Perhaps the most underrated figure of Detroit techno’s first wave, Blake Baxter began recording in the mid-’80s before Motor City mainstays like Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. Presaging the influence of erotic house during the late ’80s, Baxter was inspired by the sexual soul of Barry White and Prince as well as cosmic funk machines like Parliament and Funkadelic. He released his first single on the seminal Chicago house label DJ International and recorded several classics for Saunderson’s KMS Records, and by the ’90s cultivated his connection with Detroit’s techno subversives Underground Resistance, for whom he served as a guiding light.
With the Detroit scene on the rise after the release of his DJ International and KMS material, Baxter ducked the hype centered around the crucial compilation Techno: The New Dance Sound of Detroit (though his productions figured prominently on it) and moved to the obscure Incognito label. Seminal releases Sexuality, the Crimes of the Heart EP, and his 1990 debut album The Underground Lives signalled a newly independent-minded producer, and he also spent much time in Berlin during the early ’90s. The extended stay yielded several releases, including the Logic singles “Brothers Gonna Work It Out” — later sampled by the Chemical Brothers — and a 1992 album titled The Project. He also recorded with Orlando Voorn as the Ghetto Brothers. Back in Detroit, he recorded “Prince of Techno” for Underground Resistance and set up his own labels, Mix Records and Phat Joint (the latter focused more on hip-hop). In 1995, Baxter released a retrospective on Disko B entitled The Vault. Two years later, The H Factor (Hurricane Melt) followed, also on Disko B. The mix album A Decade Underground appeared in 1998. Dream Sequence was issued in 2000; Dream Sequence 3 followed a year later.
DISCOGRAPHY
Blake Baxter: Work Your Body EP (DJ International 1985)
Blake Baxter: Does Not Compute EP (DJ International 1985)
Blake Baxter: Work Your Body Remix EP (DJ International 1987)
Blake Baxter: Does Not Compute Remix EP (DJ International 1987)
Blake Baxter: When We Used To Play (KMS)
Blake Baxter: Mellow Mellow – Sexual Deviant/ I Can’t Stop 12″(Music Man)
Blake Baxter: The Underground Lives (Incognito 1990)
Blake Baxter: Hornie EP(Incognito)
Blake Baxter: Crimes Of The Heart (Incognito)
Blake Baxter: Strong to Survive / Fuck You Up (Incognito)
Blake Baxter: When We Used To Play (Incognito)
Blake Baxter: Prince of Techno EP (UR 1991)
Blake Baxter:. Bass Manoeuveurs (ESP 1991)
Blake Baxter: One More Time (Logic 1991)
Blake Baxter: Save Your Rave Channel 1991
Ghetto Bros. Muzik ep (ESP 1991)
Blake Baxter: Brothers Gonna Work It Out (Logic 1992)
Pump Da Bass Blake Baxter: On Da Hard House ep (Serious Grooves)
Blake Baxter: Ghost ep (Pow Wow 1993)
Ghetto Brothers: ep (Outland 1993)
Blake Baxter: Here We Are 1993
Blake Baxter: Love Break (Outland 1993)
Basic Bastard: ep (Outland)
Blake Baxter:The Fault 2×12″ (Disco B)
Blake Baxter: The H Factor 2xLP/CD (Disco B)
Blake Baxter: Where is the Love (True People LP React 1996)
Trevor Rockcliffe & Blake Baxter: Visions of You (Ultimatum Tracks1997)
Trevor Rockliffe and Blake Baxter: Work i-T (Sok)
Tresor
Blake Baxter: Dreamsequence (CD)
Tomi D & Blake Baxter: You Are An Angel 12″
Blake Baxter & Eddie Fowlkes: The Project (CD)
Dream Sequence feat. Blake Baxter: Endless Reflection 2xLP/CD
Blake Baxter: Reach Out 12″
Blake Baxter: Energizer
Blake Baxter: La La Song 12″
Blake Baxter: Sex Tech 12″
various mixed by Blake Baxter: Globus Mix Volume 2 (CD)
Blake Baxter: Disko Tech ep
Blake Baxter: Frequencies ep
Blake Baxter: Dreamsequence 3
Blake Baxter: FM Disko