Economic depression = time to buy a super expensive Carl Craig CD

October 31, 2:29 PMSeattle Pop Art ExaminerNeil Fauerso

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Seattle Pop Art Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

I sincerely regret not seeing Carl Craig at Decibel Fest in September. I had actually seen Craig at a rave in 2000. I was 18 years old, stone sober, and very cold and didn't really "get" the Detroit Techno thing. Now after a circuitous journey through Krautrock and American minimalism I've learned that Craig and his cohorts were instrumental in developing the "black minimalism" of the early 80s.

For this release, the legendary classical label Deutsche Grammophon allowed Craig and Moritz Von Oswald (the maestro behind the magnificent Basic Channel conglomerate and Basic Replay label) to mine their archives. The results are nothing short of staggering. This is by far the greatest "classical remixed" album I've ever heard .

Oswald and Craig take Ravel's Bolero and fold it into an astonishingly supple and lustrous mix. Horns and percussion skitter around the duo's own icy electronic percussion, strings lilt in and suspend. This is superb driving and working music, but it stands as its own as a glittering modern composition.
 

As of right now this cd is only available as an import for like 35 dollars. That's a lot and hopefully it will get a domestic release, but aside from the Portishead's Third, this is the best disc I've heard in 2008.