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Title: Testarossa
Label: MDLBEAST Records
Germany-based Turkish producer Butch becomes the next artist to join the fledgling MDLBEAST Records with his new track “Testarossa,” bringing underground vibes to the Saudi label. Opening with tech-house-inspired minimal percussion, Butch artistically ups the ante by weaving in moody synths and increasingly progressive basslines. The result is a dark but euphonious and dance-worthy tune that also represents a cultural connection between Butch‘s own heritage and MDLBEAST‘s mission to expose the talent of the Middle East region, burgeoning a new era of discovery for that part of the world. The label’s first release was R3HAB, Fafaq & DNF‘s “Ringtone,” and Butch‘s “Testarossa” continues the strong start for Saudi Arabia‘s most exciting brand in music.
“It’s been a full year without clubs, locked in a studio for introspection, and I’m happy to present ‘Testarossa‘ as a result of that time. I think that as artists and fans, all we want is to drop some sonic bombs, future club classics, and make things better so we can all dance together again soon.” – Butch
Butch has one aim with his music – to take listeners on a sonic journey. Whether he’s dropping eastern-inspired psychedelia or pounding prime-time techno, fans can only be sure that they are at the mercy of one of the industry’s most creative selectors. If he’s not honing his sounds in the studio, he’s channeling his wit into the Butch TV series (always with a healthy dose of sarcasm). Butch‘s exploration into the trippier side of house and techno led him to collaborate with a fellow master of the psyche, Riccardo Villalobos. The duo has produced deep, experimental EPs under the combined alias ButRic. Now, officially as a part of MDLBEAST Records, Butch adds to his discography “Testarossa,” in addition to earlier releases on such labels as Watergate, Cocoon, Crosstown Rebels, Drumcode, Desolat, Hot Creations, Rekids, Saved, Rebirth, to name a few.
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Slowly Slowly vocalist Ben Stewart shares how Race Car Blues – Chapter 2 particularly captures the heart of the band:
“[It’s] always been the ultimate aim for the band to celebrate the music we love – anthemic heart on sleeve songwriting – but across a broad spectrum of genres. Having no creative ceiling for this project only pushed that ethos further….Chapter 2 pushes the envelope a little further in every direction – heavier, more pop sensibility and a deeper dive into intimate solo songs.”
Upon release, both Race Car Blues and Chapter 2 enjoyed coveted feature positions on triple j, bagged knockout global reviews and together have garnered over 11 Million streams to date.
With both parts of the Race Car Blues saga now out in the world, UNFD is pleased to feature both albums on a whopping 24-track double LP collection titled “Race Car Blues Extended Edition”. Available as an extremely limited collectors’ item, fans can snag remaining copies via 24Hundred now.
Slowly Slowly play their Race Car Blues Australian Tour in June/July. Full details and tickets below.
STREAM ‘RACE CAR BLUES – CHAPTER 2’ IN FULL NOW:
unfd.lnk.to/RCBExtended
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‘Le Tour’ is the night, the darkness and energy, a trip to an old life. It’s the most rebellious part of Depaart that takes shape thanks to a completely unpredictable arpeggiated bass, surrounded by fine percussion and sets the perfect climax of an EP that evokes the desire of partying.
The release, which you can now preorder on Beatport, also features two tracks by the American producer Mister Sweatband. On top of that, Depaart has two new releases confirmed in the coming months and will also present their new live show very soon, which they have also been working on throughout this last year during the pandemic. We knew life would return soon, we’re getting closer and closer.
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Fresh from their signing to UNFD and first new music in over 6 years earlier this month, Short Stack are backing it up with the reveal of ‘Burn You Down (Acoustic)’ today. Meanwhile, fans can also head to 24 Hundred to grab a limited Burn You Down 7″ featuring the original & acoustic versions.
Causing a stir with industry and fans with their new music, ‘Burn You Down’ has amassed over 88,000 streams, radio pick up from the likes of Triple M, triple j and US Rock Radio and press from Rolling Stone Australia, NME, The Music, The Industry Observer, Blunt, Dead Press, Bring The Noise + more.
Short Stack celebrated their rebirth with an intimate show at Sydney’s Crowbar which sold out in a matter of seconds. Meanwhile, the band will play their rescheduled headline tour later in 2021 – keep up to date with Short Stack’s socials for more details soon.
The original ‘Burn You Down’ found Short Stack embracing their hardcore roots at last, offering screams and riffs never before heard from the trio. Today’s acoustic cut dials down the intensity completely and lets the band’s softer side shine.
Short Stack frontman Shaun Diviney explains that thematically, ‘Burn You Down’ is part a reflection on the breakdown and rebuilding of the band and part observation on the world around them.
“It’s about the duality of being young and feeling both indestructible and fragile at the same time,” he says. “I don’t think the world needs another happy pop song at the moment, because I don’t think the world is a happy place at the moment. This song comes from a place of anger and destruction, about wanting to tear something down and begin again.”
On creating its acoustic cousin version, he adds:
“We were blown away with the reception to ‘Burn You Down’ and it was really exciting for us to completely reimagine the song acoustically for the vinyl release. We produced the track entirely ourselves in Bradie’s home studio and approached it as turning the most aggressive, heaviest song we’ve ever released into something soft and beautiful.”
On their comeback to music, Diviney explains how everything about how the band approached recording this time was different.
“I think a lot of bands at the time when we first broke out were put together by labels and a lot of people threw us in that basket, but we were just a bunch of dudes that went to high school together and played Blink covers and it snowballed from there.
“To go back to our roots now and really just strip things back and play together in a room was really important to us. The reason we broke up was that it just wasn’t fun… it’s been a fair chunk of time now, so coming back finds us in a different stage of life with a different idea about what we want out of music.”
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Introducing 16-year-old singer-songwriter Elke Schon and her debut single ‘Talk To Me’. Not to be underestimated due to her age, the Gold Coast based artist has been taking singing lessons since she was young and had music as a foundational part of her childhood. She explains, “singing has always been a gateway for me to express myself”, and now she is taking the natural next step. Fulfilling her childhood dream to release her own music, this single marks the beginning of her journey as a professional musician.
Listen to ‘Talk To Me’ here
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Ben Harper has revealed B-side versions of the songs “Joshua Tree” and “Inland Empire”, which originally appeared on his 2020 album Winter Is For Lovers. While the original tracks are solo instrumental slide guitar performances from Harper, the new B-sides feature an ensemble including Robert Glasper, Jimmy Paxson and Mike Valerio.
Listen to the new versions of “Joshua Tree” and “Inland Empire” HERE.
“It is hard to call these B-Sides,” Harper explains. “They are another iteration of the album that exists and I am very excited we found a way to release these versions. Going into Capitol Studios with Robert, Mike and Jimmy – 3 of my all-time favourite musicians in the world – with Niko Bolas engineering, was off the chain. Music happened between the laughter and the joy. I hope you can hear that in these sessions.”
Winter Is For Lovers is in many ways a culmination of Ben’s entire musical life. The intimate and ambitious solo recording is his first-ever entirely instrumental project, 15 original compositions that seamlessly flow together, imagined as a symphony for guitar. Watch just Ben and his Monteleone lap steel guitar perform Winter Is For Lovers in its entirety at The Folk Music Centre, the famous music shop that his grandparents opened in the late 1950s in Claremont, CA, HERE.
The music heard on Winter Is For Lovers is deeply ingrained in Harper’s DNA and leads directly back to aforementioned Folk Music Centre. The shop and community centre has hosted music legends of all stripes, many of which Ben met while working there. Some of the album’s many musical inspirations were visitors, including John Fahey, the godfather of the American Primitive movement, slide guitar master Taj Mahal, who Ben would later study with, plus the likes of Leonard Cohen, Jackson Browne and more.
Listen + Order ‘Winter Is For Lovers’
https://www.facebook.com/benharper
Melbourne, Australia.
How did you first start playing music?
Music has always been a part of my life. I came from a lineage of piano players so having a musical instrumental around the house growing up was a normal thing. I taught myself how to play the guitar and started teaching myself how to produce music on Acid Pro, when that was the thing back in the day. I did all the music subjects throughout high school and just started writing and studying songs for fun, never knowing it would lead to this someday.
Been a little crazy, just released the second single, Just Another Love Song and the promo around that has been a little taxing. It’s super exciting though, just really happy to get some new music out there and to be working with an amazing management team (Cartel Management), who have really helped to streamline the process.
Danny and I met many eras ago lol! I was actually his singing teacher back in the day and he came to me with some lyrics that he’d written, and we sat down, and things just started to flow. Originally, we were working more on Danny’s solo stuff with his vocals on the songs but as time progressed, we felt that my vocal would be more suited to how we wanted the stories to be told.
Your debut single ‘Treading Water’ made it to the final of the international songwriting competition, how did this song come about?
Honestly, don’t know how it came about. We were very surprised but nevertheless, humbled, and very thankful for the opportunity. One thing we can attribute to its success is the amazing director for the video clip, Herson Delos Santos. Herson really saw the vision we had for the video clip which centred around the awareness of mental health and really brought it to life. If anything, we’ve got him to thank for making it as a finalist.
The song concept actually started as being a sappier type of love song but as we started to write it, Danny came to me with some lyrics that were a little more painful and about unrequited love. As songwriters, Danny and I both seem to lean towards the more honest concepts around life. If we’re going to write about love, we’re going to write about the little honest thought processes that go on in someone’s head, like how worried we are about being uncool in front of someone they’re attracted to.
JALS was 100% recorded, produced and mastered at my home studio and I did it all on my own. All of our tracks have been produced this way.
It’s the second single and especially after Covid last year, which effectively ruined all of our plans, this single means a heck of a lot. It’s about just getting back out there and being free to just speak truth. As a private person, there’s a lot of things that I write in songs that I’d never say out loud and that’s what these songs do. In effect, being able to speak my mind without actually saying any words. We’re really excited about JALS and for the rest of this year with some follow up singles but JALS is the first cab of the rank and we can’t wait to see how she goes.
Well, Covid was a little of a blessing in disguise. Both Danny and I found that we had more time to write and focus on our music. We were in Zoom sessions every couple of days, just writing our little butts off and JALS was actually a song that was written in Covid. I did a streamed show as well which was pretty fun and slightly awkward because I was clapping at myself at the end of each song.
Who are you listening to at the moment?
I’m really loving JP Saxe at the moment. I love how clever he is with the way he crafts his melodies around the honesty of the lyric.
I’ve recently started taking up bike riding. I’m not very good at it but it’s a good way to get out of the house for some fresh air whilst also incorporating some exercising.
We’re really excited about 2021. We’ve got another 2 singles we’re looking to drop and hopefully an EP towards the end of the year or early 2022. We’re also looking to get out there and do our own shows hopefully in the second part of this year.
Favourite food? That’s a tough question, ummm, everything! Being from a Filipino background, food is definitely a huge part of me. If I had to boil it down to a specific cuisine, I’d have to say Malaysian food because it’s got such a broad variety of flavours.
Favourite place to hang out? I love being outdoors, going on hikes or going camping so one of my favourite places to go to just get grounded would be Wilson’s Prom.
Collaborating on projects like this is relatively new territory for you – is it something you’d like to explore further now?
Yes! Definitely something I’d like to keep doing and get better at. I’ve always been relatively closed off with my song writing, so I’d like to one day make a collaborative project of sorts!
How did you first link with KP Hydes and how do you think his presence on ‘Lush Lyfe’ changed the original idea you had for it (if it did)?
I met KP a while ago at a gig in Canberra. He’s really good friends with one of my good friends/band members, and of course we have a really cool bond. To be honest, the original idea wasn’t really a song at all, just a drum groove that I had on my hard drive for a while. Wasn’t till KP had come for a visit one night we decided just to work on it. Lush Lyfe came about really, really quickly.
Is this the sort of music we’d hear you listening to outside of your own project? What’s the sort of music that’s getting you by these days?
Such a hard question to answer, simply because my tastes change so often. I’ve been listening to hip hop for a while, but also have been getting into more of an electronic vibe these days. It really depends what mood I’m in.
It’s a vibe of a track that spotlights your vocals as it does KP’s – what was the best part of this experience for you as a vocalist and songwriter?
Funnily enough, the vocal hook at the end of the song, was originally part of another song I had written about a year ago, but it just seemed to fit in perfectly. I think the best thing about this collab though was how easy and fun it was just to mix something with KP. We didn’t have to stress or try too hard, just kind of went with it.
It also shows a lot of versatility for you as a performer – how important is it for you to remain pushed and challenged creatively?
This is something that I’ve actually thought about a lot recently. I think it is definitely important to always push yourself, and I try to approach song writing, practise and even just listening to new music in the same vein. I’ve only just noticed that I don’t ever really stop thinking about music.
You’re back on the road, how has it been preparing these shows after not being able to tour for so long?
I guess it’s both weird and not weird at the same time. I love being on the road but also love being at home making music and hanging with friends! I think a good mix at the moment is doing me really well.
Now ‘Lush Lyfe’ is out, what is coming next for Oly Sherman?
I’ve just wrapped up an album, so plenty to come from that!
Saturday 17th April Since I Left You Sydney
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Friday 7th May The Bearded Lady Brisbane
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Thursday 13th May Treehouse on Belongil Byron Bay
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Friday 14th May Flow Cafe Old Bar, NSW
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Saturday 15th May Sol Bar (Loungebar) Maroochydore
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Thursday 20th May The Lansdowne Sydney
Tickets
‘Lush Lyfe’ is out now.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Triple J Unearthed
PHOTO CREDIT: JOHANN RAMOS
“Bursting with style, substance, and flair” – Loudwire
“Next level heavy” – Knotfest
“Neck-snapping” – The Noise
“A crushing breakdown, huge chorus, thundering verses …you know the drill” – Kerrang!
“Bludgeoning riffs, an earworm of a chorus and one of the hardest mosh calls you will hear all year, it’s quite something” – Rock Sound
After thrilling their legion of fans by surprise dropping the blistering and brand new track Devastation —see above for early press praise— gold-selling, Columbus, Ohio-based rock band Beartooth have announced details regarding their fourth studio album Below.
Fans can pre-order the album, which will arrive on June 25 via Red Bull Records, here.
“Below is by far my favourite album I’ve made to date,” says frontman Caleb Shomo. “It covers the dark side of dealing with mental strain during the last year. I gave it all I had — musically and lyrically. Is it too dark? Possibly, but it was as honest as I could be about how I felt. I hope everyone is ready to strap in for a wild ride of head banging and rocking.”
To celebrate the announcement, the band has shared the video for the new song The Past Is Dead. The video features the band in performance mode, which is its most natural state. The members are surrounded by stunning pyrotechnics and an otherworldly demon, who can be spotted in the album cover art pictured below.
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Recorded in a run-down loft and staring down eviction in 2012, Dark Hearts Can Radiate White Light captures the intense and honest performances of a close-knit band of friends, beloved by audiences in Canada and the UK. 2013 release plans were halted by the shocking and untimely death of lead singer and guitar powerhouse Chris Levoir. This remarkable 3rd album from Toronto rock band The Mark Inside will now be available for the first time world-wide on all digital streaming platforms via Fortune Stellar Records / The Orchard.
LISTEN
https://themarkinside.bandcamp.com/
We went back home to Perth for a month to see the family after a really long year stuck in Sydney! It was tough not being able to get into WA but we were lucky to have each other. Even though there were times when we wanted to rip each other’s heads off. We did write a heap of music though. Most of it was average but there’s definitely some gold in there!
I think during covid we were over thinking the music we were writing. Whether it was insensitive to what was going on in the world or just simply didn’t have a strong meaning. Mindless is a story about a guy we met during covid. He’s a breakdancer with a Peter Pan mentality and that’s what the song is about. Life’s not meant to be serious so have a bit of fun.
Mindless to us is taking a leaf out of Darrio’s (street dancer) book. Not letting age dictate how much fun you can have. Live in the moment and just be mindless for a bit. Try it, it’s nice
We are sitting on a huge pile of music. So an album makes sense. We want to release something for us. Something we can look back on and be proud of. I think if we like it, then a lot of other people will dig it!
We both surf so any chance we get we head down the coast hunting waves. I make a bit of furniture too and palassi sells red bulls sometimes.
We want to get back on the road again and play some shows. Few festivals on the cards and I’d say we will do an Australian tour!
We went to Una’s last night in Darlinghurst. Biggest snitty Iv ever seen. We both can’t walk properly today.