As a followup to my Winter Music Guide guide post I'm reviewing events as they get scheduled to give you a guide to the music available this year.  Consult the list for a full listing of artists at any one event.  http://www.wmcon.com/thelist

Standard disclosures apply, I'm a progressive house & trance fan.  If you like deep house, breaks, minimal, etc, I'm afraid my tips on parties won't help you much but I do suggest you check out my WMC guide here: http://bolerix.com/wmc-2010-towheads-winter-music-conference-gui .  If you have a specific question please comment and I'll track down the answer for you.

As I've stated before, start on Tuesday.  Parties will be scheduled up until the last minute so don't let a lack of parties on Tuesday and Wednesday scare you off. 

• Sander Kleinenberg & Victor Calderone - "This is..." at the Surfcomber pool party- I'm a big fan of Kleinenberg's sets.   This last summer he spun a fantastic set here in San Francisco with some wickedly hard hitting progressive beats.   I've never had the pleasure of seeing Calderone but I've heard great things.  If you've not seen one or the other, this is a great way to expose yourself to something new at one of Miami's best pool parties.  Almost every year I end up at this pool and every year I have a great time.   This year its cheap too... buy your tickets early.
• Funkagenda and others - "Juicy Beach" pool party without the pool at Nikki Beach.   Juicy Beach parties have not generally been worth the price of admission and I'm not a big fan of Nikki Beach's velvet rope culture (If I remember correctly, Juicy Beach parties have not typically been at Nikki).   If you see a name here that you really want to see and you have a large group I suggest bottle service.   If you don't know what to do go to Surfcomber.
• Chus & Cheballos - "Pacha NYC: Nervous all Nite" at Park West.  I've seen Chus and Cheballos before and really enjoyed their sensually intricate and hypnotic sets. Like most South American artists these guys are under-appreciated and well worth a look.   A couple of years ago they spun at a Wednesday pool party that I was very sad to have missed.

• D:FUSE - the Return to lost angeles party at Tantra on Friday.   D:FUSE is a very talented Progressive producer and DJ.  He has a history of doing some really creative things with musicians and drummers during his sets and I've always enjoyed the socially upbeat and not too intense flow of his sets.

In other news the Ultra Music Festival announced another round of names and even goes so far to specify what nights and stages they'll be playing on. Normally multi-stage festivals tend to play this information close to their vest so Ultra deserves credit for being transparent this year.

The lineup is impressive as always.  Unfortunately it appears that the main stage is still being subjected to momentum destroying live acts.  I love live acts like the last guy but they really need to be relegated to their own stage.  Hopefully as they fill out the linup this proves not to be true but I'm not holding my breath.  If you have not yet read it, check out my rant on festivals here: http://bolerix.com/festivals-are-for-djs 

Carl Cox will be running his own tent this year.  If there is still a reason to go to Ultra, seeing Cox and Friends pull off a proper high energy night of electronic beats is worth the full price of admission.  Even if you favor other artists I suggest you stay in that tent and soak up what electronic festivals are meant to be like.  This year with Sasha & Digweed in the tent I expect it to even rival last year (if thats possible).

Paul Van Dyk is not on the billing yet.  This is surprising since Paul Van Dyk has been the Ultra saturday headliner since Ultra was born.  In his place is Deadmau5 who seems to be benefiting greatly from his 360 deal with EMI that he signed last spring. 

Also interesting to note is the appearance of Bassnectar, Glitch-mob, and Stanton Warriors.  Proof, at least, that Ultra continues to evolve with electronic music.  If you want to get the most out of your Ultra ticket I suggest you come early and roam the stages to get a feel for the impressive variety of music.  Also check out Bassnectar.   You probably won't like it, but if you do like it you'll love it.   

Read more about Ultra here: http://www.ultramusicfestival.com/phase-2-lineup-announced

There is an annual Sasha & Digweed Thursday night party at Mansion that always sells out. 

Tiesto will probably spin at Mansion on Saturday night.

Above & Beyond, usually Thursday night as well

A fun house night can be had at the Hed Kandi party (often Wednesday)