Anemones by Xylitol
As Planet Mu extends and embraces more musical regions, I was pretty happy and not surprised that they were about to release new Xylitol album and on cassette too which is a double bonus.
Xylitol is the moniker of Catherine Backhouse, who is a producer and DJ under the name DJ Bunnyhausen. She was a resident DJ at Kosmische, the now dormant Krautrock club. She has been co-hosting the radio show Slav To The Rhythm, which focuses on vintage central and eastern European pop and electronica. Apart from that she's also co-writing a book on Yugoslavian pop culture.
All this from Catherine's cv and a bit more as you start digging deeper into the new album that has been just released.
You can look at the album from a few different angles - one is elevating the jungle, garage genres towards something that sounds fresh as ever. In those terms - there is an encyclopaedic knowledge and DIY work behind it. As you go along this road - you can see that there is quite a bit more to ''Anemones'' - please check a very subliminally sounding Miha where you can feel the krautrock dub trait - still on the verge of the syncopated jungle/drum n' bass heart attack.
There is lots of reference to the synth sound of Yugoslavian pop but put in the context of syncopated rhythm gaze.
What is great musically is that the textures of those tracks blend beautifully with the beats - there is some sort of elusive nostalgia but it never skips out a glitch - it goes right where it should.
On another level there is biology as a subject related concept behind the album. It revolves around the topic of taxonomy and transports it into the world of how psychology, sublimation work within the organic aspect of species. The concept is not typically academical but how I feel it through this album it has probably something to do with the synergy that can happen between your inner microcosm - how your feelings and self-awareness and on the grander scale your conscious identity works with the swings and twists that beats offer, and how you interact with them.
I am glad this album came out on Planet Mu as it is a sign that a bit wider audience can appreciate the work and effort that Catherine is doing in this project and other bits that influence it. Hopefully they will collaborate on a regular basis.
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