Inna - Europe’s latest dance-pop sensation

Meet 24 year-old Romanian, Inna – Europe’s latest dance-pop sensation. While you may not know her name already, you will certainly have heard her chart-topping club anthems ‘Amazing’, ‘Hot’ and current UK top 20 single ‘Sun Is Up’.

The past year has seen Inna notch up an impressive list of stats. With an astonishing 150 million+ views on You Tube and 2.1 million Facebook friends, over 1 million records sold (including 350,000+ downloads in the UK), 21 music awards, and a US Billboard chart no. 1 to her name, Inna is gearing up for a promising UK debut album release with her first studio album, ‘Hot’.

Inna, otherwise known as Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu was born and raised in Neptun, one of Romania’s small costal resorts on the Black sea. Having sung from the tender age of eight and been inspired by the likes of Christina Aguilera, Beyonce and Shakira, Inna had ambitions for a career in music from a very early age. After a period of dividing her time between getting a good education, (she studied Philosophical Science at University post scoring high grades at high school), and trying to get ahead in the music industry (she entered numerous talent contests, including Romania’s answer to Pop Idol, The Raining Stars, and the Eurovision song contest, to no avail), Inna released her first single ‘Hot’ produced by Romanian dance music producers Play & Win in November 2008.

After topping the airplay charts in Inna’s home country, ‘Hot’ went on to become a huge hit across Europe, going platinum and topping both radio and sales charts in Russia, France, Poland, Greece, Belgium and Netherlands to name a few, while also garnering heat across the Atlantic when it successfully knocked Ke$ha’s ‘Tick Tock’ off the number one spot on US Billboard’s Hot Dance Airplay Chart. Within a short space of time, Inna became a household name in numerous European countries, and her music and live performances a firm fixture in clubs worldwide.

Fast forward to 2011 and Inna has notched up three more international hit singles, (with ‘Amazing’, ‘Déjà vu’  ‘Sun Is Up’), a no. 1 album in France and countless awards, (including the 2010 MTV European Music Award for Best Romanian Act), in addition to becoming a press favourite and sex symbol across Europe. Setting a new standard for dance music, Inna has achieved more than any other artist in this field and evolved into nothing short of a dance-pop sensation, in spite of the fact that she has hailed from a country that still has no sales charts or i-Tunes.

Debut UK album “Hot” boasts a collective of infectious floor-filling tracks including previous chart hits and future ones too that have an irresistible party sound perfect for the summer ahead both here and abroad.

Hot by Inna will be released by 3 Beat records on 13th June 2011.

Snoop Dogg headlining the 'I Want my MTV' in Ibiza

Following the recent announcement that MTV are hosting a series of exclusive live Ibiza music events throughout the summer, today it has been confirmed that hip hop superstar Snoop Dogg will be headlining the ‘I Want my MTV’ opening party on Friday 1st July at Amnesia, Ibiza, with Primal Scream closing the Summer parties on Fri 2nd September.

Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg’s ongoing appeal to his legions of fans means he continues to occupy the throne as the world’s most famous rapper.  His timeless and groundbreaking debut album Doggystyle, was an instant classic, selling almost a million copies in the first week of its release and quickly becoming quadruple platinum, spawning several classic hit singles, including What’s My Name and Gin & Juice.  Snoop’s recent studio album, Doggumentary boasts the sort of unpredictable collaborations that have made him a pop culture phenomenon, featuring the likes of Gorillaz, Kanye West and of course the recent remix version of Sweat by David Guetta.

Primal Scream
Primal Scream will be performing their legendary album Screamadelica, originally produced in 1991 by DJ Andrew Weatherall. Their set, which will close the festivities on 2nd September @ Amnesia will be full of club classics from the Screamdelica album, such as; Loaded and Come Together. Despite this being the first time the band have performed live in Ibiza,

‘Come Together’ is probably one of the Islands most played tracks of the last 20 years, a classic in every DJ’s record box and enjoyed by thousands in the clubs at sunrise and on the beaches at sunset. Primal Scream presents Screamadelica will be making their Spanish debut this Summer at Benicassim Festival 14th – 17th July.

Robyn
Also joining the Summer line up is world renowned Swedish singer/ songwriter Robyn, adding to the truly International flavor of the events. Robyn has achieved global success, with nominations this year for her latest album ‘Body Talk’, which features a duet with Snoop Dogg. Nominations include ‘Best International Album’ at The Brits, and ‘Best Commercial Dance Track’ at The International Dance Music Awards, for ‘Dancing On My Own’ which she performed live last year with Deadmau5 at the MTV Music Video Awards.

‘I Want My MTV Ibiza’ will be announcing a further 3 major acts, later this month to add to the current Summer line up, which also includes; exclusive live headline sets from Duran Duran, 2ManyDJ’s, Richie Hawtin and Mark Ronson all performing their first ever Ibiza live shows.

Mark Ronson, Marco Carola, Felix Da Housecat, Tiga, Erol Alkan, Magda, M.A.N.D.Y., Riva Starr, James Holden, Audiofly and Alfredo, will also be joining residents Layo & Bushwacka!

Tickets priced at 50 euros for each event are on sale now on www.MTVibiza.com or via www.ticketmaster.co.uk

The headline sets will be aired in the form of 2 x 1 hour specials called‘I Want My MTV Ibiza’ on Saturday 6th August at 9pm and Saturday 9th September at 9pm on music channels MTV Music & MTV Dance.

‘I Want My MTV Ibiza’ 2011
Fri July 1st – Fri 2nd September @ Amnesia, Ibiza

Opening Night:
Week One (Friday July 1)
MTV Live Room
Snoop Dogg (Live – Ibiza Exclusive)
Felix Da Housecat

Shake It! Ibiza Presents
Magda
Layo & Bushwacka!
Mar-T

Tickets priced at 50 euros for each event are on sale now on www.MTVibiza.com.

The bands debut Happiness entered the UK album charts at number 4 with over 25,000 sales making Hurts the UK’s fastest selling new band of 2010. They have now sold over 500,000 albums worldwide and in the UK, the album has been officially certified Gold.

Throughout Europe, Hurts also earned 14 top 10 iTunes positions including number one’s in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Finland and Luxembourg, and the album is now gold in the UK, Germany Russia, and Switzerland and Platinum in Poland.

Better Than Love was released as the bands first major single in May last year and has fast become a live favourite. Stated by Hurts as “dance music for depression”, Better Than Love is an upbeat yet dark single which will be released as a Double A Side alongside Illuminated. In stark contrast to Better Than Love, Illuminated is a slow and soft song that leads into a dramatic, emotive chorus.

Hurts – Better Than Love

Their single Wonderful Life has already had over 14 million online plays and in Europe has had great success with a number 1 airplay record in 5 countries to date including Germany, where the single has now sold over 400,000 copies and is certified Gold. Their success has also been matched in Poland where ‘Wonderful Life’ is also a Gold selling single.

Hurts ended 2010 with a bang after winning awards both in the UK and internationally. In Germany, they scooped the prestigious award for ‘Best International Newcomer’ at the Bambi’s (the German BAFTAs) and in the UK, The Sun awarded them the award for ‘Best Bizarre Session of 2010’. They also recently won the award for ‘Best New Band’ at the NME Awards and are nominated for Best International Newcomer at the Echo Awards in Germany next week.

Hurts are currently on a sell-out European tour following their sold out shows in the UK in February. They will be performing their first ever US show at Coachella next month followed by tour dates across Asia, before heading home for a busy summer of festival performances including V Festival, Isle of Wight, T in the Park, Oxegen and Dot To Dot.

The double A side single Illuminated/ Better Than Love is released by Hurts on May 2nd

FLO RIDA - photo zach wolfe

Hip hop sensation Flo Rida is preparing to release his new dance floor smash Who Dat Girl featuring Akon on March 28th through Atlantic Records.

Taken from the mini album Only 1 Flo (Pt1), Who Dat Girl is the third track to be released as a single following the massive success of Club Can’t Handle Me featuring David Guetta and the previous hit Turn Around (5,4,3,2,1).

Fresh from Capital FM’s Jingle Bell Ball where Flo performed not only his own club anthems but the top 10 hit, ‘Higher’ with pop starlets, The Saturdays, the megastar is back and ready to continue to reign the charts.

Already having clocked up over 7million YouTube hits, Who Dat Girl is well on its way to the top of the UK singles chart and finds the genre-busting rapper team up with R’n’B superstar and producer, Akon, creating a perfect blend of Flo’s signature stop-and-go flow, melodic sensibility and massive hooks.

The video will help promote the single, featuring party goers painting each other in luminous body paint, as you do.

On discussing the influence of ‘Who Dat Girl’, Flo says he wanted to showcase the experiences his glittering success has brought him since the release of his first two chart topping albums, Mail On Sunday and R.O.O.T.S.

The single Who Dat Girl is released on March 28th and is taken from the mini album Only 1 Flo (pt1) which is available now.

DDM-AssOnTheFloor

The Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs led collective Diddy-Dirty Money will release Ass on the Floor as the next single from their acclaimed debut album, Last Train to Paris. The Swizz Beats produced smash song has been an avid favourite amongst fans, radio listeners and partygoers the world over and will be released in the UK on 18th April.

Sampling Major Lazer’s‘Pon De Floor, Ass on the Floor is a bubbling, feel good number, vocally led by Dirty Money song birds Kalenna and Dawn, choral chants from Swizz Beats with a single, emotive rap verse from Diddy who croons: “How could you ever doubt me?/ when I stood by you proudly/  I would have gave my last breath/ now you can’t breathe without me.”

Diddy-Dirty Money comprises of Combs, singer songwriter Dawn Richard, a founding member of girl group Danity Kane, and songwriter Kalenna Harper.

On Ass On The Floor the trio dish up a stunning,  infectious and massive track that is equally suited to radio airplay as it is on the club scene, a floor filler wherever you may be. It is already a massive hit on YouTube, clicking up over 1,750,000 hits in three months. It is going to be a monster hit.

Diddy-Dirty Money – Ass On The Floor

Diddy-Dirty Money’s last single, Coming Home sustained a top 10 UK chart position for 4 weeks and continues to ride the official UK singles chart.

An electro hip-hop soul funk experience blending elements of UK grime, Mediterranean techno and the 808s of American hip-hop, the Last Train To Paris album represents a sound Combs calls “train music,” new dance music for the new decade.  Along with T.I., the album features an array of mega music stars including Lil Wayne, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Drake, Chris Brown, Grace Jones, Trey Songz and Bilal.  Among the illustrious roster of producers are Danja, Polow Da Don, Sean Garrett, Tricky Stewart, The Dream, Swizz Beats, Rodney Jerkins, D’Mile and Mario Winans.

Laidback Luke new single Timebomb

Laidback Luke releases his latest single Timebomb, featuring the massive voice of Jonathan Mendelsohn.

Luke has been making music since the mid-90’s but it’s the last four years that have seen him rising to the highs of international dj & producer status.

Luke’s production highlights include collaborating with Steve Angello on club tracks like Be to commercial tracks like the massive Robin S vocalled Show Me Love; teaming up with the Swedish House Mafia on the Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso & Steve Angello club anthem Leave The World Behind; co-producing with Duck Sauce hero A-Trak on the Shake It Down track; releasing with Diplo on the Hey single; and more recently working with cool-pop, star Robyn on the single Indestructible.

Luke has remixed for a stellar cast of pop and dance superstars and those who know will have smashed his remixes of Black Eyed Peas, David Guetta, Calvin Harris, Tiësto, MSTRKRFT ft. John Legend, Dizzee Rascal, Avicii and Moby to name some.

On Timebomb, Luke teams up with long time collaborator, vocalist Jonathan Mendelsohn, to create what Annie Mac on Radio 1 described the Instrumental mix as a ‘stadium house’ track.

The package includes the above-mentioned huge instrumental version plus the slamming vocal version featuring Jonathan Mendelsohn. Remixes come from Rene Amesz on a deep mix, Swanky Tunes on a prog-fuelled mix plus Gianni Marino on a jacking tip.

Already seeing support from the global dj elite plus spins on Radio 1 from Annie Mac, Scott Mills and Pete Tong, Timebomb will be blowing up radio, tv and a dancefloor near you for a few months to come.

sweet suburban disco - billie ray martin

Former S’Express singer Billie Ray Martin is set to storm her way back into the UK charts with her first single since the 2008 international club hit Undisco Me, the ‘queen of electronic soul’ will release the single Sweet Suburban Disco on March 28th.

Already a massive hit on the German club scene Sweet Suburban Disco looks likely to re-establish the singer in the UK with this almost laid back, yet dance floor bound, pop track.

Angst on the Suburban Dancefloor is the theme, as only Billie Ray Martin, ‘the Nico of the rave generation’ as one magazine described her, can deliver it. Featuring mixes by Vince Clarke (Yazoo), Horse Meat Disco, Severino and Luke Solomon, this is one almighty package.

Billie Ray Martin first came to prominence leading the acclaimed deep house act Electribe 101, her unique voice hitting both the house scene and the charts with a strong infusion of soul. Electribe 101 scored a brace of hits including the classic Talking With Myself, before Billie left to explore other musical interests.

After releasing the thoroughly scary “Persuasion” with Spooky and the monumentally beautiful “Four Ambient Tales” with The Grid, Billie found herself with a worldwide number one with Your Loving Arms, now considered one of the all-time classics of dance music. Three more hits and the album “Deadline for My Memories” followed.

Since then Billie has worked with Ann Peebles, Carla Thomas and members of Aretha Franklin’s band on her album “18 Carat Garbage”, and has continued to release cutting edge electronic productions, including hit collaborations with DJ Hell and Slam.

Billie’s epic Crackdown Project released in 2010, featuring her takes on the Cabaret Voltaire classic album “The Crackdown”, reinforced her unique position as an artist who appeals to the both the uber-cool Flux Magazine, Wound and The Wire as well as the pop mainstream achieving ‘Song of the Day’ status at Popjustice.  15,000 downloads in a matter of days, plus overwhelming press and DJ feedback confirmed her vision.

While Billie is currently working on a new solo album, her project The Opiates with musician Robert Solheim (dubbed “the Carpenters of electro” by the press) will release their album “Hollywood Under The Knife” in Spring 2011. Featuring artwork  by Turner-prize winner Wolfgang Tillmans, who has photographed Billie twice before and nominated her as one of the 25 most influential women in i-D Magazine.

She continues to run her record label, Disco Activisto, in Berlin and DJs around the world with growing success.

Ludwig Amadeus Pic

Following his hugely popular last single God Only Knows My Shoe Size, Ludwig Amadeus will release his latest single Don’t Wanna Feel This on March 7th.

With rave reviews from the music media and support from Kissy Sellout on Radio 1 among others for his previous single, Ludwig Amadeus’ latest effort co-produced with Mickey P, looks set to bring the young singer/songwriter even more attention.

True to his normal writing behaviour, Don’t Wanna Feel This was penned after staying awake for three days solid and the singer has every reason to be enthused by the release, saying;

“The track is probably the deepest track I’ve worked on. Generally I’m producing more upbeat material but when Mickey P sent over the chorus I got right into it and wrote the lyrics there and then. Since it’s inception over a year ago we’ve carefully fine tuned it, making sure not to over-produce. The beauty of it is its simplicity and sparse sound, and I think we’ve managed not to crowd the recording too much. The whole process of releasing it was a very creative experience too, I didn’t just slap the artwork on, I worked with an excellent photographer over 7 very late nights until we got the right shots for the cover and the promo pieces, same with the music video. All the feedback so far has been great and I couldn’t be more excited to finally release it.”

Ludwig Amadeus – Don’t Wanna Feel This

Don’t Wanna Feel This is one of 5 singles to be released by Amadeus this year, and will be launched at The Bowery on the 5th March, ahead of a debut album to be announced later in 2011.

The new single will be Fragile promises to provide the electronic duo with another hit single and is already gaining interest from radio stations across the UK.

Featuring stunning female vocals over intense electro beats and swirling cinematic melodies, Fragile finds the band continuing where the album Helium left off, appealing to a diverse audience that encompasses radio stations Kiss FM, XFM, Radio 1  and Radio 2.

Urban Myth Club’s Mark Desvaux says, “It’s fantastic that our music has such wide appeal. I remember getting two bizarre emails a few hours apart – one was from a top DJ in Ibiza saying that one of our tracks was going down a storm during his sunset set, whilst a presenter on Classic FM said they were going to play another on their evening show. That same week, other tracks were being played by Rob da Bank on Radio 1 and Bob Harris on Radio 2.”

Music that breaks down barriers may not have been on Urban Myth Club’s original agenda but it appears to be exactly what they are producing with devoted fans from all areas of muical genres.

Urban Myth Club’s debut album was the biggest seller at The Big Chill following their live performance, whilst fans fell in love with them during their three Glastonbury appearances and other festivals including Glade and The Secret Garden Party.

The duo are now set to promote the album launch of ‘Open Up’ with a number of live shows and DJ sets in the spring, followed by festival appearances.

Urban Myth Club – Fragile

For further information visit the Urban Myth Club website.

innerpartysystem

Three piece US dance music makers Innerpartysystem have been announced as support for 3OH!3 on their upcoming European tour which arrives in the UK during May.

Having played two sold out shows in London recently Innerpartysystem simply can’t wait for the tour to kick off, having experienced the time of their lives supporting 3OH!3 on their 2008 tour of the USA.

Jared Piccone, drummer with the band says; “To date, one of the fondest memories we have had as a band was the 2 months we spent with 3Oh!3 back in 2008 touring America. Not only is round 2 going to happen, but it’s over Europe, including the mainland which we have only gotten to play but a handful of times. I’m excited to return to the few countries we have hit before, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and of course our home away from home, the UK. It will also be great to test the waters in some new countries that we haven’t gotten a chance to hit yet, like France, and the Netherlands.”

Never a band to shy away from mixing up their sound and aesthetic, Innerpartysystem have been experimenting with their set of late. They’ve been incorporating more and more programming elements and diversifying their setup on stage by occasionally omitting the live drums and having all members involved more fully on the electronic side.

Theirs is an evolving outfit yet Innerpartysystem are a band who will always purvey a full-on sound. Couple this intensity of sound with an unrelenting light show and you have the ultimate IPS live experience.

With a mini album of new material called Never Content on March 6th digitally and March 21st as a physical CD. The mini album is preceded by the release of the single American Trash which will be available from February 6th.

The single American Trash will include several remixes of the track, including versions by Starkey and Adam Freeland.

Innerpartysystem – American Trash

Innerpartysystem will support 3Oh!3 at the following UK dates –

Mon      23/05/2011         Bournemouth   Academy

Tue        24/05/2011         Cardiff                  Solus

Wed      25/05/2011         Birmingham        Institute

Thu        26/05/2011         Norwich               Waterfront

Mon      30/05/2011         Glasgow               ABC

Tue        31/05/2011         Manchester       Academy 2

Thu        02/06/2011         Nottingham        Rock City

Fri           03/06/2011         N. Ireland            Belfast  Mandella Hall