Since Ears To The House last covered the subject of Blake Baxter, a few things have changed. A few weeks ago, Baxter launched a fundraiser to launch a new book and vinyl with some of his unreleased work – which was subsequently dropped a short time later for reasons unknown.
Exactly what will happen with the planned vinyl release is unclear, although we do hope they emerge in some form. There’s less of a mystery, however, surrounding the book – “Detroit 1987” looks set to come out anyway. But will he dare to tread in territory which others have shied away from?
Over the past two years, there have been seemingly no end of attempts to tell stories from various aspects of dance music’s history. Most of these are, with all due lack of respect, not worth the paper they’re printed on. Retelling the same tired old stories yet again with a new amplifier has very much been in fashion.
And the recent documentary God Said Give ‘Em Drum Machines was no exception. With the almost obligatory and brief mention of the sexual assault allegations against Derrick May, the film largely sticks the mostly untrue story concerning the so-called Belleville Three – Baxter himself is on record dismissing it as a “fairytale”.
So with this in mind, only one question remains – will Blake Baxter dare to reveal the true history of Detroit techno? Is he going to go to print with details on the credit card scam which raised the funds that Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson used to buy their equipment? Would Baxter have some even more shocking and previously unpublished stories from the annals of history to divulge?
Because if so, this book might just stand out from the very large pile currently doing the rounds…
