One of the first songs of the DJ Blake Baxter from Detroit.

Blake Baxter - When We Used To Play (1987)

International Deejay Gigolo Records 1999
Classic!

Dopplereffekt - Infophysix

"What the hell IS that?" (in case you were wondering what Steve & Bill were saying in the thumbnail image.)  

As ever, working on Interbay tracks in the Lab is pure science of discovery.  You can have an aim in mind but what you end up with is probably going to be nothing like what you thought you were going to get.  And that is certainly true of today's Interbay track--so, the title of "You Know What It Is?" is spot on.  

(The answer being "This is the new sound."  Though, to be honest, I'd say that most of the sounds in this track aren't all that new.  Perhaps the combination of all of these sounds is new.  To me, it just sounds like Interbay.)

I wanted to produce a hiphouse track.  Some of my favorite years of being a club dj were when hiphouse was big--combining the energy of house music with elements of hip hop was exactly what I was looking for when it started happening.  I've always felt like the genre wasn't given the respect it deserved and most of the artists who made it are completely unknown to the kids of today, who might really enjoy it.  (Or, perhaps I'm projecting a bit...simply because I have so much fondness for it.)  

Doesn't matter quite so much, because I really didn't end up with a hiphouse track.  

As usual, a whole stew of ingredients got tossed into the pot and heated up.  Some tribal house drums, some disco drums and keys, some afrohouse percussion and vocals.  And then I Interbay'd all over it, with glitchy strings and a radio static inspired keyboard sound...and tempo and pitch twisted vocal snips from a sort-of-hiphouse track made in the UK, a track that was very popular for me in my dj sets back then...but almost unknown now.  Sadly.  (But, it probably means that Icarus won't be bothered.)  

There's a bit of lo-fi vibe in this track too--which probably has more to do with my occasional impatience in getting a track from the Labs and presented here on SoundCloud than a purposeful attempt to do a lo-fi afro disco hiphouse tune.  

I hope you like whatever this is.  (You know what it is--it's the new sound!)  

Give it a listen.  Give it a like.  Repost it, share it, add it to a plyalist, comment on it.  Go ahead, bend it, spindle it, and mutilate it if you feel you must.  Just knowing someone else has heard this track makes this old hiphouse fan but evidently incapable of actually making hiphouse music producer feel more connected--which is nice.  

I also encourage you to follow this page (join the--as I type this out, it changes up and down so often) 251 others who have done so.  I hope that they've done so in order to follow these daily Interbay track drops--yes, daily.  A new track drops every single day--and has for well over a year now.  This schedule allows me to incorporate different styles and blur various genre styles together.  (Which reminds me, been awhile since a proper post-punk or cyberpunk track.)    

And, if you've read this far.  Thanks!  (...that's all.  Just thanks.)  

Blake Baxter - When We Used To Play (1987)

ANITA