Planet Funk

Planet Funk is an Italian electronic dance musical ensemble.

Members are Sergio Della Monica, Alex Neri, Domenico GG Canu, Marco Baroni, and Alessandro Sommella (the Ghost extra member), in addition to a series of guest singers in collaboration, like Dan Black, Sally Doherty, Raiz and John Graham.

Their first single, "Chase the Sun", reached number five on the UK Singles Chart in 2001.^[1] The song has enjoyed a rise in popularity ever since Sky Sports began using it during its coverage of the Professional Darts Corporation's major tournaments. The crowds in the venues are encouraged to chant and sing along to the song during the commercial breaks of matches, and the song has a cult following amongst darts fans. The song is also known to be chanted by supporters at the games of Australian football clubs Newcastle Jets and Adelaide United. The Melbourne spring racing carnival used the song during promotional TV advertisements during the mid to late 2000s.

Their second single, "Inside All the People", reached no. 9 in the Italian singles charts, but did better on the European dance charts. Their third single was "Who Said (Stuck In The UK)" which also gained significant commercial success. Their 2007 single release, "Static", appeared on FIFA 08.

They are also remixers, with their highest-profile work to date being New Order's "Waiting for the Sirens' Call".

In May 2006 they became the first musical group to release a single exclusively as a mobile phone download, with the release of "Stop Me" on the mobile network 3.^[2]

They have recently released the single, "Lemonade", which will feature on their new album.

Discography

• 2002: Non Zero Sumness
• 2005: The Illogical Consequence
• 2006: Static
• 2009: Planet Funk

Singles

• 2000 : "Chase the Sun" - #5 UK, #61 GER(2009), #93 SWI, #100 FR
• 2001 : "Inside All the People"
• 2002 : "Who Said (Stuck in the UK)" - UK 36
• 2003 : "The Switch" - UK 52
• 2003 : "Paraffin"
• 2004 : "Stop Me"
• 2005 : "Everyday"
• 2005 : "Inhuman Perfection"
• 2006 : "It's Your Time"
• 2007 : "Static"
• 2009 : "Lemonade" #17 ITA, #1 Malta

^[1]

Videography

• 2000 : "Chase The Sun" - The video to this single featured patients in a psychiatric hospital exhibiting a variety of catatonic symptoms.
• 2001 : "Inside All The People"
• 2002 : "Who Said (Stuck In The UK)" - The music video featured the singer jumping around in a white room with a band playing behind him, and was colourised in black and white.
• 2003 : "The Switch" - The band in the building of a radio station.
• 2003 : "Paraffin"
• 2004 : "Stop Me" - This featured a video shot in Guiyu, China (which appears to be a major centre for e-waste recycling), with a robot walking around, appearing to be saddened by the destruction of the electronic goods. The video provided a unique insight into the processing of the large amounts of e-waste created in Europe and the USA^[3]
• 2005 : "Everyday" - An astronaut trying to come back to his past, in a futuristic city.
• 2005 : "Inhuman Perfection" - A story about a girl.
• 2006 : "It's Your Time"
• 2007 : "Static"
• 2009 : "Lemonade" - The video showed two tennis players inside an arena. The video also features members of the group, one of which is spectating the game and lip-synching to Dan Black's vocals.
• 2009 : "Too Much TV" - Planet Funk's most recent addition to their video library, Too Much TV follows four different situations in which television affects the way the personas interact with the people around them. Like 'Lemonade', the music video has a 'dark-room-feel' due to the large use of 'chiaro-scuro'. This particular video provides a little twist to the band's cameo; previous music videos may be seen on the TV screens in the music video itself.

References