OutSmart Magazine review

http://outsmartmagazine.com/2013/04/dancing-toward-springtime/

by Gregg Shapiro

Some of you may remember Derek Nicoletto from his band Telling on Trixie. In that incarnation, Nicoletto was a forceful queer rocker. As a solo act, Nicoletto favors synth-pop with all of its dance-music associations. Picking up where his 2011 solo debut left off, on the six-song EP Just Panic and Get It Over With (7 Trick Pony), Nicoletto serves up big beats on the royally funky “Kings Are We.” It’s the kind of exhilarating song you can strut around the dance floor to like the big queen that you are. “F5” keeps the dance-party panic going and your heart rate racing. “Mother Numb It” dips into the drum’n bass pool and comes up dripping dizzying beats. “Blink of an Eye,” the sexiest cut, has spring dance anthem written all over it, while “Hell in Gramercy” indicates that Nicoletto hasn’t abandoned his harder-edged side.

Alabaster Sky - Derek Nicoletto

Alabaster Sky

by Derek Nicoletto

Tell me a story,

this winter morning needs some sunlight

Tell me a story

one where the hero hasn’t wasted

all his life.

Feather pillow, comfort me.

Don’t leave out

Don’t leave out the part where he…


Tell me a story

One where you never need your lifeline

New England waves,

Sandy granddaughters

Fill your life.

Your distractions crackling

in the fire.

Don’t leave out the part where we

 Love.

Ready to go

Ready to drive

Ready to dream about

Anywhere else but now

Shovel the truth

off to the side

Clear me a path for imaginary life

Through an

alabaster sky

Words will wing us high,

Flurry and flood

All of the blood into the white.

Tell me a story

One where I never need a bloodline -

Where less than a thousand milligrams

could keep me

me alive

You’ll be there to comfort me

Don’t leave now,

Not before the part where we

La La La La Love

Ready to go

Ready to drive

Ready to dream about

Anywhere else but now

Shovel the truth off to the side

Clear me a path for

imaginary life

Pause to magnify

every snowy lie

Flurry and flood

all of the blood into the white.

Derek Nicoletto and Gibson Studios to shoot music video

Josh Stoddard of Gibson Studios will be producing, directing and filming the video for San Simeon, the first single from Derek Nicoletto's April 2013 release, Just Panic And Get It Over With.

Derek Nicoletto eats a hoagie and watches Golden Girls before a super important meeting at Gibson Studios Hit Factory.

Derek Nicoletto eats a hoagie and watches Golden Girls before a super important meeting at Gibson Studios Hit Factory.

DEREK NICOLETTO’S JUST PANIC AND GET IT OVER WITH TO BE RELEASED APRIL 16, 2013

ALBUM RELEASE PARTY AT ARLENE’S GROCERY, LOWER EAST SIDE, APRIL 19TH, 2013

INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITIONS DIPLAYING VISUAL ART INSPIRED BY THE RECORD… COMING THIS SUMMER, 2013

New York, NY- Derek Nicoletto is back with a profound and empowering 6-song collection, Just Panic And Get It Over With, poised for wide digital release on April 16, 2013 on 7 Trick Pony Records. As a more eclectic follow-up to his debut, Kind Ghosts, Just Panic and Get It Over With showcases Nicoletto’s full-bodied, flexible rock voice, twisting sometimes in multiple melodies over a thoughtful electro-pop score. Just Panic… marks Nicoletto’s most impressive performances to date, and the songs on Just Panic… are inspiring some of the world’s finest visual artists to create pieces to be displayed in celebration of the release.

Just Panic And Get It Over With invites the listener to dance or to dream. It kicks off with an unconventional, bass-driven anthem, “Kings Are We,” followed by the swirling, retro flirtation of “F5.” In the record’s darker middle section, Nicoletto belts out the rocker, “Hell in Gramercy” and soars through “Mother Numb It,” a song drawn from a scene from Nicoletto’s troubled childhood. In “Blink of an Eye,” Nicoletto narrates both sides of love and heartbreak. Nicoletto caps off the listen with the Bowie-esque “San Simeon,” the most hopeful and arguably one of the most striking songs on the album with its dense poetry, lilting vocals and intricate grooves. Start to finish this album is as exciting as it is heartfelt. Nicoletto will be celebrating the release at Arlene’s Grocery on April 19 - the first performance in a soon-to-be announced national tour. 

“I trusted my bandmate, producer Kiyanu Kim and his vision for this album. Just Panic And Get It Over With took me into darker, but more liberated directions as a performer, songwriter and lyricist. I cannot wait to bring that freedom to the stage,” Nicoletto said.

To accompany the tour for Just Panic and Get It Over With, Nicoletto is curating a number of art exhibitions around the world starting in NYC, the city he calls home. Over twenty and counting handpicked visual artists are currently in the process of creating pieces inspired by a song of their choice from Just Panic And Get It Over With. After the SoHo, NYC gallery opening in mid-July, a number of other international cities will be announced as the next step for the Just Panic exhibition tour. Stay tuned for upcoming announcements in the next months.

About Derek Nicoletto:

Charting on hundreds of FM and college stations or live on Sirius radio, Derek's songs have reached millions of people on the radio waves. His songs have been used in over 25 television programs and several commercials. Most recently: MTV (several shows), VH1, NBC, CBS, NBC Dateline, FuseTV, E!, A&E, Sports NY, Spike TV, LOGO, Lifetime, OWN. Comm: KMart, Levi's, Radio Shack, Hyundai, State Farm, PGA Tour, and more.

Just Panic and Get It Over With follows Derek Nicoletto’s first-ever solo album, Kind Ghosts (2011 7 Trick Pony/Island Def Jam Distribution). On his debut, Nicoletto flaunted a more electropop direction from his former rock band, Telling on Trixie.

Having penned scores of pop/rock songs for his own bands, other artists and commercial projects, Nicoletto has become a well-known voice in the independent music scene and a voting member of the Grammy Awards.  The journey of his sophomore effort includes visual art movements and live performances that stretch into the most inventive and expressive territory of his career to date.

An all-time fave- Alicia Keys "Karma"

"Karma" by Alicia Keys is an all-time favorite for about 1,486 reasons.  The fact that her label blocks this VEVO video from playing on the blog of a Grammy-voting artist like myself... OR ANYONE'S BLOG FOR THAT MATTER - EVEN SOME TWEEN'S IN MINNESOTA, is beyond stupid. GET WITH THE MILLENIUM, MAJOR LABELS. As Amanda Palmer says, "We are the media."  To ignore that fact is to deny your artists publicity that you pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for.  

How to Journal

7:32 p.m.  Sit down on my bed with the intention to journal - a new year's resolution.  

7:36 p.m.  open computer, order Patsy's pizza via Seamlessweb.

7:42 p.m. already in a shame spiral about ordering pizza, doing push ups on kitchen floor

7:50 p.m.  having noticed my kitchen cabinet in disarray... organizing medicine, vitamins, checking expiration dates and getting that pleasure of throwing old stuff out.

8:12 p.m. feed my kid's fish

8:16 p.m. in bathroom, performing a few pore extractions

8:21 p.m. take a call from my friend Jeff who is once again ditching me for his boyfriend

8:23 p.m. consider writing about resentment against Jeff and his boyfriend

8:23:22 p.m.  turn on television instead

8:50 pizza arrives.

8:53  write blog about how to journal

My sister is a badass

My sister Lauren is going to move to Thailand for a year to fight sex trafficking.  Through Destiny Rescue, she went for a few weeks and literally helped a few women escape and found them shelter and jobs.  

Go here and give a donation to help us raise $4000 to get her there and settled and to live for a bit.  She will need $14,000 for the year.  I'm super, super super proud.

http://andlolosays.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/i-have-lost-my-mind/

BroadwayWorld.com

Following the debut LP release of Kind Ghosts, Derek Nicoletto has bundled seven different versions of the hit, “Champion” in a maxi-single that will be available on iTunes on August 28th, 2012. In addition to the album version, the maxi will also feature a variety of remixes by DJ Gomi, Dave Cortex & Josh Harnois, and Mirrortone.

Most notably, the “Champion Remixed” maxi-single begins with an acoustic version performed with Platinum-selling producer Jamie Siegel (Taking Back Sunday, The Roots, Joss Stone, Lauryn Hill). Knowing Siegel performed a similar moody guitar on Whitney Houston’s “My Love is Your Love,” Nicoletto approached him with the concept and the result was an on-the-spot recording session. “Sometimes the best work comes in the shortest amount of time, just getting in the studio and letting the ideas fly. With our acoustic version of 'Champion,' it was done in one afternoon and it’s one of the best pieces we’ve made,” Nicoletto explains. Siegel produced Nicoletto’s entire debut album, Kind Ghosts.

Nicoletto is in riding some serious creative momentum, and will be performing at Le Poisson Rouge with Kat Solar on August 23rd. Attending fans and friends will receive an exclusive musical advance from the maxi-single to be announced live at Le Poisson Rouge. September will see Nicoletto performing at Delaware Pride as he transitions back into the studio to record his sophomore effort.

Champion - Remixed

1. Champion (Acoustic Version) feat. Jamie Siegel

2. Champion (Album Version)

3. Champion (Mirrortone Radio Remix)

4. Champion (DJ Gomi Vocal Mixshow)

5. Champion (Dave Cortex and Josh Harnois Mix)

6. Champion (Mirrortone Extended Remix)

7. Champion (DJ Gomi Remix Dub)

8. Champion (DJ Gomi Radio Remix)

For more about Derek Nicoletto, visit www.dereknicoletto.com.

With his first-ever solo album, "Kind Ghosts," (2011), Billboard-honored singer/songwriter Derek Nicoletto flaunts his knack for infusing unique pop hooks, vivid lyrical imagery and evocative instrumentation into what could be called full-bodied electropop collection of singles. Shaped by Platinum-selling producer Jamie Siegel (Taking Back Sunday, The Roots), Nicoletto’s new direction in “Kind Ghosts” highlights his pure vocal talent upon a backdrop of bubbly, yet sensitive electronica with a signature flair of rocky soulfulness.

Charting on hundreds of FM and college stations or live on Sirius radio, Derek's songs have reached millions of people on the radio waves. His songs have been used in over 25 television programs and several commercials. Most recently: MTV (several shows), Vh1, NBC, CBS, NBC Dateline, FuseTV, E!, A&E, Sports NY, Spike TV, LOGO, Lifetime, OWN.
Comm: KMart, Levi's, L'Oreal, Radio Shack, Hyundai, State Farm, PGA Tour, and more.

Nicoletto shares, "Making “Kind Ghosts” meant examining and taking the best of what’s created me to this moment, all the joy, pain, beauty, humility, and then baring myself in a new sense of self. I could only trust Jamie Siegel to help me accomplish this task. We are so proud of the result. Today, I know that there are powers greater than myself looking out for me. Sometimes they are clear angels, like my grandfather, sometimes they are visions that I can’t explain. I call these my “kind ghosts.” They are reflected through the snapshots of these songs and the people or experiences that have shaped me into the artist, father, son, friend, lover and stranger I am today,” Nicoletto explains. “Most of all, I’ve realized that the residue of my past contains a gorgeous, bright and child-like innocent love, incorporated here in the musical atmosphere of all the songs on “Kind Ghosts,” no matter the specific theme of each song. And looking at this constant in my life as I created this album, I realized I’m going to be all right, no matter what life brings my way. Thus, the theme of the album, as an entire piece, is the lyric from the title track. “Remember your name, sing it to the sky, go out and dance for yourself tonight. Let go, or be dragged behind. Kind ghosts will carry you home tonight.”

Read more: http://broadwayworld.com/article/Derek-Nicoletto-and-Kat-Solar-Set-for-Le-Poisson-Rouge-Aug-23-20120813##ixzz2JJ2FXKMg

Keep it flowing

This morning I woke up to a message from someone who was inspired to take a positive action in his own life, which he credits to being inspired by a song of mine. That song is simply a manifestation of inspiration funneled through to me by someone else, plus an awareness of the world around me and an honest appraisal of my feelings about what I saw when I looked at that world. 


So, it just proves that if the artist remains awake, aware and uses his creativity to process the world around him, it can flow beyond him and sometimes produce beautiful consequences never expected. This isn’t to say we need to be creating flowery subject matter. Lord knows I don’t. I rarely do. As a matter of fact, as was the case here, a sad or angry song often produces a much-needed feeling of identification for the listener. It can make him or her feel less alone, and, as was the case here, even empowered. Stay awake, aware and be the funnel through which it all flows.