This morning, we’re feeling fantastic. The days are getting longer, summer is almost here and life is gradually resuming. We discover resources, qualities and desires hitherto unsuspected that we now long to explore. It is with a new eye that we now wish to glimpse the future, the one of a sensitive, complex and caring alter-ego.
Fantastic Twins is one of Julienne Dessagne’s alter-ego through which the French, Berliner by adoption, draws a rich musical universe, synthesis of various electronic influences. When I saw her play live the first time, I was immediately moved by the swooping vocal textures and the melodies influenced by her knowledge of dance music which results in a constant oscillation between dark and light.
Fantastic Twins’s selection
Sun City Girls - Cruel And Thin
Julienne: ” I first discovered Sun City Girls on an Optimo Espacio “unmixed” CD ironically called “(Why Nobody Comes) Back To Mine” that was given to me 13 years ago when I left Glasgow. I used to live there and was a regular at Optimo’s Sunday club night back then and felt very sad when I left the city so that was a thoughtful cheer-up gift that became a staple in my music collection ever since. Because I liked it so much I then looked out for the discographies of all the artists and bands featured on that CD and came across so much great music. Sun City Girls were an extremely prolific band so it’s impossible to know their entire body of work. It’s also impossible to pigeonhole them into any genre (as always with great music), their music is an insanely wide and wild mosaic of sounds, weird places and rituals all brought together in a politically incorrect way that I adore. Recalling their early stage experiences confronted to an audience (of skinheads), one of the band members said “They threw sandwiches at Rick and and he was picking them up off the floor and eating them.” Guess that sums them up pretty well. I could have chosen plenty of other songs by them that I like even more but “Cruel And Thin” was the one featured on the CD and therefore kind of the 101 track for me. “
Johnnie Frierson - Have You Been Good To Yourself
Julienne: ” Light In The Attic Records released this gem a few years ago and I fell in love with it instantly. It’s an album of gospel songs by Johnnie Frierson. The message is obviously very religious (Sunday mornings are for church too, aren’t they?!), Frierson was scarred by the Vietnam War where he was sent to fight as well as grieving the death of his son. So the album reflects his personal struggle and spiritual escape and that resulted in this extremely moving piece of music. To me there’s always an element of melancholy about Sundays and this album is a great journey to shed some tears. “
Latif Kahn & Don Cherry - Sangam
Julienne: ” Anything from Don Cherry is the perfect soundtrack for a Sunday (and any day really). Simply wonderful music. This one is from a collaboration with Indian percussionist Latif Kahn and was recorded in 1978, the quality of this record is mind blowing. “
MailTape’s selection
Fantastic Twins - The Myth Of Twinus
Jules: ” This is one of Fantastic Twins’ older songs but one of my favourites. After an introduction which sounds like the soundtrack of a mysterious western and takes us to the heart of an immense desert plain, Julienne Dessagne tells us the legend of two flying twins lost in the vastness of the sky. “
upsammy - Extra Warm
Jules: ” Taken from “Zoom”, Thessa Torsing’s first full-length album as upsammy to be released in June 2020, this track makes me think of Aphex Twin’s music. Its aerial tones and birdsonglike melodies remind me of long summer afternoons, with these complex drum patterns evoking the flow of a river in which we bathe under a blazing sun. “
Giraffi Dog - The Temple Of Magatao
Jules: ” With this deep rolling bass line Giraffi Dog brings us back to urban and technological landscapes, until the middle of the track which sounds like an opening towards the sky and this melancholic conclusion with its dreamy choirs and soul-stirring synths which always moves me. “
Perel - Die Dimension (Jayda G remix)
Jules: ” While Perel’s dub version of her song “Die Dimension” is perfect for Saturday night out, this house remix by Jayda G has the sweetness and the rhythm you need for a slow awakening and recovering from your hangover in the sunlight. “
That’s it for this morning! As always, thank you so much for joining us. Much love to Julienne Dessagne, the mastermind behind Fantastic Twins for her wonderful Sunday selections, and to Camille Célestin for this episode’s stunning illustration.
