Dancing between daintrees: a musical escapade into the outdoors with Babyxxan.
The latest Theory Therapy mix couldn’t come at a better time, especially for those cooped up inside. It’s 90-minutes of woozy ambient and ambient-adjacent sounds that perfectly capture the hazy, humid quality of the Australian outdoors, featuring field recordings, an array of dreamy local electronica from the likes of Albrecht La'Brooy and Tornado Wallace, plus plenty of lesser-known gems from overseas.
It’s been lovingly put together by the multitalented and incredibly hard-working Babyxxan. In between making music, playing shows on Skylab, PBS and Music in Exile – all of which we highly recommend checking out - the Melbourne-based DJ and artist is also in her final semester of university studying ethnomusicology and neuroscience. Like the majority of people in Melbourne and Victoria, Xan has spent almost all of the last few months at home, deprived of the sounds, sensations and beauty of the outdoors.
It’s this lack and quiescence which Xan’s Theory Therapy mix remedies. Paying tribute to “the symphony of the Outside”, her transmission is a celebratory, uplifting and expansive ode to the natural world, an aural escape from our overly familiar surroundings and much-needed respite from the stuffy confines of the home. “The aim is that you can listen to this wherever you are and be reminded of the nourishing soundscape of the outside world. Inside or outside, light or dark - I’d like this to fit in your pocket anywhere.”
Photo credit: Dallas Howell
How are you today?
Surrounded by three half-drunk cups of coffee with a space-heater burning my toes; productive, nested, and quietly humming either from caffeine or contentment.
Do you think there’s been any changes in your listening habits since lockdown?
I’ve begun to appreciate the spaces between sounds. After spending a few months with my headphones glued to my head, my ears inevitably got fatigued and I had to let them air out a bit. I started going for long runs without music, sitting on the porch without music, bathing without music. So I’ve learnt that perhaps for my personal listening habits, each song should be followed by a complementary chunk of sweet silence. It helps it ferment, I think.
Your mix is a particularly special one. Can you tell us a little bit about it? What were you feeling when you made it?
Cooped up inside on what feels like an extendable lead tied to the foot of the couch, I don’t think I’m alone in sincerely missing the symphony of the Outside. It’s not just the sweaty crowds and festivals I missed, but the specific soundscape of the outdoor dance. The flora and fauna of the dancefloor, the chorus of the trees, the soundscape of the dust-bowl with a thousand feet stomping in synchrony. To be more frank; I sincerely miss the bushdoof.
I particularly tried to articulate with this mix the nostalgia for dancing towards the treelines. It’s that particular moment at a festival, gig, or camping trip where the crowd is thin and you’re no longer directing your fast feet to the stage but instead to the bush. To all their long, waving branches you wave back with your wiggly arms. Your fingers and their leaves shimmy in synchrony. They are dancing for you and you are dancing for them. The dance is celebratory but also an expression of gratitude for each tree to have you at their feet, dancing around their roots, feeding your every intake of breath. It is an acknowledgement of country, both specifically on the Australian soils on which I reside and also extending globally to wherever you are listening from. Respect paid to the land, to the traditional owners of the land, and to their elders both past and present.
Where did you record the mix?
Where I’ve done absolutely everything the past 6 months - the bedroom studio.
What would be the ideal setting to listen to it?
The aim is that you can listen to this wherever you are and be reminded of the nourishing soundscape of the outside world. Inside or outside, light or dark - I’d like this to fit in your pocket anywhere.
Are there any tracks you’ve used in the mix that are special or significant to you?
This mix as a whole is a collection of my favourite songs to dance or sway too. I pay my respects to every artist and genre I pay tribute to in this mix, and acknowledge that each song comes with an intricate and rich backstory. Each one is significant, and each one has a knack of making my muscles move.
Theory Therapy mixes are often about calming or moving the listener. Is there a particular album, song or sound that does that for you?
My two primary movers (at least for these past few years) have been Tornado Wallace and Waak Waak Djungi. Their work ignites a flame for dancing and expression in me that is unparalleled and endlessly life-affirming. My primary calmer is ‘The Sound of Glades’ by Wolf Müller & Cass; there’s no point describing it...I’ll just let you listen to it.
It’s probably a little hard to say right now, but what are your plans for the rest of the year? (Alternatively, are there any positives you think you’ve taken away from the past few months of lockdown?)
I’m trying to steamroll through my last semester of university (Neuroscience/Ethnomusicology) so I can finally give myself entirely over to music-making. Lockdown made me realise how much my priorities have changed over the years and how ill-fitting my lifestyle was in acknowledging that. In finally having the space (or being somewhat forced) to be alone and contemplative, so much music has started pouring out of me and I’ve still not had the time, space, or relaxation to develop it properly. So here’s to hoping when the world returns, I can hold onto this. There’s three albums in my head and I hope the rest of the year helps get them out.
Thank you so much for having me!
Tracklist:
Andrew Pekler - Saxenburgh / Pepys / Aurora [Faitiche]
Secret Circuit - Foggy Twilights [Secret Circuit]
Jaakko Eino Kalevi - Speak Out [Beats In Space]
Albrecht La'Brooy - Afternoon Carafe [Apollo Records]
Takuya Kuroda - Green and Gold [Blue Note Records]
Babyxxan - a brief stretch of field recordings [No label]
Tornado Wallace - Kingdom Animalia [Running Back]
Natureboy Flako - Ode to Piotr Kamler [Materialized Moments]
Andrew Pekler - Bororo [Faitiche]
Babyxxan - A capella and more field recordings [No label]
Geoffrey Oryema - The River [Real World Records]
Sleep D and Albrecht La’Brooy - Marshland [Analogue Attic]
Asa Moto - Wanowan Efem [Deewee]
Yazz Ahmed - Misophonia [Naim Audio]
Yothu Yindi - Gapu (Vibe Mix - Arranged by Gurrumul Yunupingu, Remix by Lamar Lowder) [Hollywood Records]
Wilson Tanner - Loch and Key [Efficient Space]
Aron Ottignon Feat. ÌFÉ - Ore Yèyé O [Urban Trout]
Rimarimba - Egg Foo Young [Freedom To Spend]
Alan Dargin, Michael Atherton - Sunshower [Black Sun Music]
Wolf Müller and Cass - The Sound of Glades [International Feel]
Gabriele Poso - Invocation 005 (Atjazz Astro) [Agogo Records]
Babyxxan - a closing blanket of field recordings [No label]