Beats and Styles

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Beats and Styles is a Finnish rap/pop/rock duo, singing in English. The duo consists of DJ Alimo (vocals) and DJ Control (guitar, vocals). Their real names are Asmo Soivio and Jaakko Manninen. When playing at gigs, the duo is accompanied by a drummer, a bass player and a female vocalist. The group has worked together with several artists, including Toni Wirtanen, Michael Monroe and Andy McCoy. The original setup of Beats and Styles also included Raymond Ebanks.

[edit] History

Alimo and Control started their career as DJs and club promoters. In 2000, they got their own club culture TV show on Helsinki local television. They became more and more interested in making music, and they made drum'n'bass music in solo and later Finnish language music under the name Alimo&Control. The Alimo&Control project's most famous song was "Tarkkaillaan", featuring Laura Närhi from Kemopetrol as the vocalist. In 2003, Alimo and Control released an album, This is... Beats and Styles, whose most famous songs were "Dynamite" and "Girls' Anthem".

In 2004, the duo released the album We're Not Ready Yet, whose most famous hit was "Renegades", sung by Michael Monroe and Alimo, as well as "Fire" and "Dance, Dance, Dance". In 2005, they released the album Everything is Everything, whose most famous songs included "Invitation to the Dancefloor" and the title song "Everything is Everything", whose music video was shot in Prypiat near Chernobyl. Beats and Styles won a bronze award in the 2005 Muuvi music video competition and a special mention for productive and good quality video work. The group's music has been published in Sweden, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, France, Italy, Great Britain, South Africa and Australia among other countries, but so far the duo has not achieved a true international breakthrough.

Beats and Styles released their fourth album Walk, Don't Talk on 14 February 2007. The album's first single was "Ocean Wave", featuring guest artist Michael Monroe from Hanoi Rocks. The video for "Ocean Wave" was shot in Fuerteventura and was directed by Kusti Manninen. The group also participated in the Finnish Eurovision Song Contest selection for the Finnish entry with their song "See the Signs", but got last place.