On the eve of the release of their second EP of dance music inspired by James Broughton poetry, techno producers and record label founders Two Dudes in Love reflect on his legacy, the Big Joy documentary, and how Broughton continues to inspire them to “follow their own weird.”
This week, Friends with Benefits Records releases MUSIC OF HIS DANCE, VOLUME 2. This new compilation features seven fresh songs by acclaimed underground dance artists, including Hard Ton (above), Lady Blacktronika, Adonisaurus and Burning Man veteran Gehno Aviance. You can preview the new EP MUSIC OF HIS DANCE, VOLUME 2 on Soundcloud and Pre-order on iTunes now.
Above: Mat dos Santos and David Sternesky are “Two Dudes In Love“, and have founded their own record label “Friends with Benefits” in San Francisco.
Mat shares, “When we watched ‘Big Joy’ for the first time, we laughed and cried and then laughed some more. Its message of following your heart even when everyone and everything around you is yelling, ‘conform!’ resonated deeply. At heart, we’re just two little sissy boys that didn’t fit in with the cool kids. Today, we get to redefine ourselves as authentic queers who love faggotry in its highest forms including art, healthy sexuality, and community building.
“James is our God Father. He just doesn’t know it (or maybe he does). Everything about James’ work moves us toward living authentic lives.” Mat’s favorite work is the Androgyne Journal; he identifies with James’ struggle with gender. David’s favorite work is Ecstasies, “it is undeniably one of the most beautiful collection of love poems ever written.”
In March, Mat and David produced the first of two EPs of music inspired by James Broughton poetry, “Music of His Dance, Volume 1”, featuring archival audio recordings of James Broughton reading his poetry set to original music from a diverse group of musicians and producers from the dance community. The first EP features their own track based on the Broughton poem “Wondrous”
Listen to MUSIC OF HIS DANCE, VOLUME 1 on Soundcloud
Mat told us, “We love this song. It is by far one of the most intricate pieces of music we’ve ever written. Everything about it is a reflection of our deep love for each other as inspired by James’ beautiful words. We also had a lot of fun doing things very differently when we wrote ‘Wondrous.’ It pushed us into a semi-live music arena. We recorded several guitar lines; clapping; humming; and even used a Tibetan singing bowl in the place where we’d traditionally use a ‘Ha hit,’ a nod to both Mat’s spiritual beliefs and the traditions of queer vogue culture. We embraced the challenge of making a song as beautiful as James’ testament of love for Joel and we think we did.”