FEATURE ARTIST OF THE WEEK: Yolanda Be Cool

In 2010, Matthew Handley and Andrew Stanley came together over their love for multi-cultural music and sounds, combined it with their disc jockey prowess, and delivered us perhaps one of the most iconic debut tracks of all time: "We No Speak Americano." It was an instantaneous smash hit, selling over 5 million copies and topping the charts worldwide.

"We No Speak Americano" with DCUP under their label, Sweat It Out, was unlike anything we'd heard in the disco-funk dance world. It sampled the 1956 Italian classic, "Tu Vuò Fà L'Americano" by Renato Carosone and, like all good tracks, made it into its own unique experience. It was the song that won them a 2010 ARIA for "Best Dance Release", and certified them as exciting beat-makers and collaborators who had loads to offer.

A once-in-a-lifetime duo, Yolanda Be Cool went on to release albums like Ladies + Mentalmen and Je Suis Music, which re-introduced listeners to electro swing mixed with house that made you genuinely want to dance. The pairing stole the hearts (and ears) of fans and new listeners alike by combining all of your favorite parts of EDM- tribal tech, minimalism, house, disco- and blending them seamlessly together.

They're industry risk takers, who were so inspired by Chris Lake's style that they tapped into their craft to create the hit "Segunda" for him. You may see them touring performing B2B sets alongside fellow Australian native FISHER, where attendees rave about the high energy setting and consistent flow of jam-worthy beats. Never slowing down, Yolanda Be Cool continued to take it a step further with their new record label, SWEATRZ.

After releasing their single "Hip Trumpets" under SWEATRZ, Yolanda Be Cool is gearing up for another massive year. The song is everything you love about Yolanda Be Cool and more. It's a sign of their growth and confidence as producers and DJ's, an indication that this pair is not going anywhere. Listen to "Hip Trumpets" here:

We spoke to them on their live sets, the new label, and much more below! Check it out.

PD: You both came together over your love of Brazilian music. Can you talk a bit about that story?

We've always just loved quirky music and baile funk is a perfect example of this. Matt lived in Brazil for a year and came back broke and Andy had lots of good DJ gigs and hooked Matt up and then we just started playing together....so you could say Matt's broke-ness from a year in Brazil brought us together :)

PD: How did that love inspire your big track, “We No Speak Americano?”

Well.....Americano is obviously in Italian, which is a Latin language, as is Portuguese so there's that but i think more to the point... we saw the opportunity to take such an iconic original sample from the 1950's in Italy and flip it in a way that would make sense for modern dancefloors. When we sent it to our Italian DJ friends, they thought it was funny and told us how their grandma used to play the song to them in the kitchen when they were kids.

PD: You’re under a new label, Sweatrz Records, and you’ve released your new track “Hip Trumpets” with KVISION! Has being under a new label changed anything about your production process or the music you’re making?

Well....we started SWEATRZ with our buddy Paluma to have an outlet for the more raw underground side of house music. We still have Sweat It Out and Club Sweat and have music coming on both and we also love working with other labels like Black Book and Club Bad. We basically just jump in the studio and make whatever's inspiring us....and then we think of the label to send it to after based on what labels we think would dig it.

PD: You created “Segunda” for Chris Lake. What was the collaboration process like between you all?

Well..we played with Chris in Seattle last year at the Black Book party and we loved how eclectic his set was and set the goal of making a song that was true to our sound, but would go off in his sets. When we finished Segunda we sent it straight to him and he loved it. We worked on the breakdown a bit more off the back of his feedback and then he gave it the greenlight and we were stoked.

PD: More recently, you’ve been performing B2B’s with FISHER. What can fans expect from those sets?

Well, we've always jumped around with our DJ sets because we love so much music but artists and producers and labels we're loving right now go from the more minimal tech stuff like Rendher and Kidoo to more house-y 90s kinds stuff like Jansons and Sally C to the more tribally tech stuff from people like Andruss, Harvy Valencia and Marco Lys with labels like Solid Grooves, PIV, Black Book and Hot Creations always providing the goods of course along with SWEATRZ, Club Sweat and Sweat It Out.

PD: What are your favorite songs to perform live?
Well, we love playing and testing out the stuff we've been working on in the studio. We have a collab with Paluma right now that's coming out on SWEATRZ soon and it goes off so we've been loving playing that. It's called "Get Into It" and rocks. Also loving Mele's new single Jozi to the D.

PD: What’s next for you this year?

We have a bunch of shows in Aus and the US and stopping by Amsterdam for ADE which is always exciting. Then we have heaps of new music coming on the labels including the single we mentioned with Paluma which we're really pumped on.

SEE THEM LIVE:

Sat, Dec 2 - Confessions Nightclub - MacKay

Sat, Dec 9 - Pointers - Auckland, NZ

Sat, Dec 23 - Nice Club (BOYANA) - Canggu, Bali

Tues, Dec 26 - Northies - Cronulla, NSW

Sun, Dec 31 - Harbour Party @ Luna Park - Sydney, NSW

Mon, Jan 1 2024 - Summa House - Brisbane, QLD

Mon Jan, 1 2024 - Beach Hotel - Byron Bay, NSW