Album Notes

Mark Nicholas is a Detroit-based electronic musician, well known in the underground Synthpop community as the man behind the band Cosmicity. Cosmicity was active from 1994-2003, selling tens of thousands of albums during that time. Now recording under his given name, Mark has shed the confines of pristine, 80’s-influenced Synthpop for a modern hybrid electronic sound – a sound he calls Dirty Electronic.

There’s nothing pristine or elegant about the sound of the synthesizers and drum machines you’ll hear on Mark’s debut album “Duchess 33” (released February 6th, 2007). In fact, everything’s just a little bit filthy, from the production straight through to the lyrics. Distortion-washed… clipped… crushed… and divine.

One track from the album, “Backlash”, garnered some early attention after being selected as one of only 3 finalists in the 2006 John Lennon Songwriting Contest in the Electronic category. Subsequently posted on their website - well ahead of its scheduled debut on “Duchess 33” - the song has since received a huge listener response. Other early favorites include “Green”, “Perverse”, and “Little Goth Girl”, the latter of which chronicles the story of a “straight-edge” entering a Goth club for the first time.

“Duchess 33” has drawn early comparisons to Prodigy and Depeche Mode, but, like most satisfying new music, it’s generally difficult to categorize. A recent fan e-mail to Mark probably says it best:

“Dude, seriously… the new songs kick ass! …it has elements if Goldfrapp, Nine Inch Nails, and even DM, yet it sounds very unique.”