DIESEL

Our first Miami Winter Music Conference, the USA's biggest electronic music event, was a sensory overload, with eyes and ears bombarded with the sights and sounds of sublime, to the surreal, to the revelatory, to the ridiculous: legendary Detroit producer Carl Craig playing his inimitable mixture of soulful, jazzy techno to a handful of people at the Delano hotel poolside; the world's biggest DJ, Paul Oakenfold performing with the backing of an all-female 30-piece orchestra and Cee-Lo at the >Bourne Sessions party; and one of the world's most famous hip hop producers teaming up with Mixmag, Claude VonStroke, Steve Angello and The Martinez Brothers for the week's hottest party.  You can decide for yourself which adjective applies to which, but we can tell you this: the revelatory part most definitely applies to The Martinez Brothers.

Chris (16) and Steve (19) Martinez are technically not even supposed to be allowed into nightclubs, but then any law that would prevent these two Bronx tyros from playing would need to be repealed instantly.  Discovered by New York house producer Dennis Ferrer, and signed to his Objecktivity label, the brothers have a knowledge of house, techno and disco records that takes most people decades to amass.  It no doubt helped that their father, Steve Sr. was a dancer at legendary New York nightclub the Paradise Garage, but the insatiable thirst for uplifting dance music, impeccable taste in records and indefatiguable performances are all their own.  Having made contact with Ferrer through Myspace when he was 15, Chris was invited by Ferrer to take his slot at NY's Shelter club - meeting Ferrer out front with their dad at 3am when the club's bars were closed, the brothers made their nightclub debut.  And blew everyone away.  Now, under the stewardship of Ferrer, they've already released their first 12 - 'My Rendition', which itself was written 2 years ago.

People involved in music have a tendency to get carried away with youth, hyping up acts based more on their age than talent, but it's for very good reason: there's nothing more exhilarating than when some young scamps come in and shake things up.  The Martinez Brothers are certainly going to do that - completely unfazed by performing with Diddy at their second WMC, they're ripping up the house music rulebook and about to start setting a few rules of their own.