Baker Street looms large in the popular imagination. It's the eternal home of fictional super sleuth Sherlock Holmes. Gerry Rafferty wrote a pretty popular song about it. Danger Mouse saved the world more times than we can count from his headquarters there. But Melbourne has a Baker Street too, with a mythology all its own. The latest chapter involves a group of close friends and musical allies who moved there from Adelaide and started a regular night exactly one year ago this week. With enough dedication to made Sherlock proud they sought and shared a distinctive mix of house, techno and miscellaneous music with an ever-growing crowd. This Saturday is the first Baker Street birthday, and to mark the occasion they're joined by local tastemakers Myles Mac and Sleep D, as well as Babicka from the influential Untzz Twelve Inch label. The Baker Street crew sent through this mix for an idea of the styles on offer, and we caught up Ben Keynes from the group ahead of the celebrations.
BEN: Baker Street simply began as an the outlet for a few friends, namely Brodie, Sean and myself, to deliver the type of weirdo party that we wanted to be a part of that we couldn't quite find since arriving in Melbourne from South Australia. We had a vision of a late-night niche that we wanted to create but it took a while to make it happen. Baker Street has always been music focused, the vein of records we have collected have always leant on a deep, challenging, esoteric sound that we were seeking to hear in our nights out. The intention from the outset was just to create a club vibe that is free, experimental, a bit twisted, dark and unique but always fun. We have been constantly encouraged by the love from the scene here, dancers and partygoers have been really responsive and we are pretty humbled by how fast and how broadly the party has spread. Some of my personal favourite sets I've heard in Melbourne since being here, whether internationals or locals, have been from behind that booth at a Baker Street. We have some great talent here and the support for local nights just continues to get stronger.As you mentioned Baker Street has become a welcome home for these musical styles in Melbourne, but of course you all have strong ties to Adelaide. Can you describe the community there for this sound, who are the key figures, labels, and places to go meet like-minded souls?
The origins of the project lie in Adelaide as much as we were all mates back in South Australia, but Baker Street began in Melbourne with Melbourne parties in mind. We do have close ties with crews back there however, particularly with Brad and Alex from Untzz. HVCK actually played at our first Baker Street party and our first anniversary party on Saturday marks the second time Babicka has made it down for a show (despite his name being on 3 lineups, domestic airline dramas being what they are!). Untzz and by extension In The Deep End have kindly hosted both Brodie and myself at the notorious Sugar nightclub, one of our favourite nightspots in South Australia along with Cuckoo. The scene is really lively in little Adelaide and much of that is down to the hard work of Brad, Alex and the Untzz family. In fact, this weekend in Adelaide Sugar are hosting a night featuring a wide variety of the labels and crews busy in Adelaide right now. Seeing that poster with so many project names gives you a bit of an idea of the energy and drive people have towards the music in that city.Babicka's label Untzz Twelve Inch sounds lighthearted in name, but seems pretty serious about music. What can you tell us about the label and its philosophy?
The lighthearted name basically stands for everything about the label. Sure the music can be considered serious at times because of its lean towards the club, but everything is written and released with the intention of people having a good time. We love a good time.This week Baker Street celebrates it's first anniversary, but of course no one really remembers their first birthday - what are you going to do to try and make it unforgettable?
We are just incredibly humbled to be able to deliver this party, we are tremendously excited for it and have booked some of our favourite locals, Myles Mac and Sleep D, playing alongside Untzz big dog Babicka coming down from Adelaide. The music from all these guys is always dope and we're very much looking to see what they have in store in the context of a Baker Street set. In conjunction with the party we are also really excited to announce a limited edition 24-page booklet collating the 12 months worth of poster designs done for Baker Street. People have really been showing a lot of love for these which has been really encouraging. The booklet also has a bunch of sketches from my sketchbooks which lead to the final designs that people might be interested to see, alongside heaps of stupid drawings probably done at 11am spacing out post-Baker Street some lost Sunday ago. The booklet will be available on the night. Overall it's been a really amazing 12 months and we have so many people to thank, we can't wait for Saturday to celebrate the music, the dancers and the community that has helped make Baker Street into the weird little party that it is.Join Baker Street in blowing out their first candle at Lounge this Saturday, June 14th.
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THUMP: What's the story behind Baker Street?
BEN: Baker Street simply began as an the outlet for a few friends, namely Brodie, Sean and myself, to deliver the type of weirdo party that we wanted to be a part of that we couldn't quite find since arriving in Melbourne from South Australia. We had a vision of a late-night niche that we wanted to create but it took a while to make it happen. Baker Street has always been music focused, the vein of records we have collected have always leant on a deep, challenging, esoteric sound that we were seeking to hear in our nights out. The intention from the outset was just to create a club vibe that is free, experimental, a bit twisted, dark and unique but always fun. We have been constantly encouraged by the love from the scene here, dancers and partygoers have been really responsive and we are pretty humbled by how fast and how broadly the party has spread. Some of my personal favourite sets I've heard in Melbourne since being here, whether internationals or locals, have been from behind that booth at a Baker Street. We have some great talent here and the support for local nights just continues to get stronger.As you mentioned Baker Street has become a welcome home for these musical styles in Melbourne, but of course you all have strong ties to Adelaide. Can you describe the community there for this sound, who are the key figures, labels, and places to go meet like-minded souls?
The origins of the project lie in Adelaide as much as we were all mates back in South Australia, but Baker Street began in Melbourne with Melbourne parties in mind. We do have close ties with crews back there however, particularly with Brad and Alex from Untzz. HVCK actually played at our first Baker Street party and our first anniversary party on Saturday marks the second time Babicka has made it down for a show (despite his name being on 3 lineups, domestic airline dramas being what they are!). Untzz and by extension In The Deep End have kindly hosted both Brodie and myself at the notorious Sugar nightclub, one of our favourite nightspots in South Australia along with Cuckoo. The scene is really lively in little Adelaide and much of that is down to the hard work of Brad, Alex and the Untzz family. In fact, this weekend in Adelaide Sugar are hosting a night featuring a wide variety of the labels and crews busy in Adelaide right now. Seeing that poster with so many project names gives you a bit of an idea of the energy and drive people have towards the music in that city.Babicka's label Untzz Twelve Inch sounds lighthearted in name, but seems pretty serious about music. What can you tell us about the label and its philosophy?
The lighthearted name basically stands for everything about the label. Sure the music can be considered serious at times because of its lean towards the club, but everything is written and released with the intention of people having a good time. We love a good time.This week Baker Street celebrates it's first anniversary, but of course no one really remembers their first birthday - what are you going to do to try and make it unforgettable?
We are just incredibly humbled to be able to deliver this party, we are tremendously excited for it and have booked some of our favourite locals, Myles Mac and Sleep D, playing alongside Untzz big dog Babicka coming down from Adelaide. The music from all these guys is always dope and we're very much looking to see what they have in store in the context of a Baker Street set. In conjunction with the party we are also really excited to announce a limited edition 24-page booklet collating the 12 months worth of poster designs done for Baker Street. People have really been showing a lot of love for these which has been really encouraging. The booklet also has a bunch of sketches from my sketchbooks which lead to the final designs that people might be interested to see, alongside heaps of stupid drawings probably done at 11am spacing out post-Baker Street some lost Sunday ago. The booklet will be available on the night. Overall it's been a really amazing 12 months and we have so many people to thank, we can't wait for Saturday to celebrate the music, the dancers and the community that has helped make Baker Street into the weird little party that it is.Join Baker Street in blowing out their first candle at Lounge this Saturday, June 14th.