Carl Craig (born May 22, 1969) is an American electronic music producer, DJ, and founder of the record label

Planet E Communications Planet E Communications is an independent electronic music recording label that started in 1991 in Detroit, Michigan. The label was founded by DJ/Producer Carl Craig. Planet E's first release was titled “Four Jazz Funk Classics,” which Craig re ...

. He is known as a leading figure and pioneer in the second wave of

Detroit techno Detroit techno is a type of techno music that generally includes the first techno productions by Detroit-based artists during the 1980s and early 1990s. Prominent Detroit techno artists include Juan Atkins, Eddie Fowlkes, Derrick May, Jeff Mil ...

artists during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He has recorded under his given name in addition to a variety of aliases, including Psyche, BFC, and Innerzone Orchestra. Craig has remixed a variety of artists including

Manuel Göttsching Manuel Göttsching (9 September 1952 – 4 December 2022) was a German musician and composer. As the leader of the groups Ash Ra Tempel and Ashra in the 1970s and 80s, as well as a solo artist, he was one of the most influential guitarists of ...

, Maurizio,

Theo Parrish Theo Parrish (born 1972) is an American DJ and record producer based in Detroit, Michigan, and known for his genre-spanning DJ sets and unconventional house productions. He is an owner of the Sound Signature record label. Biography Theo Parrish w ...

Tori Amos Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...

, and

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

. He was nominated for the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording for his remix of the

Junior Boys Junior Boys are a Canadian electronic pop group, founded in 1999 in Hamilton, Ontario by Jeremy Greenspan and Johnny Dark. Dark left the project shortly after, and was replaced by engineer Matt Didemus. The duo initially gained critical praise ...

track "Like a Child." He has released collaborative recordings with

Moritz von Oswald Moritz von Oswald (born 1962) is a German record producer and percussionist from Hamburg and based in Berlin. He is a co-founder of the production duo and record label Basic Channel. He has collaborated with Juan Atkins, Carl Craig, and Nils Pett ...

(2008's ''Recomposed'') and

Green Velvet Curtis Alan Jones (born April 26, 1968), better known by his stage name Green Velvet, is an American singer, record producer and DJ. He is also known as Cajmere, Geo Vogt, Half Pint, Curan Stone, and Gino Vittori. Early life Curtis Alan Jones wa ...

(2015's ''Unity'').

Early life

Carl Craig was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, on May 22, 1969. His mother was a teacher's assistant and his father was a post office worker. He attended

Cooley High School Thomas M. Cooley High School is located at the intersection of Hubbell Avenue and Chalfonte Street, on the northwest side of Detroit, Michigan. The three-story, Mediterranean Revival-style facility opened its doors on September 4, 1928. The scho ...

, where he developed an interest in music. He learned to play guitar and later became interested in club music through his cousin Doug Craig, who worked lighting for Detroit area parties. After hearing Derrick May's radio show on

WJLB WJLB (97.9 FM) is a radio station in Detroit, Michigan. Owned by iHeartMedia, it broadcasts an urban contemporary format. WJLB's studios are located in Farmington Hills. WJLB's transmitter is located in Highland Park near the intersection of ...

, Craig began experimenting with recording on a dual-deck cassette player. Craig met someone who knew May and passed along a tape of some of his home studio productions.

Career

Since 1989, Craig has released many recordings under a large number of aliases, including Psyche, BFC, 69, Paperclip People, and Innerzone Orchestra. Many of these early Psyche and BFC releases were collected on the 1996 compilation ''

Elements 1989-1990 Element or elements may refer to: Science * Chemical element, a pure substance of one type of atom * Heating element, a device that generates heat by electrical resistance * Orbital elements, parameters required to identify a specific orbit of ...

''. Craig founded his own record label called

in 1991. Since then, it has released records by other artists such as

Kevin Saunderson Kevin Maurice Saunderson (born September 5, 1964) is an American electronic dance music Dj and record producer. He is famous for being a member of a trio, along with Juan Atkins and Derrick May, who came to be known as The Belleville Three, w ...

Moodymann Kenny Dixon Jr., better known by his stage name Moodymann, is an American musician based in Detroit, Michigan. He is the owner of the record labels Mahogani Music and KDJ Records. He is a member of 3 Chairs. Career In 1997, Moodymann released his ...

, and Kenny Larkin. His first studio album, ''Landcruising'', was released on

Blanco y Negro Records Blanco y Negro Records (Spanish: "White and Black"), a subsidiary of WEA Records Ltd., was established in 1983 by Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records and Mike Alway of él Records. Michel Duval of Les Disques du Crépuscule was also involved ...

in 1995. In 1996, he released ''The Secret Tapes of Doctor Eich'' under the Paperclip People moniker. In 1997, he released ''More Songs About Food and Revolutionary Art''. It was placed at number 29 on ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

''s "50 Best IDM Albums of All Time" list. In 1999, he released '' Programmed'' under the Innerzone Orchestra moniker. Craig served as co-creator and artistic director for the

Detroit Electronic Music Festival Movement Electronic Music Festival is an annual electronic dance music event held in the birthplace of Techno, Detroit, each Memorial Day weekend since 2006. Previous electronic music festivals held at Hart Plaza on Memorial Day weekend inclu ...

in 2000 and 2001. His subsequent dismissal by festival organizers caused substantial controversy within the Detroit techno community, igniting a high-profile campaign in his favor. In 2001, he filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against festival producer Pop Culture Media. He released a reworked version of ''Landcruising'', titled ''The Album Formerly Known As...'', in 2005. In 2008, he released a collaborative album with

Moritz Von Oswald Moritz von Oswald (born 1962) is a German record producer and percussionist from Hamburg and based in Berlin. He is a co-founder of the production duo and record label Basic Channel. He has collaborated with Juan Atkins, Carl Craig, and Nils Pett ...

, titled ''Recomposed'', on

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

. He returned as artistic director for the 2010 Detroit Electronic Music Festival. In 2015, he released a collaborative album with

, titled ''Unity'', on Relief Records. In 2017, he released '' Versus'' on

InFiné InFiné is a French record label directed by Alexandre Cazac and Yannick Matray. Coming from electronic music, the label usually goes off the beaten path, from classical music to ambient, through club or pop music. History The idea of the la ...

. Craig created a sound installation, titled ''Party/After-Party'', which opened at the

Dia Beacon Dia Beacon is the museum for the Dia Art Foundation's collection of art from the 1960s to the present and is one of the 11 locations and sites they manage. The museum, which opened in 2003, is situated on the banks of the Hudson River in Beacon, ...

art museum in March 2020. The culmination of a five-year-long engagement with Dia Beacon, it was his first foray into the art world. Regarding the many positions he has held in the music industry (artist, producer, DJ, record label boss, and more), Craig has said, "I have a bad habit of getting my hands dirty in every little thing, and I really do enjoy it."

Style and legacy

Mixmag ''Mixmag'' is a British electronic dance and clubbing magazine published in London. Launched in 1983 as a print magazine, it has branched into dance events, including festivals and club nights. History The first issue of ''Mixmag'' was prin ...

'' called Carl Craig "a leading figure in

's second generation," while ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'' called him a "central figure" in the genre's second wave. ''

'' described him as "techno pioneer." He has approached techno using inspiration from a wide range of musical genres, including

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, new wave,

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

, and

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...

, while his works have spanned

ambient techno Ambient techno is a subgenre of techno that incorporates the atmospheric textures of ambient music with the rhythmic elements and production of techno. It was pioneered by 1990s electronic artists such as Aphex Twin, Carl Craig, the Black Dog, Pe ...

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK ...

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

, classical, and

modular synthesizer Modular synthesizers are synthesizers composed of separate modules for different functions. The modules can be connected together by the user to create a patch. The outputs from the modules may include audio signals, analog control voltages, o ...

-based stylings. In a 2015 interview, he cited

The Electrifying Mojo The Electrifying Mojo (born Charles Johnson in Little Rock, Arkansas) is an American radio personality. He is a disc jockey based in Detroit, Michigan whose on-air journey of musical and social development shaped a generation of music-lovers in D ...

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

Juan Atkins Juan Atkins (born September 12, 1962), also known as Model 500 and Infiniti, is an American record producer and DJ from Detroit, Michigan. ''Mixmag'' has described him as "the original pioneer of Detroit techno." He has been a member of The Belle ...

, and

Jeff Mills Jeff Mills (born June 18, 1963, in Detroit, Michigan) is an American DJ, record producer, and composer. Thanks to his technical abilities as a DJ, Mills became known as ''The Wizard'' in the early to mid 1980s. In the late 1980s Mills founded ...

as the major influences on his music. Craig's 1992 track "Bug in the Bassbin", released under the Innerzone Orchestra moniker, was picked up by DJs such as

4hero 4hero are an electronic music group from Dollis Hill, London, comprising producers Mark "Marc Mac" Clair & Denis "Dego" McFarlane. While the band is often cited as ''4 Hero'' or ''4-Hero'', the name is stylised as ''4hero'' on their albums and ...

Goldie Clifford Joseph Price MBE (born 19 September 1965), better known as Goldie, is a British music producer and DJ. Initially gaining exposure for his work as a graffiti artist, Goldie became well known for his pioneering role as a musician in th ...

, and

J Majik J Majik (born Jamie Spratling, Northwood, England) is a drum and bass DJ and producer. He has been active since his early teens in the early 1990s. Biography He released his first track in 1992 (as DJ Dextrous) on the Planet Earth record lab ...

. In the United Kingdom, DJs started playing the track at 45

rpm Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

instead of the intended 33 rpm. According to ''

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

'', the track "ended up providing inspiration and in many ways writing the blueprint for what

drum 'n' bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

was to become in England." According to ''Vinyl Me, Please'', Craig "managed to not only push the boundaries of

, he also introduced an urgency and melodic richness to the sometimes navel-gazing world of IDM" with releases such as ''More Songs About Food and Revolutionary Art'' (1997).

Discography

Albums

* ''Landcruising'' (1995) * ''The Secret Tapes of Doctor Eich'' (1996) * ''More Songs About Food and Revolutionary Art'' (1997) * '' Programmed'' (1999) * ''The Album Formerly Known As...'' (2005) * ''Recomposed'' (2008) * ''Unity'' (2015) * '' Versus'' (2017)

Compilations

* ''The Sound of Music'' (1995) * ''

'' (1996) * ''Designer Music V1'' (2000) * ''Abstract Funk Theory'' (2001) * ''From the Vault: Planet E Classics Collection Vol. 1'' (2006) * ''The Legendary Adventures of a Filter King'' (2009)

DJ Mixes

* '' DJ-Kicks: Carl Craig'' (1996) * ''House Party 013: A Planet E Mix'' (1999) * ''Onsumothasheeat'' (2001) * ''The Workout'' (2002) * ''

Fabric 25 Fabric 25 is a DJ mix compilation album by Carl Craig released as part of the Fabric Mix Series. Track listing # Ying Yang Twins - Wait (The Whisper Song) - ''TVT Records'' – 2:29 # Carl Craig - Angel (Caya Dub) - ''Planet E'' – 3:50 # ...

'' (2005) * ''The Kings of Techno'' (2006) * ''Sessions'' (2008) * ''Masterpiece'' (2013) * ''Detroit Love'' (2019)

EPs

* ''4 Jazz Funk Classics'' (1991) * ''Sound on Sound'' (1993) * ''Lite Music'' (1994) * ''The Floor EP'' (1996) * ''Just Another Day'' (2004) * ''Paris Live'' (2007)

Singles

* "Crackdown" (1990) * "No More Words" (1991) * "Oscillator" (1991) * "Jam the Box" (1994) * "Throw" (1994) * "The Climax" (1995) * "Science Fiction" (1995) * "Bug in the Bass Bin" (1996) * "Floor" (1996) * "4 My Peepz" (1998) * "People Make The World Go Round" (2000) * "A Wonderful Life" / "As Time Goes By" (2002) * "Sparkle" / "Home Entertainment" (2005) * "Darkness" / "Angel" (2006) * "Sandstorms" (2017)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Carl 1969 births Living people African-American DJs American electronic musicians American house musicians American techno musicians DJs from Detroit Detroit techno Universal Motown Records artists Electronic dance music DJs