Carl Craig has turned his back catalogue into an orchestral masterpiece

“By kicking the band out of the room and doing as we pleased – that’s gone on to inspire some of a new generation of classically trained musicians and enable them to adapt what they do, to help them realise they’re not locked into a box. Francesco is a pianist, but on ‘Darkness’ you can hear him playing the inside of the piano, the strings. It’s always exciting to be inspired to do new things with instruments. When ‘Alleys Of Your Mind’ by Juan [Atkins] or ‘Can You Feel It’ by Larry Heard came out, that, for me, was like hearing a distorted guitar for the first time. It laid out a path of new possibilities for me to think that this is where I wanted to go.”

The path Craig has travelled since those early inspirations is full of unparalleled diversity. From the crossover drive of ‘Paperclip People’, the experimental mastery of ‘Psyche’ and the jazz inspired proto-drum ’n’ bass of Innerzone Orchestra to the offbeat rave flavours of his 69 project and the never-just-straight-up techno of his Planet E label, he has established himself as one of the most creative and in-demand remixers around with an ability to churn out classic after classic whatever the mood or tempo.

“I feel that the remixes give me practice and they inspire me to do something I may never have done,” Carl muses. Of the tracks selected for Versus, he says ‘Darkness’, ‘Sandstorms’, his remix of Maurizio’s ‘Domina’ and ‘At Les’ are among his career highlights, before giving us an insight into how the last one, a haunting 1997 classic, came about: “I was living with a girlfriend and her name was Lesley. Our apartment had a view of Canada and the Detroit River and at night you could see helicopters with spotlights flying down the river, looking for maybe stray boats or people trying to cross the border. It had a kind of Terminator vibe, like the flashback where he goes into like a dream and he’s remembering all the searchlights and machines chasing after him. It was also at a time when there were still those stupid arsons happening [Detroit suffered an arson wave around ‘Devils Night’ in the 80 and 90s]. As I was making music, I would be looking out of these floor to ceiling windows at what looked like a movie with a sometimes apocalyptic vision.”

Carl Craig’s vast, diverse output has exactly that kind of cinematic quality. Perhaps the orchestral versions on ‘Versus’ are us hearing it in widescreen.

[Second image: Pierre Emmanuel Rastoin]