Carl Craig (born May 22, 1969) is an American electronic music producer, DJ, and founder of the record label Planet E Communications.[4] He is known as a leading figure and pioneer in the second waveofDetroit techno artists during the late 1980s and early 1990s.[5][6][7] He has recorded under his given name in addition to a variety of aliases, including Psyche, BFC, and Innerzone Orchestra.[8]
Carl Craig was born in Detroit, Michigan, on May 22, 1969.[6] His mother was a teacher's assistant and his father was a post office worker.[7] He attended Cooley High School, where he developed an interest in music.[6] He learned to play guitar and later became interested in club music through his cousin Doug Craig, who worked lighting for Detroit area parties.[6] After hearing Derrick May's radio show on WJLB, Craig began experimenting with recording on a dual-deck cassette player.[6] Craig met someone who knew May and passed along a tape of some of his home studio productions.[6]
Since 1989, Craig has released many recordings under a large number of aliases, including Psyche, BFC, 69, Paperclip People, and Innerzone Orchestra.[6] Many of these early Psyche and BFC releases were collected on the 1996 compilation Elements 1989–1990.[10] Craig founded his own record label called Planet E Communications in 1991.[7] Since then, it has released records by other artists such as Kevin Saunderson, Moodymann, and Kenny Larkin.[11]
His first studio album, Landcruising, was released on Blanco y Negro Records in 1995.[6] In 1996, he released The Secret Tapes of Doctor Eich under the Paperclip People moniker.[12] In 1997, he released More Songs About Food and Revolutionary Art.[12] It was placed at number 29 on Pitchfork's "50 Best IDM Albums of All Time" list.[13] In 1999, he released Programmed under the Innerzone Orchestra moniker.[12]
Craig served as co-creator and artistic director for the Detroit Electronic Music Festival in 2000 and 2001.[14] His subsequent dismissal by festival organizers caused substantial controversy within the Detroit techno community, igniting a high-profile campaign in his favor.[15] In 2001, he filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against festival producer Pop Culture Media.[16]
He released a reworked version of Landcruising, titled The Album Formerly Known As..., in 2005.[17] In 2008, he released a collaborative album with Moritz Von Oswald, titled Recomposed, on Deutsche Grammophon.[17] He returned as artistic director for the 2010 Detroit Electronic Music Festival.[18] In 2015, he released a collaborative album with Green Velvet, titled Unity, on Relief Records.[19] In 2017, he released VersusonInFiné.[20]
Craig created a sound installation, titled Party/After-Party, which opened at the Dia Beacon art museum in March 2020.[21] The culmination of a five-year-long engagement with Dia Beacon,[22] it was his first foray into the art world.[21] In 2023 the installation was brought to The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles and the exhibition was accompanied by Party/After-Party Sessions, a series of three live concerts that were including DJs and electronic musicians DJ Holographic, Felix Da Housecat, King Britt, Moodymann, Kenny Larkin. [23]
Craig's 1992 track "Bug in the Bassbin", released under the Innerzone Orchestra moniker, was picked up by DJs such as 4hero, Goldie, and J Majik.[25] In the United Kingdom, DJs started playing the track at 45 rpm instead of the intended 33 rpm.[26] According to Now, the track "ended up providing inspiration and in many ways writing the blueprint for what drum 'n' bass was to become in England."[26]
According to Vinyl Me, Please, Craig "managed to not only push the boundaries of Detroit techno, 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).[27]
