LA-based Huxley Anne composes ethereal electronic music with an edgy hint of punk. Surrounded by nature as a child, she spent her formative years studying ballet, playing in bands, and working on her three forms of expression—-music, movement, and visual art. Her music fuses elements of abstract hip-hop, heavy bass, experimental electronica, and textural ambience to create a new sub-genre that plays smoothly in an art gallery or seduces you at the club.

The young artist moved to LA in 2014 and began working as a sound technician for a top-tier live sound company that exposed her to the spatial world of the touring music industry. Seeing the potential for her musical career to expand into these new environments, she left the job to pursue music professionally, releasing sparkling, club-ready tracks with artists like Woolymammoth and Noer the Boy, plus a few solo singles. She’s also known as half of the urban music duo PAINT, a side project with mind-bending beat maker Tsuruda that was announced in early 2016. The first PAINT EP, Blood, was met with support from artists such as Noisia and Ivy Lab, licensed for high fashion shows and commercials, and resulted in a loyal online following.

Huxley Anne’s live sets push the boundaries between jazz, bass, and experimental music, largely influenced by the LA beat scene. She’s taken the stage alongside some of the electronic scene’s heaviest hitters, making her Vancouver debut in 2015 with Ekali and High Klassified, her festival debut in a whirlwind b2b with G Jones, Bleep Bloop, and Sayer, and performed around the country alongside Truth, Tsuruda, Penthouse Penthouse, and X&G, while having opened for Travis Scott & Jason Bentley at the Hollywood Roosevelt in LA.

Her submission to the XLR8R podcast series, a DJ set, aims to blend Huxley Anne’s two worlds: the electronic scene of the UK and her roots in the LA beat scene. Tracks come from the likes of Thundercat, Iglooghost, Lapalux, Son Lux, and Alix Perez—plus a few lesser-known curveballs along the way. It’s a 65-minute sonic adventure from the LA beatmaker.

What have you been up to lately?

Hibernating on the Island of Rhodes. It’s studio season, so I’ve mostly been channelling the better parts of The Hermit; introspection and solitude are two of the essential components I rely on to get my creativity flowing. Working on a new record, just directed my first music video. The island bears lots of fruit.

Where and when was the mix recorded?

In the early dawn of a Los Angeles Sunday morning, when the sun is about to rise and a day of breath is given to the concrete vines that clench the city’s inhabitants.

How did you choose the records you included?

I’ve relished the endless creative exchange between the allure of the UK’s electronic scene, and my roots in the LA beat scene. I wanted to explore that connection with this mix, gravitating from the early hip-hop of the 1990’s to the nostalgic electronica circa 2010, then further to the abstract, fizzled, planetary soundscapes of today.

How does the mix compare to your club mixes?

This mix is more focused, more intent on exploring sounds born within the bipolitan void. With my club mixes, I love engaging with the audience. The ritual energy of humans gathering to dance, to make music, is so sacred; I try to honor it as best as I can through improvisation, which can bloom in all directions. Like a heavy pulse emulated outwards, rising almost like a breath.

Was there a particular feeling/mood that you’re trying to convey?

I’ve been going back in time a bit recently, reading into hauntological theories of dystopian futures. It’s helped shaped the musical aesthetic for my next record. Waves of narrative inspiration have been breaking inside me, thinking about humans in these dystopian places, walking blindly through fire. Whenever I ask myself what gives my imaginary characters hope as they face such unsettling futures, I find them going backwards in time. They draw upon ancient myths, simple pleasures, musical histories, storytelling. I hope to convey that, overall, with most of my work—don’t be afraid to believe in magic, to take within you the surreal mythology of ancient times, to turn back time. Let it bloom within.

Tracklisting

01. Snoop Dogg “Gz and Hustlas” [Death Row Records] // Mndsgn. “Adjustments” (Sonnymoon Remix) [Fresh Selects]
02. Iglooghost & Mr. Yote “サイドA” [ACTIVIA BENZ]
03. Herzeloyde “oh (wow)” [Self-released]
04. BROCKHAMPTON “JUNKY” [QUESTION EVERYTHING INC.]
05. Ebbo Kraan “Thirst” [Rwina Records]
06. Noisia “Surfaceless” [Division Records]
07. Tsuruda “a war in the jungle” [???]
08. Iglooghost “lines&lines&lines” [Error Broadcast]
09. Thundercat “Daylight (Reprise)” [Brainfeeder]
10. BROCKHAMPTON “GUMMY” [QUESTION EVERYTHING INC.]
11. Blake Skowron “10pound” [???]
12. Shabazz Palaces “Youlogy” [Sub Pop]
13. Untold “Stop What You’re Doing” (James Blake Remix) [Hemlock Recordings]
14. Son Lux “Easy (Switch Screens) [feat . Lorde]” [Joyful Noise Recordings]
15. Eskmo “Cloudlight” [Ninja Tune]
16. Silkersoft “Yama Sonne” [TAR]
17. Lapalux “Petty Passion” [Brainfeeder]
18. Woolymammoth “Mustard ft. Yokaze” [forthcoming on Alpha Pup]
19. Amon Tobin “In Your Own Time” (Eprom Remix) [Ninja Tune]
20. Havelock “Chamber” [forthcoming on 20/20 LDN]
21. Unknown “Unknown”
22. Alix Perez “Monolith (ft. Foreign Beggards & Jehst)” [Shogun Audio]
23. Mahdyar “Vow” [Kowloon Records]
24. Alix Perez “Crystals” [Shogun Audio]
25. Mad Zach “belittle no one x 1” [Mad Lab]
26. Aether & Eckle “Gloom.8” [Self Release]
27. Sega Bodega “Bush Baby” [Crazylegs]
28. Anna Wise “Precious Possession” [Self-released]
29. Clams Casino “32 Levels (Feat. Lil B & Joe Newman)” [Columbia Records]
30. Onhell “with twin peaks theme” [???]

Photo credit: Lloyd Galbraith