Photo courtesy of The Grammys.

There are 109 categories of nomination for a Grammy this year. I gave them all a brief looking-over, and these are the few that sparked my interest and are therefore most relevant to MuuMuse:

• BRITNEY SPEARS GETS A NOMINATION FOR DANCE RECORD OF THE YEAR WITH “WOMANIZER”! Congrats, B! But there’s a catch–she’s battling MADONNA with “Celebration”! AND THEN IT GETS WORSE AGAIN…Lady Gaga‘s “Poker Face” and David Guetta‘s When Love Takes Over” featuring Kelly Rowland! Eep.

• Speaking of, Lady Gaga’s pulled in SIX nominations, including Record of the Year (“Poker Face”) and Album of the Year (The Fame). While Beyonce proves a worthy opponent with a score of nominations in all the same categories, it’s dark horse Taylor Swift that may pull away from the two pop titans after a wave of post-Kanye guilt washes over the Grammy committee. Muusers, pray for Godga and Beysus to shine through!

• Imogen Heap scores two nominations for Best Pop Instrumental Record (“The Fire”) and quite ironically, Best Engineered Album (despite Ellipse being one of the worst mastering jobs of 2009).

• Kathy Griffin gets another go for her run at winning a Grammy! Suckin’ It for the Holidays has scored a nomination for Best Comedy Album. Competition’s tight, though: She’s up against Stephen Colbert, Patton Oswalt and George Lopez.

• The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been nominated for Best Alternative Album, though they face an equally up-hill battle: Depeche Mode, David Byrne & Brian Eno, Pheonix and Death Cab for Cutie meet them to the challenge.

• Liza Minnelli‘s Liza’s At The Palace got a nod for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album! Bitches ain’t got shit on Liza with a Z.

• Kelly Clarkson and Pink are due to duel it out for Best Pop Vocal Album.

• Pet Shop Boys get a Best Electronic Album nomination with Yes! Yes! But they’re facing Lady Gaga! No!

Let’s face it, though: This is the Grammy Awards, an honor that hasn’t been relevant since The Bodyguard. In the end, all of the awards will probably end up going to the fucking Black Eyed Peas.

The contest has now ended. Thank you!

MuuMuse is excited to be giving away THREE pairs of tickets to see Russell Small and James Wiltshire–better known as production duo The Freemasons–LIVE at The Beach on Governors Island on September 20.

To enter, send an e-mail to freemasons@muumuse.com with the subject line “NYC.”

As you should all well know, The Freemasons are sort of like the UK’s dancefloor antidote to the names behind the hits currently saturating the airwaves, including Timbaland and Ryan Tedder.

They’ve produced some of our most beloved tracks here at MuuMuse, including Sophie Ellis-Bextor‘s “Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer)” and Kylie Minogue‘s “The One,” as well as countless mixes for Beyonce, Moby, and Kelly Rowland.

One winner will be selected and notified each week (two tickets per winner). Keep in mind: It’s on an island, so you’ll need to take the five-minute ferry (click here for schedule) to get there.

And now for the full announcement:

Sunday, September 20
At The Beach at Governors Island:
THE FREEMASONS
Presented by The Saint at Large
Visit The Beach online for more info and up-to-date ferry schedules
Doors at 6:00pm, Show at 6:30pm
$25 adv, $40 at door
Box Office, Will Call, and ticket purchases will all happen on the island.
First Ferry Leaves at 5:30pm

Good luck!

…and that’s pretty much how this album pans out. To summarize:

Even if I’ve vetted them relentlessly for months now on MuuMuse, it bears repeating: “When Love Takes Over” and “Sexy Bitch” reign supreme on this album, though the slightly cooler, ’90′s-esque “It’s The Way You Love Me”–another Kelly Rowland-assisted track–proves just as delicious.

Spirit fingers and snaps to Kid Cudi‘s respectably controlled “Memories,” perhaps one of the more reflective, intelligent songs off of One Love. The same goes for Estelle‘s “One Love,” the shiny title track infused with subtle tropical beats and shades of reggae fit snugly between lyrics uplifting and empowering enough to make Bob Marley proud.

Another non-shocker: The album’s most annoying numbers stem from collabos with Black Eyed Peas members will.I.am and Apl de Ap, including the over-indulgent, tuneless “On The Dancefloor” and the entirely unnecessary Guetta mix of “I Gotta Feeling.” Only “I Wanna Go Crazy” proves to be a crazy good time, but let’s face it–shitty club songs about getting “stupid,” “crazy,” and/or “retarded” are kind of the only thing the Peas can do “right.”

The biggest and only surprise from all this comes at the album’s end with Makeba‘s “If We Ever,” a near beat-less, digitized swoon providing the massive breath of relief needed after one sweaty, screech-heavy dance session of an album. The song’s chorus is also ever-so-slightly reminiscent of a super-slowed rendition of Jordin Sparks‘ “Watch You Go” off of her latest album, Battlefield. Wait, where are you going? Did I just lose my credibility again?

Oh well…’twas nice while it lasted.

Total Score: 72%

And here we have the official video for “When Love Takes Over,” the song I’ve declared to be the official Summer ’09 Anthem since the end of March.

As you can see, the video (much like the song) delivers, using lots of bright colors and gorgeous, sun-shining visuals to create that essential Ibiza-esque sensation. Not that this clip had to be so involved–in fact, it was a pleasant surprise to see that there was a video to begin with!

My only criticism would be not enough screen time for that ridiculously fierce dress on K. Rowland.

Yeah-ee-yeah.

Thanks to Muuser RJ for alerting me pronto!

Click below to preview and purchase “When Love Takes Over.”

Put down the baby. He’ll learn to crawl on his own. WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THAT RIGHT NOW.

Why? BECAUSE IT’S FINALLY HERE!

The track that for all intents and purposes deserves to set the clubs on fire this summer, David Guetta’s “When Love Takes Over” (featuring Kelly Rowland) has finally been released!

Thanks to the help of Ms. Rowland’s soaring scales and a piano riff that acts like one hell of an earworm (and may or may not sound similar to a certain Coldplay track), the song lifts far beyond the realm of your typical unts-unts throbber.

And with that set of chops, Rowland proves she’s just as much a female version of a hustla as any other chick out there in the game right now (no names). And as for Guetta, those dives into the grinding synths after the choruses echo out into infinity? Unreal.

The release also features mixes by the likes of Laidback Luke and Albin Myers, so look out for those as well!

Now get to dancing.

DL: David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland – When Love Takes Over (Extended Mix)

Click below to hear more from David Guetta NOW!

Here we have Kelly Rowland and David Guetta, live at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami on Friday, performing could be (and very well should be) the definitive club anthem of the summer, “When Love Takes Over.”

HOW MASSIVE IS THAT BEAT AFTER THE CHORUS GIVES OUT?!

Major props to Kelly for bringing the house down with that performance–I hereby proclaim this to be her white gloved slap-slap to the face of Miss Sasha Fierce.

Your move, Miss Diva…your move.

I’ve got a good feeling about this one.

Kelly Rowland has laid vocals with increasingly popular club killer David Guetta to produce what could be one of the biggest anthems of 2009.

“Love Takes Over,” which premiered in Ibiza many weeks ago, sounds sort of like a classic disco diva covering U2‘s “Beautiful Day,” with a bit more bass for good measure.

Here now, enjoy this somewhat nauseating fan video of the track’s first play in public!

Summer smash? Probably not–it’s too good for radio.

A dancefloor scorcher? Damn straight, sugar. WORK!

Click above to hear more from Kelly Rowland.

It’s that time again to take a spin around the blogger block and see what’s happening all across the world! Or at least what’s happening within my extremely limited view of blogs…and GO!!

8/1‘s got another track from Joan As Police Woman, this time in duet form with Antony of Antony and the Johnsons. It’s called “I Defy,” and it’s a real jazzy number. Quite nice.

ArjanWrites blogger Arjan did a fabulous job covering the first ever MTV Logo NewNowNext Awards. You’ve got to head over and check out everything that went down backstage, on stage, and after the awards show!

ElectroQueer‘s been going gaga over the dance diva, Doe Deere lately. He’s got her latest video for “SF Disco,” as well as a quirky little home renovation side project. Someone’s got a thing for antlers.

PopMuse has posted its annual Disco Globes compilation, a collection and celebration of ace remixes that the author’s been fancying over recent months, including hits from Ri-Ri, Blake Lewis, and Madonna. I’ve really been loving it, especially the Kelly Rowland remix of “Work.” Do–do do it, shake it baby! Head over and grab it while you still can!

XO is spreading his love around. What? Get your head out of the gutter, pervert. No, in the Prince way, by listing off his top jams in honor of the man’s 50th birthday. And don’t let the grammar confuse you–he’s just being Prince-esque.