Listen to a rousing playlist from Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul

Welcome back to Selections, a series of artist-curated playlists from those in the know.

There’s a certain playfulness to the collaborative output of Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul that can only stem from close friendship. The Ghent-based duo – who released their debut album Topical Dancer earlier this year via Soulwax’s Deewee imprint – first met over a decade ago and began working together in the mid-2010s. 

A shared sense of wry humour and an understanding of the other’s lived experiences underpins much, if not all, of their work to date. That’s not forgetting an appreciation for pop and the ways in which it can be utilised as a tool for weaving heavier themes into songs that hold up in a club setting. Topical Dancer, for instance, considers topics such as xenophobia, racism and cultural appropriation across its 13 tracks, which fuse electropop sensibilities with other irresistible strains of dance music. This is thoughtful and thought-provoking music delivered with a beckon to the dancefloor.

Their Selections playlist, shared ahead of their appearance at Stone Island Presents Amsterdam later this week, finds them in album mode, too. From the urgent punk of Amyl and the Sniffers to the Afro-funk of Ibibio Sound Machine via Wu-Lu, Dry Cleaning, Coco Bryce and more, it features songs that are currently accompanying them on their Topical Dancer tour. 

“To make it somewhat topical,” the pair explain, “we both chose recently released songs with a less ‘digital’ feel to them – sometimes through guitars or actual live drums – as that’s something we would want to explore more in future recordings.”