Forest Drive West

East Londoner Joe Baker crafts atmospheric techno alongside jungle under the Forest Drive West alias. His techno pieces remain lean and hypnotic, whereas the jungle outings lean heavier and more explosive, yet every production delves into intricate, inventive rhythmic patterns. A substantial portion of this output has surfaced on Peverelist’s Livity Sound imprint, among them the 2018 debut album Apparitions.

Baker first began creating music near the start of the 2000s while still a teenager frequenting jungle clubs in Brighton. For more than ten years he treated the activity purely as a hobby, laying down tracks only during occasional free moments. Together with Kenneth Scott he launched the duo Moniker, which started issuing deep tech-house recordings in 2013. Only in 2016 did Baker begin to consider making his own music available to the public. At first he intended to issue material himself via a label named Forest Drive West, yet that title instead became his chosen artist name. He forwarded several tracks to Peverelist, resulting in the swift appearance of the 12" single “System” on Livity Sound. Rupture London then started releasing his jungle material, beginning with the Jungle Crack EP that soon attracted strong demand. In 2017 two further Livity Sound singles emerged along with “Persistence of Memory” on Hidden Hawaii. Additional short-form releases followed in 2018, among them the jungle EP Set Free for Rupture, paving the way for the full-length Apparitions on Livity.