musical efforts on thesixtyone.com.

I gotta tell you, though, this site is an eye-opener for me. Completely democratic... people vote for their favorite songs, and the most successful songs make it to the home page and are considered "hits". And it's fascinating to see what songs work and what songs don't.

For example, the most popular Cosmicity songs of all time (in terms of sales) are "Rengerate" and "Sedgwick". They did okay on the site, but then got SMOKED by the songs "Let Me In" and "Crucify", the two I posted most recently. "Let Me In" hit the homepage yesterday, and Crucify will be joining it there in the next day or so. That's kind of cool... a song from 11 years ago that's a hit with people today. For all they know, I recorded it last week. In their ears, it still holds up (not dated). That's awesome!

On the Mark Nicholas front, the song "I Wish" went straight to the home page in just 2 days, but the song "Two Sandwiches" did SO badly (only 12 bumps in 3 weeks... to put that in perspective, most of my other songs get an average of 80 bumps in that time, and Crucify just got over 200 bumps in 14 hours). I would have bet the farm that "Two Sandwiches" would be popular, but I would have lost that farm! "Maniac" also just hit the homepage today. I would have bet half the farm on that one... so at least I'd still have half a farm. Hopefully the things on that farm aren't split too evenly, as half a cow is still a dead cow.

Overall "Mark Nicholas" still has a higher score, but I've had "Mark" in the game a lot longer. In the next few weeks, I'm positive that Cosmicity will double that score and then some.

What does it all mean? I guess I don't really know. I'm just happy that some of the songs are doing very well, old and new. If you feel so inclined, cast your votes for the next Cosmicity song I should post. Which one do you think will be a hit (given the facts listed above about Sedgwick failing and Let Me In succeeding, etc.)?

-m

PS - Weren't we supposed to be having a baby or something? What ever happened with that?

PPS - (Any day now!)

Tags: cosmicity, mark nicholas, thesixtyone, zoe

04:25 am: The Free EP - It begins...
Early dibs for ya...

I've still got LOTS of other sites to post this EP on (it'll probably take me all weekend), and I'm going to build it its own web page, but basically here's what it it's going to be if you just can't wait to get yourself some free tunes. (Available for download so far only on last.fm, iLike.com, and myspace.)

http://www.marknicholas.org/listen.html

Thanks for your help sorting this out, everyone. Obviously the final track list isn't exactly what any one person specified, but almost all of these songs are tracks that you guys suggested, and yeah, one that nobody suggested. Goodnight My Love? Yep... 'cause Sara and I love that song. I mean, when you're getting all kinds of downloads for free, you're bound to get at least one song WE want you to hear. (It'll grow on you, damn it! Seriously, who doesn't like a song that details a psychopathic - possibly android - killer breaking up with his girlfriend? It's got MASS APPEAL!)

-m

Tags: mark nicholas, the free ep

02:51 pm: Less Hypothetical
Let's just say for kicks... that the reason I was asking about songs yesterday was because I'm considering offering this entire EP of my music to the whole world completely free. In fact, I'm thinking of calling it "THE FREE EP". One big, fat, free download. Totally unrestricted MP3s. In fact, giving this music away to people you know would be actively encouraged, and as easy as sending friends a link to the download page.

Assuming that was the case, and assuming that I've narrowed it down to these 10 songs... I'd still like to trim the list down a bit. The easy thing to do would be to just eliminate the Cosmicity songs (tracks 7-9) completely, since they are a good five to seven years old. Thoughts? Arguments?

1. I Wish
2. Maniac
3. Backlash
4. Coming Clean (Club Mix)
5. Green
6. Little Goth Girl (Ethereal Mix)
7. I Want You
8. The Princess of Detroit
9. Tinnitus
10. Selective Memory Loss (Pure and Simple Mix)

For the record, my THEORY is that by releasing a completely free EP, some of the, hopefully, many people that'll download it just 'cause it's free will like, or grow to really like, some of these songs as they hear them on their computers or iPods over time. And that they'll eventually either want to go buy more songs from the original albums, or at least be more inclined to buy my next album because they've become something of a fan. Will it prove to be a totally foolish business model to give away 6 or 7 of my best songs for free? Maybe. But I'm hopeful that, ultimately, it could prove to be the opposite.

Hit me people. I can take it.

-m

Tags: cosmicity, mark nicholas, the free ep

01:04 pm: Totally hypothetical...
Let's say you were trying to introduce a friend/co-worker to my music. You want to burn a 6 song EP that you would give them for free to *hopefully* get them interested and wanting to buy more.

Which 6 songs? Only Mark Nicholas songs, or maybe 1 or 2 Cosmicity songs also?

In my head I'd say something like this, but I kinda know it's wrong:

THE FREE EP
1. Backlash
2. Regenerate
3. Coming Clean (Club Mix)
4. I'm Trying To Impress You
5. Little Goth Girl (Ethereal Mix)
6. Hotel Allegro Chicago

The objective is to get regular music-lovers interested, so the songs should be probably the easiest ones to get into and get hooked on. But which ones are those?

-m

Tags: cosmicity, mark nicholas, the free ep

03:37 pm: Happy Holidays - new stupid song!
Yep. I did it. I made another ridiculous holiday song this year. (I do one almost every year for a party at which we must bring a homemade gift... it's not like I can really make anything besides music!) This year it's a cover of the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside". Only, you know, with a decidedly nerdy twist. It's on both of my myspace pages. Enjoy, and have a great holiday! :-)

-mark

Tags: christmas, holiday, mark nicholas, master it's cold outside, myspace

02:56 pm: Perversions is com... comp... complete!
Finally done with Perversions! Ah... the sense of completion. It is awesome.

It's off to mastering today. Then to manufacturing probably sometime next week, assuming the artwork is ready. Nice.

The absolute final track listing:

1. Two Sandwiches (Detroit Mix)
2. The Measure of Pleasure (Sad Bastard Mix)
3. Maniac
4. I Wish I Wanted You (DJ Ginger Snapp's Mashup)
5. Coming Clean (Club Mix)
6. Backlash (8-Bit Mix)
7. Perverse (Original Demo)
8. Little Goth Girl (Ethereal Mix)
9. Selective Memory Loss (Pure and Simple Mix)
10. Goodnight My Love
11. Perverse (Syrian Remix)
12. Green California
13. Your Beautiful Lie (MN vs Cosmicity)

Hooray! Now to somehow pay for all of this...

-m

Tags: complete, mark nicholas, perversions

01:06 pm: Do you crave Cosmicity?
How much Cosmicity is enough Cosmicity on this EP? Fact is, I've got 12 songs completely done right now, none of them really being Cosmicity remakes.

I did kinda half set out to make this release about featuring a few Cosmicity reworkings, but now that I'm here with 12 tracks totally done, I don't know how much I need Cosmicity material. Plus, I'm kinda tired of reworking songs now (which I totally proved to myself when I sidetracked for a full week to do the totally new song "Goodnight My Love".)

So, the question of the day is, how much is enough?

There IS already the mashup Sara did of I Wish I Wanted You, which is 50% Cosmicity.

And I believe I could finish a remake of "Your Beautiful Lie" if everyone really wanted it. I've actually got something started for that one.

Whadaya think? Would you be satisfied (would you buy it) if the track listing looked like this (below) - assuming the CD or iTunes purchase would cost you $9.99?

1. Two Sandwiches (Detroit Mix)
2. The Measure Of Pleasure (Sad Bastard Mix)
3. Maniac
4. I Wish I Wanted You (DJ Ginger Snapp's Mashup)
5. Coming Clean (Club Mix)
6. Backlash (8-bit Mix)
7. Perverse (Original Demo)
8. Little Goth Girl (Ethereal Mix)
9. Selective Memory Loss (Pure and Simple Mix)
10. Goodnight My Love
11. Perverse (Syrian Remix)
12. Green California
13. Your Beautiful Lie (MN vs Cosmicity) ?maybe?

-m

Tags: cosmicity, mark nicholas, perversions

11:03 pm: Quick Poll
If I were to release "Green California" on my upcoming EP (Perversions), would you want it so you could skip right to the California part (which is only about 2 minutes long), or would it just irritate you when the song came up in 2 different pieces on your iPod in Shuffle mode? I'm 50-50 about it personally, so I thought I'd see where you guys weigh-in. (In other words, would you want this song to be track #7 on the album only - or instead, track #7 and track #8, with #7 being "Green" and #8 being "California".)

(If you have no idea what song I'm talking about, you can hear a rough live recording of it on YouTube.)

-m

PS - In case you're thinking this: I'm not going to extend California and get rid of Green. They really do go together since they use the same drum track etc. Plus, I'm not motivated to spend a lot of time extending another cover song. I'd rather get back to writing new, original music sooner, you know? But, if you were thinking that, I'm glad you liked it enough to think it. :-)

Tags: green california, mark nicholas, perversions

11:35 am: Re:Gen Review
http://www.regenmag.com/Reviews-1130-Mark-Nicholas-Duchess-33.html

Tags: duchess 33, mark nicholas, review

01:07 am: This is me - pushing the RESET button.
I had a whole rant written about how unbelievably shitty all of our "friends" in Detroit are for not coming to our final live show, and generally just completely ignoring my music that I pour my heart and soul into, but I'm too tired to bother with 'em. Fuck 'em.

Instead I thank, VERY VERY MUCH, the couple friends who did come. You know who you are, and you know we really love you for being there. We won't soon forget. Scratch that. We won't ever forget.

Regardless of those issues, it was one of our best shows, I think, performance-wise. And it seemed like the secret track was very well-received, so hopefully all of you awesome people out in LJ-land will enjoy the recording of it once it's out. I had hoped to record a video of it to show you guys, but alas, there were techinical difficulties with the camera - so hang tight and you'll be able to own the track in about a month. (PS - I love you LJ friends. You guys are always there and I hope you know how much I appreciate you.)

On a related note, a pretty severe internal reset button was pushed tonight. Expect the very unexpected in 2008.

-m

Tags: assemblage 23, detroit, friends, live, mark nicholas, smalls

10:55 pm: LIVE in DETROIT with ASSEMBLAGE 23 - THIS THURSDAY
Just a quick reminder not to miss Assemblage 23 and yours truly (I feel weird saying Mark Nicholas, 'cause, you know, that's me...) both performing on the same stage on the same night (for the first time since 2002, I believe!) And yes... I'll be debuting my "secret track" that I've been secretly working on in secret at the secret end of my secret set, so even if you've recently seen a Mark Nicholas performance, this one's unique!

SHOW WEBSITE WITH ALL THE INFO: http://www.darqueproductions.com/events.cfm?id=186

QUICK INFO:
Smalls in Hamtramck (10339 Conant - 48212)
Doors at 9pm. 18+ welcome.
$12 advance tickets (see info website for details)
$15 at the door.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

-m

Tags: assemblage 23, detroit, live, mark nicholas, smalls

11:57 pm: State of the Music Speech
ITEM #1
If you are in the Detroit area, don't miss the LIVE SHOW I'm doing at Smalls in Hamtramck on October 11th. Doors at 9:00 pm. Oh, and did I mention I'll be opening for ASSEMBLAGE 23? If you're in or even just sorta around Detroit, don't miss this!

ITEM #2
"PERVERSIONS"

A brand new "remix" album that is now so real, I'm layin' down SOLID details!

TIMELINE: Finalizing the songs October 6-20. Mastering October 20-27.

SALES DATE: Online/download availability mid-November.
This is primarily an online release only, however, there will be a physical CD run limited to 100 units, hand pressed with proper artwork (and, yeah, autographed by request) available late in November.

BOTTOM LINE: TOTAL AVAILABILITY BY LATE NOVEMBER.

TRACK LISTING (subject to minor changes and reordering):

1. Perverse (Slipping Under Remix)
2. Two Sandwiches (Proof I'm From Detroit Mix)
3. Backlash (8-bit Mix)
4. Coming Clean (Club Mix)
5. Little Goth Girl (Resurrection Mix)
6. Selective Memory Loss (Pure and Simple Mix)
7. ??? (Surprise Track)
8. The Measure of Pleasure (Sad Bastard Mix)
9. Perverse (Syrian Remix)
10. I Wish I Wanted You (DJ Ginger Snapp's Mashup)
11. Your Beautiful Lie (Mark Nicholas VS Cosmicity Mix)
12. Orange (Mark Nicholas VS Cosmicity Mix)

Half of these are completely done already (you can hear a few on my myspace page). The other half are all in-the-works. To ensure completion, I've taken a solid 2 weeks off from my day job in October, so I WILL have the time to get it all done.

Even people who don't traditionally like remixes are gonna get into this release. Only a precious few are what I'd consider "club" mixes (Perverse, Two Sandwiches and Coming Clean). Everything else is more of a reinterpretation than a remix, so really, you could look at this album as a chance to get into a song that you weren't sure you liked before. (I'm looking at you, Little Goth Girl haters!) A pessimist would say it's a chance for me to ruin a song you used to like, but that glass-is-half-empty person is already suffering from dehydration, so I think their delusional logic is pretty unreliable. Nah, I'm pretty confident this is gonna open up a lot of tracks from "Duchess 33" for those of you who only liked it in pieces, and offer more to love for those who already loved the whole thing. (Yes, all 5 of us.)

Stay psyched for what I believe will be one of the last-best releases of 2007. November will never be the same. No, really. Next year it'll be 2008. NOT the same November. This is the very last time you'll get to enjoy November 2007, so don't fuck around. Don't. Instead, do yourself a favor. Download "Perversions". After you hear it, go ahead and drop me a line. Yeah, I accept thank-you notes at info@marknicholas.org. To avoid my boring e-mail filter, make the subject line "Top 10 Reasons Why You Were So Right About Perversions Changing November Forever". Or, it'll also accept "Dear Ego-Maniacal Fuckhead..."

ITEM #3
More awesomer TV show: "Lucy, Daughter of the Devil" or "Frisky Dingo"? Discuss.

-m

Tags: frisky dingo, lucy daughter of the devil, mark nicholas, perversions, remixes

11:07 am: Quick Survey
There's an "ultra mega synth" collection coming up. They want two tracks from me: one Cosmicity, one Mark Nicholas. And so I ask you, off the top of your head, what is the first song from either Cosmicity or the new me (Duchess 33 and beyond) that you would play someone to get them interested in my music?

-m

Tags: compilation, cosmicity, mark nicholas

03:11 pm: Surprise: New songs being previewed.
Now on myspace: A sneak preview of a couple of brand new mixes that'll be on the upcoming "Perversions" remix album. -CLICK ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT-.

I know a lot of you thought I'd just been resting on my lazy ass this year (okay, maybe a little), but here's a little bit of proof that "Perversions" is real, and coming very soon!

-m

Tags: mark nicholas, perversions, remixes

02:13 pm: Couple o' youtube thingies.
They're not exactly professionally made videos, but if you missed the live performances we did in June, below are a couple of clips extracted from the webcam video that was broadcast live from the show at IPM Radio in Detroit. So, you know, static camera... less than perfect video quality... but it gives you a little something, where before, there was nothing. :-) (Also worth noting: since we were just in-studio for this performance, we went casual. In other words, you don't get to see my cool bright pink fauxhawk here.)

Green California (hang in there until the end if you want to hear one of the songs we covered...):



Your Beautiful Lie (remake):



-m

Tags: duchess 33, ferndale, green california, ipm, live, mark nicholas, video, your beautiful lie, youtube

12:08 pm: A few Duchess 33 Reviews are finally starting to pop up...
Here are three reviews that I've seen online so far. Let me know if you see any others (good or bad!) :-)

From VampireFreaks.com below:

Mark Nicholas is an Electronic musician, based in Detroit, Michigan. He found his love for electronic music, in the late 80's, when he met his first synthesizer. He spent years saving money and collecting additional electronic equipment and by 1994, he formed the underground synthpop band 'Cosmicity'.

His debut album, under the new name, is called "Duchess 33" (released Feb. 2007). The title is a tribute to his 'porn name', which he created in 2004 after being called a "potty mouth" and a "smut dealer by bloggers, when his record label at the time, refused to release the final Cosmicity album for "offensive content". He calls his style of music "Dirty Electronic". Once you listen to the songs, you will see why this fits. Every song on this album is full of energy, urging you to move along with each beat. The lyrics will, at times, make you chuckle, simply because of the images they will create in your mind.

The first track, Green, sets the pace for the rest of the album, not only in the style of music, but also in lyrics such as "You know you want to want me. Get free and watch her touch me. I'll make you wet with envy." It's energetic, naughty and just plain fun. Perverse, the albums third track, in all honesty is one of my personal favorites. The lyrics speak of brutal, dirty honesty and if you find me listening to it, I'm more than likely dancing in my seat, bopping my head along with the beat.

There is a Bonus Track, entitled Eine Kleine Booty Musik, with little to the lyrics, but it makes no difference. The beat alone is simply ripe for playing in clubs, so that you can watch people sway and move to it's beat. All in all, the entire album is worth the listen. Each song has it's own personality, it's own feeling to put forth and if you don't take the time to check it out, you are truly missing something here.

From PlastikSickness.com below:

Take ex-Cosmicity mastermind Mark Nicholas, let him name his album using the "porn name" formula, and you get some dirty electronic music. The back history (better read in full from his website) is a sad tale of a synthpop man jaded by the scene he so loved, and his realization one day he could turn that anger into some pretty damn fine music. In my opinion, he has succeeded!

"Duchess 33" is a collection of electro-laden synthpop, with Nicholas' distinctive vocals and a harder edge, more often brought out by the grittier edge of his arrangements. One thing I really like is that Nicholas varies in style on this album. He has club-friendly synthpop with a great beat (such as "Perverse"), some beautiful synthpop arrangements like on "I'm Trying To Impress You", and the next thing you know it's a deliciously smutty track like "Two Sandwiches" (one of my favorites). I did notice the album seemed to slow down and become more plaintive as it went on. If you're looking for a pick-up, the first half of the album will appeal to you more.

If you ever wanted the wit of Caustic or Voltaire in synthpop form, check this CD out. Of course you need to have a sense of humor, otherwise this album will likely offend you or fly over your head. Still, with the humor aside this is still a magnificently arranged album and deserves recognition.

From ConnexionBizarre.net below:

Known to many Synthpop fans around the world as the mastermind behind the band Cosmicity, Mark Nicholas' new project under his given name offers something quite different from what his audience is used to. Although the memorable melodies of Cosmicity are still present, something much dirtier and debauched has emerged in his music. To say a change has come into effect is quite simply an understatement! The days of good natured 80's influenced Synthpop have now seemingly been discarded to be replaced by dirty beats, twisted synth arrangements and perverse tongue-in-cheek lyrics. In other words, the era of dirty electronic has begun!

Being a fan of his work under the Cosmicity guise, hearing "Duchess 33" (a title derived from Mark's porn name!) really did come as a bit of surprise. To classify this album would be a difficult task for any reviewer, so to use the term 'Dirty Electronic' to describe it would more than likely be a sufficient and accurate term. To quote the man himself on the style of his music, this pretty much sums it all up."Depeche Mode bitch-slaps Trent Reznor right after he finishes screwing Allison Goldfrapp on soiled Prodigy-themed bedsheets. Oh, and still a little like Cosmicity too". As you can probably tell from that description this album is certainly diverse in every manner of speaking. Tracks such as "I'm Trying To Impress You", and "Green" both have hints of late 80's/ early 90's Industrial attached to them, not that dissimilar to that of early NIN. On other tracks such as "Perverse" and the insanely awesome and addictive "Two Sandwiches", Mark has quite clearly been influenced by the ever-growing underground Electro House scene. There are even elements of Hip-Hop in the track "Backlash", so you can probably see just why this album is so difficult to pin into one catergory. Lyrically the album's themes are that of sex, perversion, more sex, mid-life crisis', swearing, oh and did I mention sex?

With an album as diverse as this it really would be a chore to get bored of it so easily. Ok, the tail end of the album does unfortunately have some fairly weak tracks, but on the whole this album puts the fun back into music. If you like your music a bit zany, twisted and downright wrong at times then look no further, "Duchess 33" will deliver.

*Edit*

From Sideline Magazine below:

It is difficult to pin this album in one category. Flirting with electro, house, hip hop, synthpop and industrial this cd offers something diverse, fresh and different. Known as the man behind the band Cosmicity, M. Nicholas chose for, as he claims, a dirtier sound. This dirt can also be found in the lyrics; almost all the songs can be interpreted as stories about sex. Opener “Green” opens very smoothly with a driving bass line and sing along chorus. Another highlight is the very danceable “Perverse”-song. Half way the album “Two Sandwiches” caught my attention with its stomping 4/4 beat and sexy, twisted vocal production. “Little Goth Girl”, which makes me think of NIN, is another brilliant track, telling the story of somebody entering a goth club for the first time. Overall this album has a very bright, well produced sound and although the artwork could have been more glitchy and sexy this is a project which needs some attention, because this is modern music in the vein of artist like Tiga. (Noa:9)Noa.

Tags: duchess 33, mark nicholas, reviews, sideline