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Electronic music composer and West Texas native Justin Sweatt records suspenseful yet playful electronic music equally indebted to ’80s horror film soundtracks, Italo-disco, and darkwave. A veteran of various noise and shoegaze projects since the early 2000s, Sweatt adopted his Xander Harris moniker in tribute to a character from the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and began releasing music under the name in 2011, starting with the Contamination cassette. Shortly after, Los Angeles label Not Not Fun released the debut full-length debut, Urban Gothic, inspired by Brian Keene’s novel of the same title. The album was very well received, eventually charting in FACT’s Top 50 albums of the year. NNF’s dance offshoot 100% Silk released a 12″ single featuring an extended disco mix of the album’s single “I Want More Than Just Blood.” In 2012, Harris appeared on a split 7″ single with Dylan Ettinger, released by Moon Glyph. He also released a cassette album titled Chrysalid and a digital album called Snow Crash (which was later released on vinyl by the French label Desire Records). Sweatt returned to Not Not Fun in 2013 with his ambitious second Xander Harris full-length, The New Dark Age of Love. He also digitally released an EP titled Black Moon and an “Ultimate Edition” of Urban Gothic, including numerous additional songs from the album’s sessions. In 2014, Mogwai’s Rock Action label released the 7″ single “Cry Havoc.” Two years later, the label released his full-length California Chrome.  2017’s Termination Dust, courtesy of Data Airlines, continues the project’s exploration of expansive electronics. Burning Witches Records released the long-gestating work “Villains of Romance” on vinyl in 2018. 2021 saw Sweatt’s return releasing two ambient works on SFI records, and 2022 saw the first new Xander Harris material in four years with the release of his contribution to the Guest 2 Soundtrack courtesy of Lakeshore Records.  ~Paul Simpson/Justin Sweatt

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