Carl Craig
“They changed the face of how young black America was listening to music.”
By Andres Fabris
Many people have heard Detroit techno music without ever noticing. While placed on hold during a phone call, the universal comfort is a colorful foundation of detached European electronic textures sprinkled with the soul of American funk music. What could be wrongfully miscategorized as “waiting music” is actually the gateway to the dance floor, echoing one of Detroit techno’s grandfathers, Derrick May, who once described the eclectic subgenre to BBC1 Radio as a “complete mistake ... like George Clinton and Kraftwerk are stuck in an elevator with only a sequencer to keep them company.” And much like May, genre pioneers like Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Jeff Mills and other originators often imbued their music with Afro-futurist and multi-genre appeal, including Amazing Magazine’s newest cover star, Carl Craig.
However, the artist whom Pitchfork praised as a “pioneer of the second wave of Detroit techno,” still finds himself a “disciple” of the genre, crediting his predecessors as “the greats” despite his 40-year-career which spawned a Grammy-nominated remix. “I’m a disciple [of Detroit techno.] Juan is the creator, Kevin is the elevator, and Derek is the innovator,” Carl says in response to these honorifics. “When people get too full of themselves about this stuff, the minute you start believing the hype, people want to take you down.”
In what was shy of an hour Zoom conversation, Craig unraveled the geniusness behind many of his favorite collaborations, the art of remixing, and even childhood Jackson 5 records ahead of his documentary, Desire: The Carl Craig Story, set to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. The Dan Wechsler-produced film is an intimate portrait of the legendary techno DJ-producer and record label founder whilst being an ode to his beloved city, Detroit. The documentary also features artist-collaborators, including Gilles Peterson, Roni Size, Laurent Garnier, DJ Minx, Kenny Larkin, Moritz von Oswald, and James Lavelle, who worked alongside Craig and played a major role in bringing techno and electronic music to the masses over the years.
Raised in a middle-class African-American family, Craig’s parents fostered his artistic pursuits despite breaking the family tradition of pursuing higher education. “When I saw Michael Jackson dance for the first time on Soul Train, I noticed he had this otherworldly connection with music,” Craig said. “And that influenced how I started making music, playing around with instruments, especially with my older brother’s guitar. The oscillator made me really interested in music, though– I love that style of synthesizer.”
His inspirations spanned from late-20th-century radio favorites George Clinton, Parliament Funkadelic, and Roger Trotman to important novelty records from Gary Newman, Kraftwerk, and Planet Rock. With the excellent mention of Prince’s hits “Dirty Mind” and “Controversy,” Craig’s musical purpose struck a powerful chord. “Those [artists] were the main forces behind how I interpreted [and] loved music at 10, maybe 11 years old,” he said. “They changed the face of how young black America was listening to music.”
So, what was his “Oh snap, I’ve made it” moment? It wasn’t playing a venue or meeting his idol, but rather taking a moment to appreciate his pre-existing community on an England business trip. “At that time, I had an English girlfriend I had met in Detroit, and when I went over to England to perform as a sideman for Derek May, I stayed with her,” Craig explained. “She was a professional makeup artist for Soul II Soul and S’Express, which gave me the great friendship of Mark Moore. So, the first day I landed in London, I met Mark, I met Baby Ford– I met all these people the minute I got off the plane.”
Now 40 years into his career, Craig’s six LPs and over 600 production credits for the legendary Herbie Hancock and A Tribe Called Quest, 2008’s Grammy-nominated remix of Junior Boys’ “Like A Child”, and other electronic-techno acts top his resume. Yet Craig’s collaborative prowess is more than viewing remixing as an art form with an ever-changing formula. Underneath the surface, it’s years of being a Detroit techno disciple-- and even more years embracing the artistic idiosyncrasies of May, Francisco Mora, and other life-long mentors.
“From the early days, me and Derek May would sit on the floor of his loft with synthesizers and drum machines surrounding us and just composing,” Craig said dreamily. ”Composing with the idea that we’re making this future music.”
However, as the founder of the independent label Planet E. Communications, the majority of these collaborative opportunities bankroll his own creative pursuit. “I have control to do what I want to do [at my record label], but you gotta pay the price for independence, whether it’s income tax or insurance,” Craig confessed. “I look at remixing like Gorilla Warfare: I would remix Tori Amos, get that money, and put it into my company, so I could press my record, get equipment, and just do my thing.”
Of course the music industry underwent many facelifts since Craig’s 1980s debut, albeit not as noticeable as Autotune, the rise of streaming services, and other technological advancements that routinely replace even his studio software. In terms of Detroit techno, though, Craig feels the genre remains unscathed, if not lucky to be sonically fused within other soundscapes. “I think the roots of Detroit techno have been preserved, from ‘Mad’ Max Banks of Underground Resistance to Aux 88 and Octave One,” Craig shouted out his peers. “Jeff Mills walked into other aspects of the genre to develop other sounds that go with Detroit techno– think Detroit techno-house, or even Detroit techno-jazz.” Craig also quotes DeForest Brown Jr., Kyle Hall, Omar S., DJ Holographic and DJ Minks as “big purveyors” keeping the genre alive and exciting.
Past discussing Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball tour and reflecting on the great talents of Aretha Franklin, Leonard Cohen, and Mary J. Blige, it was time for Craig to shine the light upon himself in a final two-part question: First, what is the proudest moment of your career so far? “My proudest moment is that I’m still here representing my people,” he said without hesitation.
“Until I die, I’m going to be representing Derek May, Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins, Detroit techno. That’s it.”
The follow-up question asked about the future of his career, which didn’t particularly equate to his answer being his ideal “way to go,” but its extravagance reaffirms Craig as an omnipresent force of nature, one that’s still primed and ready for the dancefloor. “My goal for dying is how I thought Michael Jackson should have died, in a spin on stage and turn into a bag of sand. We’ve got dreams, and I should go out spectacularly, not just a lame ‘lying in bed’ or something.”
Craig’s film documentary, Desire: The Carl Craig Story, will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 12, 2024, at The Indeed Theater at Spring Studios, with subsequent festival public screenings on June 13th and 15th.
