Anemones, by Xylitol

Anemones

by Xylitol

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Doctor Zap This is for sure the best album I've heard in a while. There's so much in here, so much substance, so much artistry... so much joy. Anyone who remembers the pleasure of jungle/DnB coming onto the scene in the early 90s will adore this... it just has that energy and excitement of those days. I've been waiting for this album for decades. Thanks 🧡 Favorite track: Jelena.

Teedubyabee Beautiful album marrying classic AKAI MPC-bashing jungle riddims to the most wistful of melodies. Ghosts of Detroit & The Radiophonic Workshop also lurk here in a superbly paced soundworld that thrills and soothes in equal measure. Planet Mu have snagged a real winner here. Favorite track: Jelena.

lbi Moebius is the only rightful heir to LTJ Bukem's 'Music'. Nuff said.

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***SHIPS 27th SEPTEMBER***

Includes unlimited streaming of Anemones via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.

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1.	Rosi 01:27	buy track
2.	Jelena 06:18	buy track
3.	Okko 04:14	buy track
4.	Miha 03:15	buy track
5.	Moebius 09:33	buy track
6.	Maplin Syrup 02:30	buy track
7.	Dobro Jutro 03:20	buy track
8.	Daša 03:26	buy track
9.	Iskria 03:36	buy track
10.	Monte Mare 05:06	buy track
11.	Empty Vessel 01:42	buy track

about

Xylitol is the alias of Catherine Backhouse, producer and DJ under the name DJ Bunnyhausen. She was a resident DJ at Kosmische, the now dormant Krautrock club and is a fan of jungle and hardcore. She currently co-hosts the radio show Slav To The Rhythm, which focuses on vintage central and eastern European pop and electronica and she's also co-writing a book on Yugoslav pop culture.

'Anemones' is a total project from the cover to the music. Backhouse is fascinated by early botanical illustrations of anemones and other aquatic fauna, and how the act of taxonomy reveals as much about human psychology, desire and sublimation as it does about the organic specimen as a thing in itself. Each track is a microcosm of this 'other life', an allegory for the extraordinary potential latent within bodies that the dancefloor has the power to activate.

Using early jungle and garage as starting points to connect dots and open up contrasts between dance music and vintage electronics, Backhouse finds a sweet spot which, in her words "feels like something that's simultaneously still and ancient yet propulsive and ecstatic." Not afraid of letting the the hiss and flutter of the music show, 'Anemones' holds attention with ancient bubbling synths and gracefully drifting arpeggiations, occasionally brought to heel by charming melodies, all accompanied by breakbeats that explode like fireworks. 'Anemones' has a lively and unpolished aesthetic that's a kindred spirit to Nondi_'s 2023 album of smeary, water-damaged footwork, 'Flood City Trax'.

'Moebius' pits the spaced out neon chords of the track's namesake against absolutely tearing breaks, allowing time for this almost overwhelming combination to become near enough transcendental, while the bleeping melody and sad slavic chorus motif in 'Okko' feels like an artifact from an alternative future. The Drexciya meets 2-step garage of 'Dobro Jutro' creates a welcome respite at the album's midpoint before the flow builds up again to 'Daša' with its glassy sounds from a lost radiophonic workshop miniature meeting bruising kicks and snares. Meanwhile 'Iskria' has purring synth chords and 8-bit melodies evoking the cosmonaut age.

The subliminal influence of the Yugo era is felt in DIY synthesis and Mitteleuropean melody and seen in song titles such as 'Jelena', 'Miha', 'Daša' (named after novelist Daša Drndič) and 'Iskria' (taken from the fictitious Balkan region in Ottessa Moshfegh's bleak fable 'Lapvona'). 'Anemones' very effectively folds experimental genres from different times and places into a very enjoyable new sound.

credits

released July 5, 2024

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about

Xylitol UK

Gutter Kosmische.

DJ or live bookings contact katebunnyhausen [at] gmail [dot] com

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