"Programmed" by Carl Craig

- interviewer Cyclone Wehner

When Detroit's Carl Craig was growing up, he wanted to be like Prince. Hence his early fixation with the guitar. Later he discovered electronics. As with Prince, Carl, 30, has nevertheless made a career out of guileful self-reinvention.

Coming of age in techno's spiritual home, he is nowadays associated with the Motor City's second wave of experimenters, alongside Stacey Pullen, Kenny Larkin and Claude Young. In the early 80s Carl emerged as the gifted studio protege of Derrick May (he was even briefly one half of May's Rythim Is Rythim). His first official output -- "Psyche's Elements" -- materialised on Virgin's compilation, Detroit Techno 2. Yet by the early 90s Carl had left Transmat behind to forge an identity of his own. At any rate, the last decade or so has seen him confound the techno scene with diverse releases under an ever growing number of handles: Psyche (ambient), 69 (soulful techno), Paperclip People (disco-ey house), Innerzone Orchestra (jazzy) and, naturally enough, his own name (er, whatever). Carl -- who was producing before he took up the decks -- has also launched his own label, Planet E Communications (its name taken from a satellite not ecstasy), which introduced the credible (and ultra uncompromising) Moodymann. It would be all too easy to say that Carl has transcended 'techno' altogether. What he's in fact done is further widen its parameters beyond the dance floor. Ironically, this revolutionary impetus is central to techno. After all, from the outset, techno, as a new and radical form of soul music, defied cultural stereotypes and transcended social boundaries. And so it could be argued that Carl is merely reasserting that impulse.

Indeed, the first LP from Craig's Innerzone Orchestra (released via Talkin' Loud) represents electronic music at its most avant garde. Without doubt, "Programmed" is a brave work. And, if nothing else, the album validates his genius.

While the concept behind "Programmed" may at first appear 'inaccessible', the music itself isn't. Earlier this year when the press officer for Planet E (also Carl's wife), Hannah Sawtell, was interviewed for an article on dance indies in the US magazine, "Raygun", she just happened to drop an early hint about what direction "Programmed" would take: 'We know it's going to piss off some people.' Those words could sum up Craig's career. So does Carl feel he has successfully pissed them off? '

'The reaction has been really good [laughs]. There have been a couple of purist factors who have been pissed off. One reviewer said at the beginning, "Hey, I don't understand it." And then he went on to review it and the review wasn't very positive. So that's just the way it happens. You get people who claim to be progressive, but they just don't get it. So that was the situation with that.'

In 1992 Carl created his Innerzone Orchestra (then essentially just the one man and his machines) with the formative track "Bug In The Bass Bin". Characterised by its rumbling breakbeats, deep bass, jazzy sensibilities and spare production, Bug was rapturously received by the UK's embryonic jungle scene (including DJs Fabio, Grooverider and Goldie), who came up with an instant drum 'n' bass classic simply by notching up the speed on their decks. Years later Carl allowed James Lavelle to re-issue "Bug on Mo' Wax" with a series of cutting-edge new mixes by handpicked producers such as 4 Hero, Peshay and Claude Young. Still, it was Craig's own "Jazz Mix" that indicated what was to follow -- for this marked his first real collaboration with percussionist Francisco Mora, previously a member of Sun Ra's Arkestra. 'That remix made it possible for me to get my ideas together for this,' Carl acknowledges. 'I would have probably still been doing just straight electronic stuff if I didn't do that. Which by now I would have been bored with out of my freakin' skull.'

The Innerzone Orchestra has gradually mutated into a sophisticated live jazz combo, with its core made up of Carl, Mora and keyboardist Craig Taborn (The Art Ensemble of Chicago). "Programmed" finds yet others joining the line-up. MC Lacksi-daisy-cal delivers a conscious Wu-like rap on "The Beginning Of The End". Mudpuppy's Paul Randolph sings on a retro-nuevo remake of The Stylistics' "People Make The World Go 'Round". And de facto Detroitian Richie Hawtin, aka Plastikman, collaborates with Carl on "Architecture", which was apparently influenced by the atmospherics of "Bladerunner".

The fascination with Detroit techno is as much about the remarkable capacity of its auteurs to generate their own mythologies as with the music. "Programmed" catches the consistently imaginative Carl assuming a new guise, Blakula, which is conceivably something akin to Prince's alter-ego, Camille. Blakula, Carl reveals, was inspired by the Blaxploitation vampire flick "Scream, Blacula, Scream". The dance media has long grappled with the strange duality that makes up the laconic maverick. Carl has made some of the most heartbreaking music to ever come outta Detroit (like the downbeat "More Songs About Food And Revolutionary Art"), yet he is by all appearances a content, sociable and laidback individual who likes nothing better than chilling out with a beer. So where does that darkness come from? 'I'm a Gemini,' Carl responds elusively, 'so I really don't have to say anything else.'

Craig is not the only Detroit luminary to have long been critical of music industry politics -- especially the major corporations. In particular, he was none too happy with the level of support given to his Kratfwerk-y 1995 album, "Landcruising", which came out on the Warner subsidiary Blanco Y Negro. Despite all this, Carl has now chosen to release the Innerzone Orchestra album via another subsidiary and not his own Planet E. How come? 'I just felt that it was more interesting to deal with a label like Talkin' Loud for a project like this, because they understand the concept of doing jazz in some way -- whether it was what they did with Roni Size, which is a different kind of jazz, or whether it was just the acid jazz stuff that they're associated with. I think that one of the main reasons why I did set out to put this record out through another label -- whether a major or independent -- was just because I couldn't finance it on my own. So it was necessary to find someone who had a better distribution structure and a way to get my vision out there. Doing it on Planet E would have been great, but we would have only got it to a very small market.'

Mind, "Programmed" is mercifully no self-indulgent retro-nuevo jazz set. Instead this abstract affair takes a futuristic trajectory by merging live instruments and 90s electronics in a musical manifesto for the New Millennium. The techno originators have long recognised a parallel between their electronic music and the jazz tradition -- hence Detroit techno has often been dubbed 'future jazz'. What Craig sets out to do is bring the two together, specifically giving props to John Coltrane and Sun Ra during a spoken passage on the off-kilter techno "Manufactured Memories". "Programmed" freely travels between techno and jazz and back again. While the likes of Juan 'Magic' Atkins, Eddie 'Flashin'' Fowlkes and Pullen have long acknowledged their jazz influences, Carl rarely discusses his. 'When you live in America, you hear things for years but you can't really say that it's been a large inspiration because you hear it subliminally. You think it's your dad's music, you know, I don't wanna listen to this kinda stuff! That's just what you do. When you're a kid you don't hear the feelings necessarily, just the music. But now as an adult, I hear it differently. And I hear where the music is going.'

And "Programmed" betrays yet another interesting dialectic between the past, present and future. A triumvirate of the album tracks are in fact jazzy revisions of Carl Craig's own classics: "Galaxy", "At Les" and, most pertinently, "Bug". It's almost as though he is reiterating the idea that you have to know your (own) history before you can know the future.

It's been suggested that May, like the loving father figure or older brother, has in a sense channelled his own techno dreams through gifted proteges like Carl. Has he ever had that impression? 'I don't know,' Carl reflects. 'I wouldn't say that he was doing that. I think it's just a concept that he had -- he wanted to build up his label, Transmat. And in order to do that he had to develop talent. But now, [considering] where Stacey and myself have gone, it might be further than what Derrick had expected. He expected us to do great things and make great music, but he pretty much expected us to still be a part of the Transmat crew. And when we decided to go on our own, it probably came pretty much as a shock.'

"Programmed" is out through Universal.