>> Carl Craig
bio: Carl Craig was a key player in Detroit techno's second wave, following the futuristic lead of originators Derrick May and Juan Atkins, and eventually collaborating with May. He began recording at the turn of the '90s, using a number of aliases to release innovative ambient, techno, breakbeat and future jazz sounds. One such alias, Innerzone Orchestra, issued "Bug in a Bassbin" in 1992, the track largely responsible for moving drum 'n' bass away from the sounds of hardcore and ragga. Craig heads Planet E Communications, a peerless dance label employing the same eclectic and futuristic ethos that informs his own music. He reconvened Innerzone Orchestra as a jazz/techno combo, recruiting jazz composer/keyboardist Craig Taborn, former Arkestra member Francisco Mora and Planet E signed Matt Chicoine to help him record 1999's Programmed.
With releases under BFC, Psyche, Paper Clip People, 69, Designer Music and Innerzone Orchestra, Carl Craig has more personalities than Sybil. As much as his different guises can confuse though, his music is always easily recognized because whatever he does, it retains that certain Craig-ness. A deep commitment to soul and jazz has always been the watermark of his music. Even when Craig is destroying dance floors with such songs as the classic “Throw,” there is always a subtleness and attention to detail that separates his music from that of the typical Johnny-come-lately dance music producer.
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