Dance Baby

Solomun is an award-winning DJ, producer, and label owner whose sound is an uplifting, emotionally charged mixture of deep house, melodic techno, and indie dance. A co-founder of the Hamburg-based Diynamic Music label, which also hosts its own festival, he began releasing music in 2005, and his debut album, Dance Baby, arrived in 2009. By the early 2010s, he frequently won awards or ranked in DJ polls by publications such as Mixmag, Groove, and Resident Advisor, and he made an appearance in the video game Grand Theft Auto Online in 2018. By the release of 2021's Nobody Is Not Loved, his music had grown to incorporate more vocals and pop elements. He's continued issuing singles like 2024's "Feels Like a Jungle" as well as remixes for artists including Muse, Kasabian, and Caribou.

Mladen Solomun was born in Travnik, then part of Yugoslavia, now Bosnia and Herzegovina. He grew up in Hamburg, Germany and worked as part of a film production company for several years before he began his career in music. Initially active as a DJ, he eventually started producing tracks, and he co-founded Diynamic Music with promoter Adriano Trolio in 2005. The label's first two releases were co-produced by Solomun, Trolio, and Gebrüder Ton; collaborations with H.O.S.H. and Stimming followed. Solomun released music on other labels such as Sonar Kollektiv and Dessous in 2007, and following several additional singles and remixes, as well as the launch of his Hamburg-based club Ego, he issued his debut full-length, Dance Baby, on Diynamic in 2009. He founded the experimental sublabel 2DIY4 in 2010. He earned acclaim for his 2011 remix of Noir & Haze's "Around," and in 2012, he was named DJ of the Year by Mixmag and Best Producer at the DJ Awards in Ibiza, among other accolades. Diynamic hosted its first festival in Amsterdam in 2013. Ego closed in 2014, but Solomun held down residencies at multiple Ibiza clubs during the course of the decade, including Pacha and Destino. He also expanded his reach outside of clubland through his official remixes of artists including Foals, Interpol, Lana Del Rey, and even Leonard Cohen. Several of these were included on the compilation Selected Remixes 2009-2015, and Solomun additionally released two mix CDs (Watergate 11 and Global Underground #40).

In 2018, Solomun was featured as an in-residence DJ in Grand Theft Auto Online, and the music video for his single "Customer Is King" was created using the Grand Theft Auto V in-game engine. Solomun released his second album, Nobody Is Not Loved, through major-label BMG in 2021, with guests including Jamie Foxx, Anne Clark, Zoot Woman, and Planningtorock. Nobody Is Not Loved (Remixed) appeared in 2022, and following Solomun's remixes of songs by Maceo Plex, Muse, Purple Disco Machine, and others, he appeared on Running Back with 2024's "Can't Stop." "Feels Like a Jungle" (featuring Novaa) was released by Diynamic. ~ Paul Simpson