Carl Craig - Remixes Poll 1992 - 1996

oh boy

i know none of these.

Only heard around half a dozen of these but could just lazily vote for 'Hooter' due to its dope video getting played a few times on MTV Party Zone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcjONmPIZII

Probably Chez Damier - Help Myself or Mister Monday - Future

Maurizio - Domina
Jonny L – This Time (Carl Craig Mix)
Chris & Cosey - Fantastique (Carl Craig Mix)

^^ all excellent.

domina domina domina domina

System 7 - Sirènes (System 7.1)

This one is so killer: all ominous chords and slashing drums, this tune manages to sound simultaneously austere and frenetic, sweaty house music for an alien invasion. Then these burbling synth patterns swirl over like backlit storm clouds and the groove breaks down and builds back up again with brutal coercive mastery. A lot of Carl's tunes do this, but this is a great example of how he could so effortlessly short-circuit the functional and the epic, make them seem like the same thing (which, of course, they can and frequently should be).

Thanks for doing this Tim, really excited to read along :)

Dave Angel - Airborne (Carl Craig's Drums Suck Mix)

Feel like everyone who loves the "Relevee" remix needs to hear this: a decade beforehand and even better in my opinion, best heard in its full 12 minute glory. The track lives up to its title: no drums, just super-compressed intense synth chords seething and writhing, punctuated by an intermittent scream. Hard to describe how physically intense this tune is even without a beat, but I've heard this while out and people just keep dancing, locking in with the rhythm implied by those ceaseless riffs.

This era of Carl (and Detroit in general) is a bit of a blank spot for me, I'm sure I've heard several in mixes in the past but not one is coming to mind right now. Going to whack together a playlist and vote cold on this one.

Is there a better artist of the past 30 years?

Nope

I thought I kept up pretty well with him at the time but there are several here I don't know. Based on the ones I do know I'd probably have to go Domina but the Tori Amos and Incognito ones were particularly huge for me too

have always enjoyed a bit of Bandulu but on the other hand fucking Quadrant, man. Quadrant.

with Quadrant I'd have to go with the original over Carls though!

me too

Dave Angel - Airborne (Carl Craig's Drums Suck Mix)

this is otherworldly. i think i desperately need to make a playlist of some of these

Tori Amos – God (The Rainforest Resort Mix) / (Thinking 2 Mix) (1994)

hard to resist voting for two remixes at once. "rainforest resort" is currently changing my life

obviously all the Basic Channel records are perfect as they are but I do like CC in bleeps & noise mode - not better but different

gonna listen to all these before forgetting to vote

More importantly, how will I choose just one?

it will be tough for me because while cc has an amazing work ethic and has done lots and lots of great stuff his output at any given time is relatively homogenous imo

i clearly need to track down a compilation of his earlier stuff then as i guess the sessions 2cd set came after a lot of these.

Out of the Storm! What he did with that track was completely next level

oh yeah that one is undeniable

Aquarhythms - Bodyjazz Bodyfusion (Carl Craig Experience)

This may be easier to find as "Experience (Carl Craig Remix)" which is how it was titled on re-release for some reason. Anyway, it's beautiful: clouds of vaporous synths swirl around the singer, before a totally hypnotic rolling snare and handclap groove (with bumping heart murmur baseline) drives the tune forward on its tiptoes. It takes another several minutes for the kick drum to arrive, a deliberate ploy to keep the listener on edge, and when it does arrive it pushes the tune to a plateau of quiet intensity. This tune is up there with favourites like the Salt City Orchestra remix of "Mushrooms" for me in terms of eerie, beautiful house-epics.

Voted Incognito - Out of the Storm, but it could have been about a dozen others.

Dajae - Day By Day (Carl Craig Dub)
As ruthless and as funky as anything on the Paperclip People album, or just about anything that came out of either second wave Chicago or French house for that matter, "Day By Day" is both brutally simple and secretly epic, its tough, rolling disco loops gradually taking on the sensation of a kind of tidal surge overwhelming everything.

Day by Day is amazing. There was a great chez'n'trent dub of that too

Any reason why 92 - 96 as it misses out one of my favourites from 1991, “Aquatic” by Open House? His 1992 mix of Inner City’s “Praise” is missing which is also so great.

Anyway, a tough call! Domina, Serena X, Fantastique, & Hooter would probably be my top picks but I’ll go for “Fantastique” as I commissioned that remix and the lovely Mr. Craig did it for no fee.

The "Serena 'X'" remix should be as known as any other. Whoosh.

yes dajae!!

i like the stealthy shuffle that gradually morphs into a sort of boompty house on the brian transeau tracks ... also the xylophone type twinkles

i know he's sort of a polarizing figure but the as one remixes are great. the asa nisi masa remix is amazing burbling primitive electronics with an echoing slow motion house beat, sort of a proto dresvn type of sound. the urban tribe mix sadly not so good (nice atmospherics but totally rides a tired breakbeat through a flanger and into the ground)

the "clubbed to death" remix is much more in line with the classic urban tribe sound

another big favorite of mine was the spacetime continuum remix. i got into it over a cold spring i spent in rural vermont. those crisp snapping sounds always throw me back to the memory of icicles glittering in the new england light. very cold and mechanical but bright and warm in its own way. on a side note, i really love that whole rEmit rEcaps project as well as the original eMit eCaps.

hot lizard - the theme is another one with a great shuffling break. it reminds me of the classic 69 epics (like my machines or ladies and gentlemen). also reminds me how great his dj kicks was!

No Theo Parrish Falling Up? That is his crowning moment

Oh and Faze Action In the Trees. And Siobahn Donaghy

But all those in the poll great too!

think those are all post 96

day by day by day \ day by day by day / day by day by day

I was gojng to say that the Brian Transeau remix is kind of slight compared to some of these but I honestly think it's my favourite.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

In case people haven't voted and still want to check out some options, here are some of my other top choices:

Yennek - Serena "X" (Inner Zone Mix)- early and superior example of the exploratory cosmic vibes the Innerzone (Orchestra) moniker became associated with.

DBX – Losing Control (Carl Craig Remix) - this tends to be underrated because the original is such a classic, but it's fabulously dirty, squelchy, bouncy acid house.

Hot Lizard - The Theme (Carl Craig Mix) - like vahid says. An epic weeper that sounds amazing on both the DJ Kicks and 1995 Essential Mix sets.

Jonny L – This Time (Carl Craig Mix) - totally classic, mysterious ("there's no need to climb the mountain HI-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-IGH") but bumping deep house.

Any reason why 92 - 96 as it misses out one of my favourites from 1991, “Aquatic” by Open House? His 1992 mix of Inner City’s “Praise” is missing which is also so great.

Stuff-up on my part sorry.

Dave Angel - Airborne (Carl Craig's Drums Suck Mix)

Like others here, I'm hearing this for the first time now and it's blowing my mind.

i know he's sort of a polarizing figure but the as one remixes are great.

I was just about to rep for these too. I loved the "Reflections on Reflections" at the time, I really need to dig that CD out again.

Another one from 96 is his mix of DJ Q's 'We Are One' - doesn't quite make it his own there though.

Any reason why 92 - 96 as it misses out one of my favourites from 1991, “Aquatic” by Open House? His 1992 mix of Inner City’s “Praise” is missing which is also so great.

Stuff-up on my part sorry.

― Tim F, Monday, 27 November 2017 00:53 (ten hours ago) Permalink

Open House is there in the poll options

my bad. i totally missed seeing the open house one in the list before.

dominadominadominadominadomina

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I would vote for "Reese Project - I Believe (A-Dub)". My 12" doesn't have the B-Dub but after listening on youtube I think I like the A-Dub more. I can't find a single element it shares with the original track. I feel bad for all the other remixers on the 12", Carl's mix is from another planet. When that beat drops, it just rockets off.