High on the release of their new single, a cover of ace of base ‘All That She Wants’ featuring Syf and Fritz Helder of the former act, Azari and III, Yolanda Be Cool lend their talents to Wonderland to create us an exclusive mixtape, check it out and and read an exclusive interview with the Australian duo below.

Tell us about your inspiration for the Wonderland mix.
It’s pretty much the sound of us in the clubs right now. Lots of exclusive tracks not out yet, or just on promo including the Walker & Royce remix of our single, All That She Wants which is our collab with SYF and Fritz, formerly of Azari and III and there’s also a new collab we did with Ben Mono. Our lil sub-label of Sweat It Out, Club Sweat, is very well represented, which we are stoked about.

What is your favourite era to sample music from?
The 50’s and 60’s are pretty fertile grounds but we really don’t consider eras as the first and foremost – just an idea to run with and get inspired by so it could come from anywhere or anytime really. Obviously, our new single is a cover of the early 90’s classic by Ace of Base so we definitely feel the love for the 90’s as well.

What inspired you to get into electronic music in the beginning?
It was a natural progression from loving old school hip hop to trip hop  to the UK Annuals that came out in the late 90’s by Pete Tong, Boy George, Judge Jules – tracks like the Armand Van Helden remix of Professional Widow really stand out.

Where is your favourite city to play at?
Ibiza is still the capital, if not of dance music, but of hedonism so our gigs there, at Amnesia and Space, definitely hold a special place in our heart. It’s a place where pretty much everyone in the club, has come from somewhere in the world and chosen to take their holiday there, not just because of the sun, but because of the clubs and the parties. So as a result, the atmosphere it pretty awesome.

How did you guys get together?
It’s a long story but basically we worked at a bar together and realized we had a pretty similar taste in music and like a great friend of ours once said, dj’ing is a little like sex, it’s not bad on your own, but way better with someone else.

What do you love and hate about the Australian music scene?
We try to be lovers not haters so let’s focus on what we love. There are loads and loads of great parties constantly popping up and the success of “house” acts such as Disclosure and Duke Dumont has had an awesome flow through effect on the tastes of Aussie crowds. We notice a lot through our record label Sweat It Out where once upon a time, it was the “biggest sounding” of the remixes that would get the most positive feedbacks, but now, more often than not, it’s the deeper mixes that are finding their way to the top of the pile. We have always loved deep, so this is something that we are stoked about. The one thing that does sux is that through the actions of a few (people unable to handle their alcohol and becoming violent as a result) there are serious moves in place to limit club’s opening hours and enforce lock outs. This we definitely hate.

You bring an element of comedy to what you do. Do you think dance music takes itself too seriously these days?
Well, we like to think that life is fun, so nothing should be too serious. But we also don’t think music is a joke in itself, and we definitely don’t like “joke” music. So we are more than happy to watch Ricardo Villalobos play 15 minute tracks and not look up to the crowd for an hour, but at the same time, having a bit of fun, is definitely something we are down with.

How have you found being signed to Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak Label? Has it changed what you’ve produced subsequently?
We’ve loved every minute of it. We’ve said it before, but the reason we were happy to sign with Dim Mak in the first place is we are buddies with Booka Shade and they had just done some stuff with Dim Mak and had nothing but positive stuff to say about them. We were also big fans of Azari and they were just about to do their album in the states with Dim Mak so even though it wasn’t, on paper, such an obvious label for the music we love and affiliate with, moves such as these made us feel comfortable that we were in good hands. It also helped that we played before the Azari guys during WMC last year and it was then that we got talking about doing a collab which nearly 12 months later is out there. Steve himself has been nothing but supportive which has been awesome and even though our music isn’t what Dim Mak is renowned for, when it’s come to sourcing remixes for example, they have only ever suggested artists which we love (Etienne De Crecy for example), so it has always felt like a great partnership and to answer the second part of your question – no – it hasn’t changed what we produce – they have been totally into our vibes which has been great.

What’s coming up next for Yolanda be Cool?
We have our current single with SYF and Fritz (formerly, obviously of Azari & III), which we’re all really excited about, then we have a collab with Ben Mono which is more a club based EP we did together when we were in Berlin late last year, then we have a follow up to the single we did with Nurvous, a remix we did for Cyndi Lauper, which was pretty fun, and some fun side projects as well – not to mention a US tour to coincide with some shows in MIami for WMC and just generally touring and making music and being thankful that that’s what we get paid to do.

Yolanda Be Cool’s new single  ‘All That She Wants’  ft. SYF & Fritz Helder is available to download now. The Plastic Plates/Wordlife/Go Freek Remix will be released Feb 18th. 

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