Talent: The Xutians
Photo: Rise UP Duo
Are u a Xutian? The manifesto beamed down by Marvin Jupiter and Niv Babraa asks a direct, existential question and expects an answer from each and every listener.
“Being a Xutian means being one of us, an alien on Earth. It means coming from a different planet, feeling like you’re ‘one of a kind’, realizing that you’re both inside and outside of everything around us. This is why we took our cue from the inhabitants of Jupiter: some call them Jovians, others Zeutians, and we took this last one and played with it. We want to translate this concept into music through rich sounds grounded on special effects, synth, on a foundation that feels like it’s from the future”.
His pair of twenty-somethings from London seem like they’ve set out to reshape the canons of hip-hop, electronic dance, and R&B by fusing them into unidentified sonic objects. A constant process of going back to the future proves that everything is style, everything is obsession.
“We met at music college. We were the only ones who really listened to hip-hop and R&B, and we started making music together that very first week. Both of us are obsessive; we get inspired by an endless number of details, like the sounds we can make with our mouths or drum riffs from hits from the early 2000s. When we come across something really interesting, we plant a seed, an idea, and we grow it slowly. Even if we end up recreating something, we always do it in our style, connecting past, present, and future”.
That bond nurtures the friendship between Marvin and Niv, their tie to London, that sense of daring that only the English capital can instill in a pair of young creatives, pushing them to delve deeper into the city’s musical atmosphere without respecting the laws of gravity or the space-time continuum.
“Our relationship is based on friendship. It’s crucial that we agree on everything, that we’re always straightforward and honest. We live in two totally different parts of London. So, it’s hard to meet up, and that’s why we obsessively plan and organize each and every session. In the ‘Lo’ of London, we see our cornerstones: Love, Loyalty, and Loud. This city is an artistic world in itself, and it keeps pulsing with these incredible feelings and this sense of competition. Everywhere you go you’re gonna find someone who makes music, whether it’s Stormzy or some guy mixing in his bedroom...we feel the brush of that collection situation, but what really motivates us is the internal pressure; it’s us pushing each other all the time”.
Pushing their limits, exploring new ones.The Xutian starship has one clear objective, to seek out unexplored planets, transport scribbles and creations into EPs and albums that convey us towards new dimensions, new perspectives that don’t require parallels or pre-existing contexts.
“We want to be great in what we do. We want to raise our game and focus on the moment, not what’s coming next. If you’re listening to us you’ve got to enjoy it with us; you’ve got to see our shared trajectory in the tracks, in our symbiosis. We’re persistent. We want to uncover every version of who we are and choose the best one. It’s a constant dynamic that pushes us to do things over and over again, cutting and cutting until we’re totally satisfied. Now it’s about moving forward, figuring out what we can be, track after track, without forcing the process”.
