Carl Craig on Free Speech, Israel & Techno's Middle Class Roots

"We're on this ultra-patriotic trip right now in America and if you say anything that goes against the grain you're considered unpatriotic or un-American. America's about free speech and we should be able to say; 'you know what; this is wrong.'"

Carl Craig has never been afraid of going against the grain and his willingness to explore and eagerness to take chances has made him one of electronic music's greatest contributors and ambassadors. Since delivering his first demo tape to Derrick May in the late 80s, to becoming Rolling Stone Magazine's 24th Most Influential Musician of 2001, he's emulated his hero Miles Davis in constantly innovating and expressing himself purely. And like the definitive jazz legend , he's always been willing to speak out, where others choose to stay silent.

"I hate to get involved in politics but when you see something that's wrong, you just have to say that it's wrong," he says.

"I don't play in Israel anymore, not only because of the fact that I don't want to get blown up but because I think that their politics are wrong."

Craig was chatting to Skrufff's Jonty Adderley about the release of his new double compilation CD The Workout, an impressively diverse set of tunes covering a wide range of bases within his beloved techno. Coming out on React on October 7, it's clearly been a labour of love, with track selection winning out over DJ trickery.

"I'm a producer more than a DJ so I'm not going to act like I'm the best DJ in the world, like a Carl Cox or a Jeff Mills or someone like that," said Carl.

"I didn't use Pro-Tools or any programmes like that but I wanted to make sure that all the mixes came out well so that you can listen to it not only toeday but also in 10 years time."


Skrufff: The press release mentions that you avoided digital mixers 'like the plague', why-

Carl Craig: "Digital is very harsh sounding, and the only time you can avoid that is when you're using equipment that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars for studio mixes. Lower line mixers make the sound unbalanced to me, kinda' brittle and harsh and very 'toppy'- nasty on the top end. Whenever I hear myself DJing in a club with a digital mixer for example, there's always too much high end sound. I didn't want people to listen to it and think it hurts their ears."

Skrufff: You've included a track from Recloose on the CD, is it true that you discovered him when he slipped you a demo tape in a sandwich, when he was working at a Deli you visited-

Carl Craig: "Yes it is; his first single was called So This Is The Dining Room and it had a little picture of a sandwich with a cassette in it and that was based from him working in a Deli (sandwich bar) that I used to go in to with my wife all the time. We ordered a carry-out (Take Away) one day, picked up a bag of sandwiches then got into the car and started driving. I eat when I drive, I don't care (about the rules) so my wife's going through the bag pulling out sandwiches then she says 'Hold it, how many sandwiches did we order-' I said two, and she said 'Well there's three in here.' She pulls out the one on the bottom and written on the cellophane wrapping is "Demo Tape on Rye". We both flipped out, it was an experience which made me have to listen to the tape because it was such an ingenious idea."

Skrufff: Ain't Changing, the particular track on the CD is highly repetitive and divided opinion amongst the Skrufff team, while a track like Terry Brookes' Breaking Cycle, is very melodic and accessible, do you think of the tracks in terms of how easy they are to listen to-

Carl Craig: "It depends on a person's taste. You can look at music like dub reggae ,for example, which is very repetitive but little changes happen to make it unrepetitive. But some people who aren't into techno or repetitive music can still appreciate dub reggae. It's like with Basic Channel, their tracks are basically loops with very little changes, though their changes are in the Tags

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