ON THE RISE
When it comes to music, there's a difference between hearing it, listening to it and feeling it. For the new album from producer, film scorer and songwriter SIXFOOT 5 titled BODY EROTICA, there’s some contrasting reactions he wants people to feel with it: disturbed or energized. For him, the music is made for more than just hearing and listening, it’s made for experiencing.
BODY EROTICA is built to evoke the feelings of being in the club at night with a surprising final track that concludes the narrative of the album. While genre labels are being phased out more and more these days, SIXFOOT 5’s BODY EROTICA is electronic music with pop techniques but in his words, “incidental music” is a more fitting classification.
“When you hear the music in a thriller film, the musical memory in your brain can get the same feeling from other music. By combining that with electronic music, you get incidental music that creates a whole world within the song.” he said.
SIXFOOT 5, real name Carson Rammelt, built the album on what he calls “cinematic soundscapes.” With his background in film scoring and a love for film, it was only right to translate aspects from both of those worlds into the album.
“Once I was exposed to film scores, I fell in love with it and that exposed me to different genres of films. As time went on, I was actually given the opportunity to score three films myself.” he said.
The seven track album was born from the sounds, emotions and experiences of the New York nightlife scene but was created states away in Florida. After coming out of a creative funk, Carson crafted something that represented home for him that came to him when he needed it most.
“I was house sitting for a friend in January of this year after my 2024 ended not so well. I was feeling lost, aimless and just frustrated. Being in that peaceful environment of stillness awoke my creativity.” he said.
Carson continued by reflecting on how things in life can go in seemingly opposite directions at the exact same time.
“During this time I also was thinking about March 2020 when my horoscope said ‘You never know what’s going to happen. You never know when inspiration will strike.’ During that time, things weren’t in the best place for me. Then, just after that, I collaborated with an artist and our song went relatively viral - then COVID happened.” he said.
This reflection led to something positive which was the spark he needed to put himself in a place where he could find what he was looking for.
“Fast forward to January 2025, I’m still thinking about that horoscope. I found myself in the same place mentally so I just got in front of the keyboard and then it was like I opened a portal. And once I started, I just couldn't stop. I didn’t know where it was going - but I knew what I was doing. The ideas just kept flowing out of me as I got more and more ideas for different songs.” he said.
With the title BODY EROTICA, the sexual energy of the album is at the forefront but it’s done through a creative and immersive lens. Various production elements like pulses, kick drums, droning sounds, dark melodies, distortion and even some original sounds from Carson’s own mouth all came together to paint auditory pictures. These pictures include scenes of lights glowing in a dark room, sweaty bodies dancing and people making decisions they might regret in the morning.
“When I make music, I want to paint pictures. I want the listener to have a multi-medium experience. It’s not just something they listen to - it’s a world to get immersed in. When I start working on music, I see my software as a blank canvas. And as I’m adding more musical elements, I’m painting the picture I see in my mind. It all comes from my third eye and my imagination.” he said.
While the first six tracks of BODY EROTICA are a unified sensory experience of a dark underworld, the final track, “Kontakt,” offers a direct contrast to it all. It serves as a moment of release for the listener, an exhale after the intense sonic palettes they just experienced.
“The entire album is a journey and at the end you reach a moment of euphoria. The melodies and chords are all at the forefront once you reach the final song.” he said.
Creating a multi-medium experience is something SIXFOOT 5 brought to life with the album release party for BODY EROTICA. In a room full of projectors, lights and visualizers, he created the experience the music was supposed to evoke even without those enhancements. The album listening party was designed to push people into the realm where they could just let the music be absorbed and respond to it accordingly.
“I utilized the cinematic soundscapes to enhance whatever emotional response people had to the music. Whether it was mental, physical or a combination of both, I just wanted them to act on it as they were hearing the music and seeing everything happening around them.” he said
BODY EROTICA is an album that serves as a homage to Carson’s past experiences in the nightlife club scene but there's one key difference between where he was then and where he is now: sobriety. While speaking with him, he shared that he couldn’t have made this album if he hadn’t gone sober.
“When I was in the clubs before my sobriety, I partook and indulged in multiple different things. I was still making music throughout all that. But as I was getting older, I realized I just didn’t want to keep going on like that. Then, when I started my sobriety, I wondered if I would be able to still be inspired musically.” he said.
Carson’s sobriety turned out to be one of the best decisions he ever made. The choice to go down this path worked out for him in multiple ways.
“I actually got a large-scale job opportunity to score a feature length film that I wouldn’t have been able to handle without my sobriety. For this album, when the inspiration struck me, the ideas just kept pouring out of me over the course of six days and I realized I didn’t need to be under the influence to be inspired. Inspiration will come when it’s supposed to.” he said.
Carson also spoke on how sobriety has reshaped how he experiences music and the club as both an artist and attendee in the environment.
“Even when I go to clubs now, the music just sounds different to me. I remember everything I experienced and heard vividly and I can implement those elements into my music with ease. Of course, I still get inspiration from my past too but when I experience things now, I’m an observer.“ he said.
SIXFOOT 5’s love for movies and music runs through everything he does. From his actual film scoring for independent movies like Into The Bloo, Life of Riley and Lady Like to the cinematic soundscapes of BODY EROTICA, it’s clear that he showcases his love for his passions through his art. Just like a timeless movie, the music is meant to go beyond the physical senses and reach something deeper within.
BODY EROTICA is available on streaming services now.
You can experience more cinematic soundscapes with SIXFOOT 5 by following him on these platforms:
ON THE RISE
As Belle & Sebastian share their buoyant 2026 Scotland World Cup anthem ‘It Only Takes One Lion’, frontman Stuart Murdoch has spoken to NME about capturing the feeling back home and his hopes for the team since childhood.
Released today (Tuesday June 2), the Scottish indie heroes’ bid for their nation’s tournament anthem was written after the team’s surprise 4-2 qualifying win against Denmark.
“I felt like we were watching history in the moment, like the hand of God from the old National Lottery adverts was pointing at us,” Murdoch told NME about that game-changing victory. “It was meant to be. Scotland aren’t a terrific team and Denmark are better, but it just felt that day that Scotland were destined to win. Three out of the four goals were things of beauty.”
Produced by and co-written with Pete Ferguson and premiered at the band’s recent London Royal Albert Hall show as part of the anniversary tour for their classic first two albums ‘Tigermilk’ and ‘If You’re Feeling Sinister’, the soaring song is intrinsically Belle & Sebastian as it morphs from a hymn to a an orchestral disco jam as Murdoch sings of a nation’s hopes and his own boyhood dreams.
NME spoke to Murdoch from the band’s North American tour, where we found him in a graveyard in Texas. “I was just looking for a park because Austin is a pretty scary place downtown now, so I’ve ended up in the Texas Cemetery,” he shared via Zoom.
Was there anyone famous buried there?
“I was looking around and I found the founder of Austin City Limits, which is pretty cool as that’s where we’re playing tonight. I’m looking at one now and it just says, ‘Martin: he loved the law’. Then underneath it says, ‘Billie Louise: she loved the lawyer’.”
We joke that there’s the opening to a Belle & Sebastian song if there ever there was one. “It’s great! It’s given me inspiration.”
For now, read the rest of interview with Murdoch below as he tells us about Scotland’s chances, 30 years of hurt, if fans will be singing it at the top of their lungs in Canada, the US and Mexico this summer, and what’s next for the band.
NME: Hello Stuart. Here we are with ‘It Only Takes One Lion’ Who needs three?
Stuart Murdoch: “Who needs three? Good question. I wouldn’t know!”
What’s the mood been like in Scotland since you qualified?
“It’s funny. I’ve noticed this everywhere: with the World Cup there’s a mixture of cynicism and anticipation. When the actual tournament starts, everyone will get excited about it. Because of FIFA, the peace prize, the ticket prices, people seem quite down about it. I found that in Mexico. They were quite fed up with the general hype about it. I’m in the States just now and you shouldn’t believe all the hype: people are people. The States are just as ‘great’ as ever. We love coming here, we love the cities. The general sense of North American optimism will make for a good tournament.”
“With Scotland though, people will definitely be excited about it. You have to understand, it’s been 30 years since Scotland qualified so I think everybody and their dog has written a song for the team.”
How do you meet the challenge of penning a World Cup anthem, when there have been so many legendary bangers and absolutely shite duds?
“I never planned it. I woke up with a tune in my head and a feeling. That’s the way it should always be for songs. I couldn’t control myself and it was quite straight-forward. I wrote this initial bit about how I felt about the current World Cup team and the qualifying game. It was more introspective.
“When it starts off with, ‘The days are dark and long…’, it’s just my general feeling about football. I’ve been going to see my own team quite a lot recently. It’s my little anthem for how I feel about football and following Scotland for the last 50 years, just the ups and downs. It’s quite a heartfelt thing. When I was eight or nine, the Scottish team meant so much to me, it the thing I was most invested in. There’s a line in there about how I used to memorise the whole squad before ‘78 and 82.”
Tell us about lyric: “This is Scotland, where everyone knows you start with nothing… where you can join an army for peace”…
“My wife made the video for it and she said, ‘I’m not sure I like that line about everyone starting with nothing’. Our first game is against Haiti and they really have nothing. Their country is pretty poor and they’re going through hard times. It was almost a throwaway line and I’m not sure what I meant by it, but in a footballing sense every game starts with nothing. Even if it’s against Brazil, you’ve always got a chance!
“The army refers to The Tartan Army, which has really been quite a remarkable institution for the past 30 years. We changed from drunken buffoons that used to wreck things to this excellent supporting brigade.”
It’s not your standard football sing-along. Can you see it being sung in the terraces?
“I’m not sure, I didn’t cynically design it for that. Many people have said to me in the past, ‘None of your songs have a chorus, you need to write one’. ‘This is Scotland’ is a chorus! They things need to happen organically. I’m sure the fans will still be singing ‘Yes sir, I can boogie’ for years to come.”
What do you actually think of Scotland’s chances right now?
“With the last Euros, they maybe got stage fright or didn’t have that tournament experience. I think Andy Robertson [captain] will be telling them, ‘We really need to produce our best stuff’. If they do and we see them actually playing football, then I don’t really care about the results that much. I just want to see Scotland exceeding our expectations of them. That Denmark game was so crazy that everything after just feels like a bonus.”
If miracles do happen and Scotland make it to the final, how will you celebrate? A free gig in Glasgow?
“Of course, yes! Free everything. If we even got close, I think the whole country would shut down for a year and the GDP would drop. We’d go into a massive recession but no one would care.
“We were playing a gig in Mexico City and I told the crowd, ‘It’s you and us, Mexico and Scotland in the final’. Mexico have never really got close either. I told them it would be five goals a piece, even after everyone takes a penalty and we have to share the trophy. I would settle for that.”
You released two albums in quick succession with 2022’s ‘A Bit of Previous’, 2023’s ‘Late Developers’ and then your debut novel Nobody’s Empire in 2024. You’ve been busy! Is there any progress on new material?
“We went through a period where we recorded a lot and we said, ‘Let’s not record for a while and give ourselves a couple of cycles off’. We’re doing these 30th anniversary shows so we’re just going to lean on the back catalogue and cruise for a while. We’re doing a year on and a year off so everyone can focus on different things.
We’re not looking at new Belles stuff for a while. I’m meant to be developing Nobody’s Empire into a film, so that’s my next task. It’s a long way off from being made but I’m going to write the script for that.”
Scotland’s first World Cup tournament match is against Haiti on Sunday June 14, before they go on to play Morocco on Friday June 19 and Brazil on Wednesday June 24.
The band’s ‘Tigermilk’ and ‘If You’re Feeling Sinister’ anniversary tour continues throughout the summer, performing the iconic albums in full during across the UK, Europe, North America, Mexico, Australia, Singapore and Japan. Visit here for tickets and more information.
