Horizont EP: A collaboration between apaull and Blake Baxter

The Horizont EP (released 20 September 2024) is a collaboration between dutch-canadian techno producer apaull and Detroit’s “Prince of Techno”, Blake Baxter.

apaull (www.apaull.com) is a dutch-canadian electronic music producer and DJ, focusing mostly on techno and house genres. With 16 releases over the last two years, on his furnace room records label, apaull has worked with the likes of John Selway, Abe Duque, Neil Landstrumm, Christian Smith, Dave Clarke and now Blake Baxter on various aspects of his musical project.

“I’m trying to create the best art that I can. Working with these industry stalwarts has been a great way to learn, propel me forward and create my own sound.” says apaull.

Blake Baxter is a Detroit Techno music pioneer, one of the originators of the Detroit Techno music sound. He is a heavy hitter with unmistakable provenance. Blake was part of the first wave of House and Techno music DJs and producers from Detroit. He has released on notable record labels including Underground Resistance and Tresor. He has worked with a variety of producers over the years on musical collaborations and you can hear his unmistakable sound that comes out in every production.

“It has been my great honor to work with Blake on this EP. I think we have been able to neatly package our two approaches and musical aesthetics into a pleasing outcome.” says apaull.

The track is about finding your horizon (or horizont in german) and using this, like an old school sailor would, to chart your path. There are pitfalls, traps and devastation along the way. That adversity is a chisel, that like water coursing through a fast-running stream, shapes you and the path you are on, which unfortunately is never directly from to point A to point B.

The EP includes four unique mixes of this track.

1.     Horizont (with Greg Stafford) (Ypsi 3.3 B.A.M mix)

A driving bass-line and stabby keys pushes this techno, with hazy shades of electro, track into Baxter’s trademark vocals, commingling with apaull’s more disembodied vocals. “I don’t know, but, I’ve been told. Find the horizon before you get old.”

2.     Horizont (Trapped mix)

The “Trapped” mix imagines that you are stuck and trapped. What do you do then and how do you find your horizon? Dipped in acid vibes, this track emotes urgency and confinement. Claustrophobia, in this instance spells paralysis; resilience and determination lead to the freedom that can be found just over the horizon.

3.     Horizont (All In mix)

4.     Horizont (Instrumental mix)

The “All In” and “Instrumental” mixes deliver pure Detroit old school vibes or as Abe Duque puts it: “The good sh*t”. The “All In mix” features the estuarine blending of Baxter’s soothing vocals with apaull’s more dismal intonations over crystalline beats. The “Instrumental mix” strips all this way so you can just groove to the vibe.