Tag: Charlotte Adigéry Zandoli EP

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Bolis Pupul Shares Driving “Kowloon”

Acclaimed Ghent-based electronic duo Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul exploded into the national and international scenes with the release of 2019’s critically applauded David and Stephen Dewaele-produced Zandoli EP, which featured Paténipat” and “High Lights,” tracks that received airplay on UK Radio and were playlisted by  BBC Radio 6. 

Their official full-length debut as a credited duo, 2022’’s Topical Dancer was co-written and co-produced by Soulwax and the acclaimed Belgian duo, and was released through Soulwax’s label DEEWEE. The album’s material was deeply rooted in two things. The duo’s perspectives as Belgians with immigrant backgrounds: Adigéry proudly claiming Guadeloupean and French-Martinique ancestry and Pupul proudly claiming Chinese ancestry. And the wide-ranging conversations they’ve had between each other that touch upon cultural appropriation, misogyny, racism, social media vanity, post-colonialism, and more.

The album thematically is a snapshot of their thoughts and observations on pop culture in the early 2020s while sonically seeing the Belgian duo cementing their sound and approach. The material features thoughtful songs that slap — and slap hard — but are centered around their idiosyncratic, off-kilter and satirical take on familiar genres and styles. “We like to fuck things up a bit,” Pupul laughs. “We cringe when we feel like we’re making something that already exists, so we’re always looking for things to combine to make it sound not like a pop song, not like an R&B song, not a techno song. We’re always putting different worlds together. Charlotte and I get bored when things get too predictable.”  

The album’s songs are generally fueled by a restless desire to not be boxed in — and to escape narrow perceptions of who they are and what they can be. “One thing that always comes up,” Bolis Pupul says, “is that people perceive me as the producer, and Charlotte as just a singer. Or that being a Black artist means you should be making ‘urban’ music. Those kinds of boxes don’t feel good to us.” But they manage to do all of this with a satirical bent. For the Belgian duo, it’s emancipation through humor. “I don’t want to feel this heaviness on me,” Charlotte Adigéry says. “These aren’t my crosses to bear. Topical Dancer is my way of freeing myself of these issues. And of having fun.”

Pupul stepped out into the spotlight as a singer/songwriter and solo artist with his full-length debut, the Soulwax co-produced Letter To You. The album which was released earlier this month came on the heels of a whirlwind couple of years touring the globe to support Topical Dancer. Thematically, the album is love letter to his beloved mother, who was killed in a 2008 traffic accident. 

Born to a Belgian father and Chinese mother and growing up in Ghent, Pupul had not negated his Chinese roots exactly — his mother was born in Hong Kong — but he hadn’t exactly embraced them either. However, in the wake of his mother’s death, he began coming to terms with his heritage. “When I started to think about my roots, I started to embrace them. And it became more and more important for me to get in touch with them,” the acclaimed Chinese-Belgian singer/songwriter and producer says. ““I went to evening school and began learning Chinese. I did that for four years. That was the first step.”

His first visit to Hong Kong back in 2018 further cemented how he wanted to incorporate his Chinese roots into his own music. A primary intention on his first trip to Hong Kong was to find where his mother — Yu Wei Sun — was born. Not wanting to forget this overwhelming experience, Pupul began writing a letter to his mother, so he could properly grasp his thoughts. Some time later, when the album began to take shape, the acclaimed Ghent-born and-based producer remembered the letter. “It became the centerpiece of this album,” he says matter-of-factly.

Fittingly, the creation and recording of Letter To Yu has proven to be a pivotal and liberating experience for Pupul. “Even though this trip was very emotional and at times sad, I also had some great times that just made me really happy,” he concludes. “This resulted in a very uplifting melody where I felt like I could handle my life.”

In the lead-up to the album’s release, I wrote about two of the album’s previously released singles:

  • “Completely Half,” a track which saw Pupul pairing a glittering Chinese-influenced melody, skittering beats and wobbling synths with his dreamily yearning delivery describing the sensation of searching for your looks — and the desire to understand someone, who can no longer speak for, let alone explain themselves. The track also features field recordings recorded on the Hong Kong subway, which adds a vital and forceful sense of place to the proceedings. 

  • “Spicy Crab,” a techno pop ode to the city’s signature dish, spicy crab, which Bolis ate during his first visit to Hong Kong. Built around a relentless motorik groove, skittering boom bap and glistening synth oscillations with a brief woozy breakbeat-like bridge, “Spicy Crab” subtly recalls late period Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder while being a slinky club banger.

Letter To Yu’s third and latest single “Kowloon” is a driving dance pop track built around hypnotically whirring and driving, machine-like synths and skittering and wobbling beats. “This dance track is inspired by this part of Hong Kong and it contains a recording of a mother with her child, who didn’t want to listen to her. They were having a situation on the street,” Pupul says.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Bolis Pupul Teams Up with His Sister on a Shimmering and Dreamy Ode to Their Late Mother

Highly acclaimed Ghent-based electronic duo Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul exploded into the national and international scenes with the release of 2019’s critically applauded David and Stephen Dewaele-produced Zandoli EP, which featured Paténipat” and “High Lights,” tracks that received airplay on UK Radio and were playlisted by  BBC Radio 6. 

Their official full-length debut as a credited duo, 2022’s Topical Dancer was co-written and co-produced by Soulwax and the acclaimed Belgian duo, and was released through Soulwax’s label DEEWEE. The album’s material was deeply rooted in two distinct things. The duo’s perspectives as Belgians with immigrant backgrounds: Adigéry proudly claiming Guadeloupean and French-Martinique ancestry and Pupul proudly claiming Chinese ancestry. And the wide-ranging conversations between each other that they’ve had that touch upon cultural appropriation, misogyny, racism, social media vanity, post-colonialism, and more.

The album thematically was a snapshot of their thoughts and observations on pop culture in the early 2020s. Sonically, the album saw the acclaimed duo cementing their sound and approach: The material featured thoughtful songs that slap — and slap very hard — but were centered around their idiosyncratic, off-kilter and satirical take on familiar genres and styles. “We like to fuck things up a bit,” Pupul laughs. “We cringe when we feel like we’re making something that already exists, so we’re always looking for things to combine to make it sound not like a pop song, not like an R&B song, not a techno song. We’re always putting different worlds together. Charlotte and I get bored when things get too predictable.”  The album’s songs were generally fueled by a restless desire to not be boxed in — and to escape narrow perceptions of who they are and what they can be. “One thing that always comes up,” Bolis Pupul says, “is that people perceive me as the producer, and Charlotte as just a singer. Or that being a Black artist means you should be making ‘urban’ music. Those kinds of boxes don’t feel good to us.”

But that’s done with a deeply satirical bent. For the Belgian duo, it’s emancipation through humor. “I don’t want to feel this heaviness on me,” Charlotte Adigéry says. “These aren’t my crosses to bear. Topical Dancer is my way of freeing myself of these issues. And of having fun.”

Pupul steps out into the spotlight as a singer/songwriter and solo artist with his full-length debut, the Soulwax co-produced Letter To Yu. Slated for a March 8, 2024 release through Soulwax’s DEEWEE, Letter To Yu comes on the heels of a whirlwind couple of years touring the globe to support Topical Dancer. Thematically, the album is love letter to his beloved mother, who was killed in a 2008 traffic accident. 

Born to a Belgian father and Chinese mother and growing up in Ghent, Pupul had not negated his Chinese roots exactly — his mother was born in Hong Kong — but he hadn’t exactly embraced them either. However, in the wake of his mother’s death, he began coming to terms with his heritage. “When I started to think about my roots, I started to embrace them. And it became more and more important for me to get in touch with them,” the acclaimed Chinese-Belgian singer/songwriter and producer says. ““I went to evening school and began learning Chinese. I did that for four years. That was the first step.”

His first visit to Hong Kong back in 2018 further cemented how he wanted to incorporate his Chinese roots into his own music. A primary intention on his first trip to Hong Kong was to find where his mother — Yu Wei Wun — was born. Not wanting to forget this overwhelming experience, Pupul began writing a letter to his mother, so he could properly grasp his thoughts. Some time later, when the album began to take shape, the acclaimed Ghent-born and-based producer remembered the letter. “It became the centerpiece of this album,” he says matter-of-factly.

Fittingly, the creation and recording of Letter To Yu has proven to be a pivotal and liberating experience for Pupul. “Even though this trip was very emotional and at times sad, I also had some great times that just made me really happy,” he concludes. “This resulted in a very uplifting melody where I felt like I could handle my life.”

So far I’ve managed to write about two of th album’s singles:

  • “Completely Half,” a track which saw Pupul pairing a glittering Chinese-influenced melody, skittering beats and wobbling synths with Pupul’s yearning delivery describing the sensation of searching for your roots — and the desire to understand someone, who can no longer speak for, let alone explain themselves. The track also features field recordings recorded on the Hong Kong subway, which adds a vital and forceful sense of place to the proceedings. 

  • “Spicy Crab,” a techno pop ode to the city’s signature dish, spicy crab, which Bolis ate during his first visit to Hong Kong. Built around a relentless motorik groove, skittering boom bap and glistening synth oscillations with a brief woozy breakbeat-like bridge, “Spicy Crab” subtly recalls late period Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder while being a slinky club banger.

Letter To Yu‘s third and latest single “Ma Tau Wai Road” is specifically dedicated to his late mother, and features a glistening Chinese-influenced synth-driven melody paired with a slinky and infectious groove serving as a lush and dreamy bed for his Pupul’s sister Salah Pupul’s yearning vocal expressing gratitude, regret, awe and confusion within the turn of a phrase.

“I wrote this song in a hotel room just around the corner of my mother’s birthplace on Ma Tau Wai Road in 2019,” Pupul recalls. “It’s a song about gratitude and regret, two feelings that go hand in hand when I’m in Hong Kong. 

He adds, “Back in Belgium I asked my sister, Salah Pupul, if she wanted to sing this song. Besides being a great visual artist she is also a very talented singer with whom I’ve made a lot of music in the past. Prior to the recording session she had never been to Hong Kong, but when we decided to make a video for ‘Ma Tau Wai Road,’ I wanted to film her being a small part of this giant city. I enjoyed every minute with my sister in Hong Kong, mirroring each other since we were kids. Made with lots of love and compassion, and dedicated to our beloved mother, Yu Wei Wun.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Bolis Pupul Shares a Slinky Club Banger

Acclaimed Ghent-based electronic duo Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul exploded into the national and international scenes with the release of 2019’s critically applauded David and Stephen Dewaele-produced Zandoli EP, which featured Paténipat” and “High Lights,” tracks that received airplay on UK Radio and were playlisted by  BBC Radio 6. 

Their official full-length debut as a credited duo, 2022’’s Topical Dancer was co-written and co-produced by Soulwax and the acclaimed Belgian duo, and was released through Soulwax’s label DEEWEE. The album’s material was deeply rooted in two things. The duo’s perspectives as Belgians with immigrant backgrounds: Adigéry proudly claiming Guadeloupean and French-Martinique ancestry and Pupul proudly claiming Chinese ancestry. And the wide-ranging conversations they’ve had between each other that touch upon cultural appropriation, misogyny, racism, social media vanity, post-colonialism, and more.

The album thematically is a snapshot of their thoughts and observations on pop culture in the early 2020s while sonically seeing the Belgian duo cementing their sound and approach. The material features thoughtful songs that slap — and slap hard — but are centered around their idiosyncratic, off-kilter and satirical take on familiar genres and styles. “We like to fuck things up a bit,” Pupul laughs. “We cringe when we feel like we’re making something that already exists, so we’re always looking for things to combine to make it sound not like a pop song, not like an R&B song, not a techno song. We’re always putting different worlds together. Charlotte and I get bored when things get too predictable.”  

The album’s songs are generally fueled by a restless desire to not be boxed in — and to escape narrow perceptions of who they are and what they can be. “One thing that always comes up,” Bolis Pupul says, “is that people perceive me as the producer, and Charlotte as just a singer. Or that being a Black artist means you should be making ‘urban’ music. Those kinds of boxes don’t feel good to us.” But they manage to do all of this with a satirical bent. For the Belgian duo, it’s emancipation through humor. “I don’t want to feel this heaviness on me,” Charlotte Adigéry says. “These aren’t my crosses to bear. Topical Dancer is my way of freeing myself of these issues. And of having fun.”

Pupul steps out into the spotlight as a singer/songwriter and solo artist with his full-length debut, the Soulwax co-produced Letter To Yu. Slated for a March 8, 2024 release through Soulwax’s DEEWEE, Letter To Yu comes on the heels of a whirlwind couple of years touring the globe to support Topical Dancer. Thematically, the album is love letter to his beloved mother, who was killed in a 2008 traffic accident.

Born to a Belgian father and Chinese mother and growing up in Ghent, Pupul had not negated his Chinese roots exactly — his mother was born in Hong Kong — but he hadn’t exactly embraced them either. However, in the wake of his mother’s death, he began coming to terms with his heritage. “When I started to think about my roots, I started to embrace them. And it became more and more important for me to get in touch with them,” the acclaimed Chinese-Belgian singer/songwriter and producer says. ““I went to evening school and began learning Chinese. I did that for four years. That was the first step.”

His first visit to Hong Kong back in 2018 further cemented how he wanted to incorporate his Chinese roots into his own music. A primary intention on his first trip to Hong Kong was to find where his mother — Yu Wei Sun — was born. Not wanting to forget this overwhelming experience, Pupul began writing a letter to his mother, so he could properly grasp his thoughts. Some time later, when the album began to take shape, the acclaimed Ghent-born and-based producer remembered the letter. “It became the centerpiece of this album,” he says matter-of-factly.

Fittingly, the creation and recording of Letter To Yu has proven to be a pivotal and liberating experience for Pupul. “Even though this trip was very emotional and at times sad, I also had some great times that just made me really happy,” he concludes. “This resulted in a very uplifting melody where I felt like I could handle my life.”

Late last year, I wrote about the album’s first single “Completely Half,” which sees Pupul pairing a glittering Chinese-influenced melody, skittering beats and wobbling synths with Pupul’s dreamy and yearning delivery describing the sensation of searching for your looks — and the desire to understand someone, who can no longer speak for, let alone explain themselves. The track also features field recordings recorded on the Hong Kong subway, which adds a vital and forceful sense of place to the proceedings.

“Spicy Crab,” Letter To Yu‘s second and latest single is a techno pop ode to the city’s signature dish, spicy crab, which Bolis ate during his first visit to Hong Kong. Built around a relentless motorik groove, skittering boom bap and glistening synth oscillations with a brief woozy breakbeat-like bridge, “Spicy Crab” subtly recalls late period Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder while being a slinky club banger.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Ghent, Belgium-based electronic duo Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul exploded into the national and international scenes with the release of 2019’s critically applauded David and Stephen Dewaele-produced Zandoli EP, which featured Paténipat” and “High Lights,” tracks that received airplay on UK Radio and were playlisted by  BBC Radio 6. 

Adigéry and Pupul’s official full-length debut as a duo, Topical Dancer was released earlier this year through Soulwax‘s own label DEEWEE. Co-written and co-produced by Soulwax and the acclaimed duo, Topical Dancer is deeply rooted in two things: The duo’s perspectives as Belgians with immigrant backgrounds with Adigéry proudly claiming Guadeloupean and French-Martinique ancestry — and the wide-ranging conversations the duo have had touching upon cultural appropriation, misogyny, racism, social media vanity, post-colonialism. 

While being a snapshot of their thoughts and observations of pop culture in the early 2020s, the album also further cements their sound and approach: They manage to craft thoughtful songs that bang hard but are centered around their idiosyncratic, off-kilter take on familiar genres take off familiar genres and styles. “We like to fuck things up a bit,” Pupul laughs. “We cringe when we feel like we’re making something that already exists, so we’re always looking for things to combine to make it sound not like a pop song, not like an R&B song, not a techno song. We’re always putting different worlds together. Charlotte and I get bored when things get too predictable.”  

And as result, Topical Dancer’s 13 songs are fueled by a restless desire to not be boxed in — and to escape narrow perceptions of who they are and what they can be. “One thing that always comes up,” Bolis Pupul says, “is that people perceive me as the producer, and Charlotte as just a singer. Or that being a Black artist means you should be making ‘urban’ music. Those kinds of boxes don’t feel good to us.” But they manage to do all of this with a satirical bent; for the duo it’s emancipation through humor. “I don’t want to feel this heaviness on me,” Charlotte Adigéry says. “These aren’t my crosses to bear. Topical Dancer is my way of freeing myself of these issues. And of having fun.”

In the lead up to the album’s release, I wrote about four of Topical Dancer‘s singles:

  • “Thank You,” a sardonic, club banger featuring skittering beats, buzzing synth arpeggios and Adigéry’s deadpan delivery destroying mansplainers and unwanted, unsolicited and straight up dumb opinions and advice from outsiders. 
  • “Blenda,” a club banger, centered around African-inspired polyrhythm, wobbling bass synths, skittering beats and Adigéry’s deadpan. Informed by Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race, “Blenda” focuses on colonialism and post colonialism through Adigéry’s experience as Black immigrant in an extremely white place. 
  • “HAHA,” a track built around a chopped up sample of Adigéry making herself laughed paired with twinkling synths, skittering beats and a relentless motorik groove that feels improvised and unfinished yet somehow simultaneously polished. 
  • “Ceci n’est pas un cliché,” a slick dancer floor friendly bop centered around a strutting bass line, finger snaps, skittering beats and glistening synth arpeggios paired with Adigéry cool delivery of clichéd pop lyrics in a series of non-sequiturs that’s surreal yet displays a weird sense of logic.

The song’s title is a winking nods to one of the most copied sentences in art history, originally by Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte. “This song is an accumulation of all the cliché lyrics so often used in pop music. It came about when we were touring and heard a song on the radio opening with ‘I was walking down the street’ which made us strongly cringe,” the duo’s Charlotte Adigéry says. “But the thing is, cringing is a shared passion of Bolis and I. So we passionately made a song out of it called ‘Ceci n’est pas un cliché’. Even more passionately we performed ourselves into a video about all the clichés we see in the magic world of musical genres. The musician in all its glory, capturing momentum and delivering a top notch performance, gazing into the light that’s called inspiration. And so for once and for all, please leave Magritte alone…!”

The acclaimed Belgian duo shared Soulwax’s remix/reworking of “Ceci n’est pas un cliché” simply titled “Cliché.” Soulwax delivers a euphoric the on the Adigéry and Pupul original, pushing up the tempo and energy in a club banger centered around tweeter and woofer rattling four-on-the-floor paired with dense layers of oscillating synths and chopped up samples of Adigéry’s vocals. Much like the original, it’s surreal yet wildly accessible.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul Turn Pop Clichés on Their Head in “Ceci n’est pas un cliché”

Ghent, Belgium-based electronic duo Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul exploded into the national and international scenes with the release of 2019’s critically applauded David and Stephen Dewaele-produced Zandoli EP, which featured Paténipat” and “High Lights,” tracks that received airplay on UK Radio and were playlisted by BBC Radio 6. 

Adigéry and Pupul’s official full-length debut as a duo, Topical Dancer is slated for a March 4, 2022 release through Soulwax‘s own label DEEWEE. Co-written and co-produced by Soulwax and the acclaimed duo, Topical Dancer is deeply rooted in two things: their perspectives as Belgians with immigrant backgrounds with Adigéry proudly claiming Guadeloupean and French-Martinique ancestry and Pupul being of Chinese descent, and the conversations the duo have had touching upon cultural appropriation, misogyny, racism, social media vanity, post-colonialism. Their wildly unpredictable and subversive take on pop and electro pop sees the Belgian duo poking and prodding at the pop zeitgeist.

While being a snapshot of their thoughts and observations of pop culture in the early 2020s, the album also further cements their sound and approach; they manage to craft thoughtful songs that bang hard but are centered around their idiosyncratic and off-kilter take on familiar genres and styles. “We like to fuck things up a bit,” Pupul laughs. “We cringe when we feel like we’re making something that already exists, so we’re always looking for things to combine to make it sound not like a pop song, not like an R&B song, not a techno song. We’re always putting different worlds together. Charlotte and I get bored when things get too predictable.”  

And as result, Topical Dancer’s 13 songs are fueled by a restless desire to not be boxed in — and to escape narrow perceptions of who they are and what they can be. “One thing that always comes up,” Bolis Pupul says, “is that people perceive me as the producer, and Charlotte as just a singer. Or that being a Black artist means you should be making ‘urban’ music. Those kinds of boxes don’t feel good to us.” But they manage to do all of this with a satirical bent; for the duo it’s emancipation through humor. “I don’t want to feel this heaviness on me,” Charlotte Adigéry says. “These aren’t my crosses to bear. Topical Dancer is my way of freeing myself of these issues. And of having fun.”

So far, I’ve written about three of Topical Dancer‘s singles:

  • “Thank You,” a sardonic, club banger featuring skittering beats, buzzing synth arpeggios and Adigéry’s deadpan delivery destroying mansplainers and unwanted, unsolicited and straight up dumb opinions and advice from outsiders. 
  • “Blenda,” a club banger, centered around African-inspired polyrhythm, wobbling bass synths, skittering beats and Adigéry’s deadpan. Informed by Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race, “Blenda” focuses on colonialism and post colonialism through Adigéry’s experience as Black immigrant in an extremely white place. 
  • “HAHA,” a track built around a chopped up sample of Adigéry making herself laughed paired with twinkling synths, skittering beats and a relentless motorik groove that feels improvised and unfinished yet somehow simultaneously polished.

“Ceci n’est pas un cliché,” Topical Dancer‘s fourth and latest single is centered around a slick, dance floor friendly production featuring a strutting bass line, finger snaps, skittering beats and glistening synth arpeggios paired with Adigéry’s coolly delivering a collection of clichéd pop lyrics in a series of non-sequiturs that’s surrealistic yet displays its own weird logic that sort of makes sense.

Directed by Bob Jeusette, the recently released video is also series of music video cliches, pulled out of context and made utterly ridiculous.

The song’s title is a winking nods to one of the most copied sentence sin art history, originally by Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte. “This song is an accumulation of all the cliché lyrics so often used in pop music. It came about when we were touring and heard a song on the radio opening with ‘I was walking down the street’ which made us strongly cringe,” the duo’s Charlotte Adigéry says. “But the thing is, cringing is a shared passion of Bolis and I. So we passionately made a song out of it called ‘Ceci n’est pas un cliché’. Even more passionately we performed ourselves into a video about all the clichés we see in the magic world of musical genres. The musician in all its glory, capturing momentum and delivering a top notch performance, gazing into the light that’s called inspiration. And so for once and for all, please leave Magritte alone…!”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul Return with a Surreal and Abstract Visual for Off-Kilter Banger “HAHA”

Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul are a Ghent, Belgium electronic duo, who exploded into the national and international scenes with the release of 2019’s critically applauded, David and Stephen Dewaele-produced Zandoli EP. Their unpredictable and subversive take on electro pop sees the pair poking and prodding at the pop zeitgeist with a provocative and sly sense of humor. Adding to a growing profile, EP singles “Paténipat” and “High Lights” received airplay on UK Radio and were playlisted by BBC Radio 6. 

Adigéry and Pupul’s official full-length debut as a duo, Topical Dancer is slated for a March 4, 2022 release through Soulwax‘s own label DEEWEE. Co-written and co-produced by Soulwax and the acclaimed duo, Topical Dancer is deeply rooted in two things: their perspectives as Belgians with immigrant backgrounds with Adigéry proudly claiming Guadeloupean and French-Martinique ancestry and Pupul being of Chinese descent, and the conversations the duo have had touching upon cultural appropriation, misogyny, racism, social media vanity, post-colonialism. 

So while being a snapshot of their thoughts and observations of pop culture in the early 2020s, the album also further cements their sound and approach; they manage to craft thoughtful songs that bang hard but are centered around their idiosyncratic and off-kilter take on familiar genres and styles. “We like to fuck things up a bit,” Pupul laughs. “We cringe when we feel like we’re making something that already exists, so we’re always looking for things to combine to make it sound not like a pop song, not like an R&B song, not a techno song. We’re always putting different worlds together. Charlotte and I get bored when things get too predictable.”  

And as result, the album’s 13 songs are fueled by a restless desire to not be boxed in — and to escape narrow perceptions of who they are and what they can be. “One thing that always comes up,” Bolis Pupul says, “is that people perceive me as the producer, and Charlotte as just a singer. Or that being a Black artist means you should be making ‘urban’ music. Those kinds of boxes don’t feel good to us.” But they manage to do all of this with a satirical bent; for the duo it’s emancipation through humor. “I don’t want to feel this heaviness on me,” Charlotte Adigéry says. “These aren’t my crosses to bear. Topical Dancer is my way of freeing myself of these issues. And of having fun.”

So far, I’ve written about two of Topical Dancer‘s singles:

  • “Thank You,” a sardonic, club banger featuring skittering beats, buzzing synth arpeggios and Adigéry’s deadpan delivery destroying mansplainers and unwanted, unsolicited and straight up dumb opinions and advice from outsiders.
  • “Blenda,” a club banger, centered around African-inspired polyrhythm, wobbling bass synths, skittering beats and Adigéry’s deadpan. Informed by Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race, “Blenda” focuses on colonialism and post colonialism through Adigéry’s experience as Black immigrant in an extremely white place.

Topical Dancer‘s third and latest single “HAHA” continues a remarkable run of off-kilter yet club friendly bangers. Built around a chopped up sample of Adigéry making herself laugh, paired with twinkling synths, skittering beats and a relentless motorik groove, “HAHA” feels improvised and unfinished yet simultaneously polished.

The recently released video by Hugo Campan is as abstract and odd as the single it accompanies with the visual featuring kaleidoscopic footage of Adigéry and Pupul vamping and dancing among chicken and egg imagery. The duo explain that the chicken and egg imagery is a “a visual shorthand for unhatched potential” and is an ongoing motif throughout the album.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul Release a Feverish Visual for Infectious and Off-Kilter Banger “Blenda”

Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul are a Ghent, Belgium electronic duo, who exploded into the national and international scenes with the release of 2019’s critically applauded, David and Stephen Dewaele-produced Zandoli EP. Their unpredictable and subversive take on electro pop sees the pair poking and prodding at the pop zeitgeist with a provocative and sly sense of humor. Adding to a growing profile, EP singles “Paténipat” and “High Lights” received airplay on UK Radio and were playlisted by BBC Radio 6. 

Adigéry and Pupul’s full-length debut as a duo, Topical Dancer is slated for a March 4, 2022 release through Soulwax‘s own label DEEWEE. Co-written and co-produced by Soulwax and the acclaimed duo, Topical Dancer is deeply rooted in two things: their perspectives as Belgians with immigrant backgrounds with Adigéry proudly claiming Guadeloupean and French-Martinique ancestry and Pupul being of Chinese descent, and the conversations the duo have had touching upon cultural appropriation, misogyny, racism, social media vanity, post-colonialism.

So while being a snapshot of their thoughts and observations of pop culture in the early 2020s, the album also further cements their sound and approach; they manage to craft thoughtful songs that bang hard centered around their idiosyncratic and off-kilter take on familiar genres and styles. “We like to fuck things up a bit,” Pupul laughs. “We cringe when we feel like we’re making something that already exists, so we’re always looking for things to combine to make it sound not like a pop song, not like an R&B song, not a techno song. We’re always putting different worlds together. Charlotte and I get bored when things get too predictable.”  

The album’s 13 songs are also fueled by a restless desire to not be boxed in — and to escape narrow perceptions of who they are and what they can be. “One thing that always comes up,” Bolis Pupul says, “is that people perceive me as the producer, and Charlotte as just a singer. Or that being a Black artist means you should be making ‘urban’ music. Those kinds of boxes don’t feel good to us.”But they manage to do all of this with a satirical bent; for the duo it’s emancipation through humor/ “I don’t want to feel this heaviness on me,” Charlotte Adigéry says. “These aren’t my crosses to bear. Topical Dancer is my way of freeing myself of these issues. And of having fun.”

Earlier this year, the duo released “Thank You,” an off-kilter banger, centered around Adigéry’s deadpan delivery, skittering beats, layers of buzzing synth arpeggios an an enormous hook. And at its core, the song’s narrator seeks revenge against all mansplainers and all unwarned, unsolicited and dumb opinions from outsiders.

Topical Dancer‘s second and latest single “Blenda” is an off-kilter banger centered around African inspired polyrhythm, wobbling bass synths, skittering beats, Adigéry’s trademark deadpan delivery slightly giving way to incredulousness paired with the duo’s unerring knack for crafting a razor sharp, infectious hook. “Blenda” references how “I am a product of colonialism,” Adigéry says “and I feel guilty for taking up space in a white country. The song also draws some influence from Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race. “It talks about the colonial past and post-colonial present in the UK,” Adigéry continues, “but that isn’t merely a British or American problem, Belgium is part of that as well.” She says that her home country is likewise “oblivious to a big part of its history” which “results in general ignorance and a lack of understanding and empathy towards Belgian inhabitants of immigrant descent.” 

Directed by Bob Jeusette, the recently released video for “Blenda” continues a run of visuals that are feverish mindfucks: we see two young children, a Black child and an Asian child, presumably stand-ins for Adigéry and Pupul, watching a TV show that shills cheap foreign shit, interspersed with a Black woman being chased by men wearing pigeon masks and other wild and inexplicable goings-on. Racism and self-hate are culturally ingrained y’all — and it’s fucking awful.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul Team Up with Soulwax on an Off-Kilter Banger

Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul are a Ghent, Belgium electronic duo, who exploded into the national and international scenes with the release of 2019’s critically applauded, David and Stephen Dewaele-produced Zandoli EP. Their unpredictable and subversive take on electro pop sees the pair poking and prodding at the pop zeitgeist with a provocative and sly sense of humor. Adding to a growing profile, EP singles “Paténipat” and “High Lights” received airplay on UK Radio and were playlisted by BBC Radio 6.

The duo will be playing at this year’s Pitchfork Paris and Pitchfork London festivals in November. Tickets can be purchased here: https://charlotteadigeryandbolispupul.com/Tour-1.

But in the meantime, the rising Belgian duo have released a new single, the Soulwax co-written and co-produced “Thank You.” Marking the first release as a duo under their own names for the first time ever, “Thank You” is an off-kilter yet dance floor friendly, club banger centered around Adigéry’s deadpan delivery, skittering beats, layers of buzzing synth arpeggios and an enormous hook. Adigéry describes the song as “a cheeky and cynical revenge for all the unwanted, unsolicited opinions some people generously offer us.”

Directed and produced by the team behind DEWEE TEEVEE, the recently released video for “Thank You” is full of VHS tape fuzz, weird imagery and acid-fueled effects.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Introducing the Afro-Caribbean Sounds of Charlotte Adigéry

Charlotte Adigéry is an up-and-coming Belgian-Martiniquais singer/songwriter and her forthcoming David and Stephen Dewaele-produced EP Zandoli is centered around storytelling, her mother’s critical lesson of rhythm’s relationship to musicality, the importance of a sense of humor in a difficult work, and more important, her ancestors musical traditions. 

The EP’s opening track and latest single is the propulsive and trance-inducing “Patenipat,” a track built around thumping, tweeter and woofer rocking beats and a chanted chorus “zandoli pa the ni pat,” a Creole mnemonic that translates into “the gecko didn’t have any legs.” (A zandoli is a commonly found lizard across the Caribbean that’s frequently found climbing the walls of homes across the region.) Interestingly, while based around contemporary electronic music production, the song draws from the Afro-Caribbean tradition, recalling rhythmic drum lines and dance routines  — with the participants moving towards a religious ecstasy.

Directed by Joaquim Bayle, the cinematically shot visuals draw from religious ceremonies with Adigéry and all of the participants driven by the propulsive rhythms of the song.