Carl Craig is described as a creative visionary, an electronic music icon, an esteemed grammy-nominated composer, a world-class dj and an ambassador for his native Detroit.
Yet the common thread that runs through Craig’s broad musical canon and creative projects is a resounding fascination with futurism. The prolific producer has cultivated a unique path as an artist, entrepreneur and civic leader, guided by his tendency toward forward thinking.
“My livelihood is making music that I can perform, whether I’m doing orchestral production or modular strangeness or generating club music. I don’t restrict myself,” said Craig. “I defined myself by being who I am. The ultimate self respect is when you say you’re going to do something and you go and do it to the best of your ability.”
Craig released his first track in 1989 on a Virgin UK compilation album, two singles followed on labels run by his first collaborator, Derrick May. After a series of ambitious releases for his co-owned Retroactive imprint, in 1991 Craig launched his record label Planet E, with the groundbreaking EP “4 Jazz Funk Classics”, under his alias 69. Reflecting a year that was packed with events and releases, Craig readily admits that when he started the label he was hoping “it would last forever.” He cites artistic freedom as the highlight of running the label and adds, “It was never a struggle for the label to be an outlet for my or other people’s music. It was always a struggle to stay in business, actually a war to stay in business.”
In 2012, Craig took his 69 alias on a live tour; ‘69 Live’, headlined festivals and clubs around the world, fusing masks, darkness and the music of 69. In the same year he was also voted in the top DJs that rule the Earth in Rolling Stone and appeared on the cover of the world’s biggest electronic music magazine, Mixmag.
In 2013, he released a 3-CD album on Ministry of Sound, entitled ‘Masterpiece’. The album includes one disc of music Carl was inspired by, one disc of current selections and one special disk of new music, entitled ‘Meditation’, a modular jam of Moroderesque compositions, inspired by David Lynch’s meditation techniques (Lynch, a great advocator of Transcendental Meditation), and an electronic tribute to his beloved city of Detroit.
Craig’s prolific nature is reflected in the many recording projects he has used throughout his career including 69, BFC, C2, Innerzone Orchestra, No Boundaries, Psyche, Paperclip People and Tres Demented. This rotating cast of aliases has enabled him to continually explore new directions through a long succession of full length albums, mix CDs and singles including “Throw” (1994), “Landcruising” (1995), “The Secret Tapes of Dr Eich” (1996), “More Songs About Food and Revolutionary Art” (1997), “Programmed” (1999), “The Detroit Experiment” (2002), “The Workout” (2002), “Just Another Day” (2004), “Fabric 25” (2005), “The Album Formerly Known As” (2005), “Paris Live” (2007), “Sessions” (2008), “Recomposed” (with Moritz Von Oswald) (2008), “The Legendary Adventures of a Filter King” (2009), “Modular Pursuits” (2010) and “Last Decade” (2012).
Craig’s interest in collaboration continually grows. For ‘Versus’, one of his boldest endeavors to date, Craig combines techno and classical music, opening himself up to working in a new format by collaborating with orchestrator / pianist Francesco Tristano, French orchestra Les Siècles, conductor Francois Xavier Roth and Moritz Von Oswald. Inspired by well-received performances in large concerts halls in Paris, Milan and Germany, Craig started the process of developing the project into an album. He also performs as a Trio alongside Von Oswald and Tristano.
His occasional appearances with the electronic collective jam band Narod Niki, alongside Villalobos, Luciano, Richie Hawtin, Zip and others, have led to him appearing in part live / part DJ gigs with Luciano. Additionally he’s taken to occasionally bringing keyboardists like Mike Banks (UR), Amp Fiddler and Tristano into the DJ booth with him for special one-off gigs. These mixed performances add some variety in a non-stop DJ schedule that finds him spinning at top clubs worldwide. Let’s also mention that he has recently performed live soundtracks to films, first in Amsterdam then in New York, where he improvised live to an Andy Warhol film at Unsound Festival. The fact is unpredictability is the only predictable thing about Craig and his music.
Outside of his Planet E recordings, Craig also continues to be one of the most sought-after remixers in the world. He has produced a seemingly never-ending list of remixes that now extends over 100 cuts, including mixes for the likes of LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, Junior Boys (Grammy Award nominated), Gavin Russom & Delia Gonzalez, Theo Parrish, Tori Amos, Can, Goldfrapp, Friendly Fires, Tom Trago, Slam, Caribou, Tiga, Unkle, Henrik Schwarz, Life & Death, tINI, Yello and others. He was nominated for a Grammy in 2008 for his mix of the Junior Boys “Like a Child.”
In the same way that he likes to make tracks he’s remixing his own, Craig’s commitment to his home in Detroit is also something very personal. After launching a festival to rival that of any in Europe with the Detroit Electronic Music Festival in 2000 (now entitled Movement, which today he still has a strong role in).
This commitment to Detroit music also extends to how his Planet E family of labels is run. Not only has it given a home to a wide range of Detroit-based artists including Francesco Mora Catlett, Naomi Daniel, Flexitone, Jason Hogans, Kenny Larkin, Monty Luke, Ezana Harris, Moodyman, Mike Agent X, Terrence Parker, Oliverwho Factory, Recloose, Reference, Kevin Saunderson, Big Tone, Tribe, Urban Tribe, and Chaz Vincent, it has also been serving as a distributor for Detroit imprints including Derrick May’s Transmat and Stacey Pullen’s Black Flag.
In 2014, Carl Craig began a new event concept ‘Detroit Love’, designed to bring together and support the sounds of Detroit and take a little of the techno brotherhood to clubs and festivals the world over.
“My love for Detroit is my inspiration, my inspiration is ‘Detroit Love”, says Craig. Detroit Love was launched at ADE 2014, in the underground recesses of Amsterdam’s North Sea Jazz club. Craig invited Detroit natives Recloose, Moodymann – who played a set encompassing disco, soul, house and hip-hop, and Mad Mike Banks to play keys over Carl Craig’s Moog infused 4-cd-deck closing set, which included live editing, sampling, scratching and looping of soundscapes ranging from ambient textures to masterful techno.
When Craig explains his philosophy, his wry sense of humor seeps into his explanations of far-reaching concepts that merge worlds together.
“I have a very special career. When I feel that I’m tired of going on the road I can go in the studio. When I’m tired of concentrating on the studio I can go on the road. I can work with concert pianists, jazz musicians or rock guys. Very few people have that range of interests. Very few people juggle a career that they choose specifically.”
No one else can pull it all together quite like Carl Craig.
US TOUR DATES
3/16 @ Faena Forum – Miami, FL
