Biography
Under the Xylitol name, Catherine Backhouse crafts electronic music across shifting styles, all linked by an inquisitive and lighthearted approach. She has performed at times as Astral Bunny or DJ Bunnyhausen and launched limited lo-fi electro and minimal wave recordings on her own Pierogii-Disc imprint beginning in 2006, issuing most of them as small-run CD-Rs or vinyl pressings. A resident DJ at a Krautrock club, she also launched a co-hosted radio program centered on Central and Eastern European pop and electronic music. On Anemones, the 2024 LP issued by Planet Mu, she pursued her interest in jungle and garage.
Backhouse captured her first Xylitol release, Functionary, at scattered sites across London’s Lewisham and Greenwich boroughs. Drawing on yé-yé and early synth pop, the recording appeared as a 3" CD-R on Pierogii-Disc in early 2006. Error Bursts in Transmissions, equally buoyant and rudimentary, arrived the following year. In 2011 two volumes of Xylitol Music Played by Other People presented reinterpretations of her material by Belbury Poly, Nocturnal Emissions, and Nochexxx. A limited split 7" single with Libbe Matz Gang surfaced in 2012, followed in 2013 by the Peripheral Conserve EP Kunst Ist Tot, which gathered archival pieces. She additionally issued the digital compilation The Sweet Taste of Xylitol. As resident DJ for the London club night Kosmische she played Krautrock records, and by the close of the decade Yugoslav new wave had become a fixation.
With her partner DJ Sarma she started the club night and radio show Slav to the Rhythm. The cassette Inside a Stone of Cream There Is a Language appeared on Woodford Halse in 2021. She also assembled occasional DJ mixes that revisited her foundational dance-music influences, including jungle and hardcore. Anemones, her 2024 full-length for Planet Mu—the label that had earlier released her remix of “Goodbye” by µ-ziq (Mike Paradinas)—concentrated fully on those styles.
Backhouse captured her first Xylitol release, Functionary, at scattered sites across London’s Lewisham and Greenwich boroughs. Drawing on yé-yé and early synth pop, the recording appeared as a 3" CD-R on Pierogii-Disc in early 2006. Error Bursts in Transmissions, equally buoyant and rudimentary, arrived the following year. In 2011 two volumes of Xylitol Music Played by Other People presented reinterpretations of her material by Belbury Poly, Nocturnal Emissions, and Nochexxx. A limited split 7" single with Libbe Matz Gang surfaced in 2012, followed in 2013 by the Peripheral Conserve EP Kunst Ist Tot, which gathered archival pieces. She additionally issued the digital compilation The Sweet Taste of Xylitol. As resident DJ for the London club night Kosmische she played Krautrock records, and by the close of the decade Yugoslav new wave had become a fixation.
With her partner DJ Sarma she started the club night and radio show Slav to the Rhythm. The cassette Inside a Stone of Cream There Is a Language appeared on Woodford Halse in 2021. She also assembled occasional DJ mixes that revisited her foundational dance-music influences, including jungle and hardcore. Anemones, her 2024 full-length for Planet Mu—the label that had earlier released her remix of “Goodbye” by µ-ziq (Mike Paradinas)—concentrated fully on those styles.
Albums
Singles
