This morning, we are diving in sounds and noises. Jacques is our very special guest. He’s been very busy this last year or so taking over the world and we are very proud to have him featuring in an episode of MailTape — he won unanimous support of everyone in the MailTape team. If you don’t know his work, we hope you will be blown away. If you do know his music, you might think you can foresee what’s coming. Trust me, you don’t. Jacques is a free electron and that’s what we love about him. Enjoy this episode full of silences, weird noises and love. Tout est magnifique.

Jacques’ poem selection of the day:

If— by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you.
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting.
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream —and not make dreams your master
If you can think —and not make thoughts your aim
If you can meet Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools.
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings —nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute,
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run.
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And —which is more— you’ll be a Man, my son!

Jacques’ selection

• Meredith Petronio - Flux Bis

Jacques: ” Played loudly, this song, filled with silence, awakens me to full consciousness as I imagine my day as perfect as if it were the last. “

• Lubomyr Melnyk – The Six Day Moment

Jacques: ” Finally standing, the exterior world attempts to push me away from my perfect day, as I listen to this song and all its unpredictable harmonious changes, I accept them and include them in my perfect day. “

• Oklou - Chrysalis

Jacques: ” Do not shy away from hitting the repeat button on this life saving song pulsating a rather harmful chorus, offering a last training exercise to activate your psychological neurons. For me, it evokes the thunderous ocean-like feeling of betrayal as you might start to mistrust your entourage. The cyclical expiry of an instant’s harmony, as if suddenly losing, in the midst of a verbal exchange, the primal desire to speak, the disturbance on a people’s face having just witnessed a fatal error while wandering the streets ‘’ We had planned to demolish this block of flats, but we never thought it would collapse that way. Nothing ever happens as intended, but in the end, everything seems acceptable. “

Mailtape’s selection

• Jacques - L’Incroyable Vie des Choses

Louise: ” This track is the essence of what Jacques does. Magic. With Sounds. When I first listen to his EP Tout est magnifique, I was hypnotised. Then, I saw him live, and I fell in love with the artist and his capacity to play music with everything that falls into his hands. “

• Romare - Je T’aime

Louise: ” Romare’s new album Love Songs: Part Two is so great. Isn’t it the best when artists care about love? I find Romare’s work mesmerizing. “

• Pavane - Pelléas

Louise: ” Guess what? I discovered Pavane thanks to… Mailtape. It’s been a long time and I had the chance to see them live last year and I felt blessed. Thanks to Gabriel Fauré, though. Without him, we wouldn’t be listening to such wonderful music today. “

• Segilola - Hurry Along

Louise: ” I felt like this song was perfect to conclude this episode. I think it goes well with Jacques’ work, with all these little noises made with everyday items. And, of course, I absolutely fell in love with Segilola’s voice. “

That’s all folks! Thanks for listening, thanks to Jacques for being our guest and a true sound poet. Hope you enjoyed this tape!