14A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 14, 1999 Planet E celebrates success of techno with new compilation By Jason Birchmeier Daily Arts Writer Carl Craig is directing Planet E on a brave new path into the unknown. No longer just another of the countless techno record labels based in Detroit, Planet E has broad- ened its musical content and is focusing on expanding its audience with full-length CDs. Now that Craig has moved away from his Detroit techno peers, he must care- fully walk the fine line between innovative art and busi- ness. When Craig established himself in the global world of techno as Derrick May's protege, he couldn't have imag- ined where Planet E would take him. Formed in 1991 as a means for releasing the many different musical projects he'd been working on, Craig began Planet E rather humbly. But now that electronic music has risen from the world of underground dance parties as an accepted form of music around the world, Craig has bigger plans for his label. "There are new philosophies that are going to be involved, and I'm going to fight with myself over the cre- ative and business aspects of the label, trying to figure out what's going to keep us in business," Craig said. Planet E will celebrate its eighth anniversary with a special compilation album titled "Geology." to be released at the end of this month. A collection of rare gems from the history of Planet E's famed evolution "Geology" compiles many out-of-print records never before available on CD by many of the diverse artists that have appeared on the Detroit label. Early Planet E records such as 69's "1f Mojo Was AM" from 1991 provide listeners with an idea of what Craig's carly vision of Planet E was. Other Planet E records from the mid-'90s such as an exclusive remix of Paperclip People's "Remake" accompany some of the more adven- turous records released by Planet E in the past year or wo on this commemorative album. A compilation such as this illustrates exactly how diverse the music of Planet E truly is. No two tracks on the album share a similar sound or style. Moodytnann's jazzy house sounds nothiig like Flexitone's weiid electro just as 4th Wave's cosmic techno has little to do with Recloose's scrambled breakbeats. In addition, the origi- nal mix of Innerzone Orchestra's "Bug in the Bassbin" from 1992 sounds just as fresh and innos atis e as Jason Ilogans' "Esteem" from 1999. pitsng the timeless nature of Planet E's output. Though none of these artists may sound alike, they all share the common attribute of originality. Planet E's image as one of the world's premier independent labels specializing in electronic music results from Craig's focus on new and experimental sounds. This mission sep- arates Planet E from many labels that tend to focus pri- marily on a homogenous grouping of artists who produce similar music. "I've always looked at Planet E as something that is beyond me so I've tried to support that the artists that were involved with the label," Craig said. "I've always tried to help the artists find their own sound and if they need help mixing it or whatever to make it stronger then Im there to do it. But I want them to develop in some way, to be themselves. So within that I think my taste in music for myself is altering, so what I pick for the label is going to alter as well." "Before I didn't have a lot of things that were associat- ed with trip-hop or hip-hop, and there were only a few things that I'd done,; he said. "The majority of it was faster music whether it was 4th wave or some ofh that stuff. Then coming in and doing a Recloose record, we're getting more aspects of down-tempo bass music that is being influential to me as well as other people that are listening to the music." This current focus by Craig on down-tempo bass music surprised many at first. The many electronic music labels little Xi usiC - Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Book by Hugh Wheeler Based on Ingmar Bergman's Smiles ofa Sumner Night Threea iS'lathefd(coupl('s are about to make 'soi I& 4 surprisi/ di.s'co0 rues aboul 1h( 11ff u ( dSir.s'! October 14 - 16 at 8pm - October 17 at 2pm Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre Tickets are $18 and $14 Students $7 with ID League Ticket Office 734-764-0450 I e UM School of Music Musical Theatre Department - "MARTIN SCORSESE IS A TRUE AMERICAN MASTER' in Detroit mostly tend to focus on the style associated with Detroit: techno. By signing two new Detroit artists who incorporate sampled breakbeats in their music, Craig has differentiated Planet E from its Detroit peers. These two artists - Recloose and Jason Hogans - rep- resent a new direction for the label. Recloose (Mat Chicione) began his career as a student at the university, where he spun records at WCBN and at various venues around town as DJ Bubblicious. After slipping Craig a demo tape of his music on a sandwich at a deli in Detroit where Chicione cooked, Craig welcomed him to the Planet E roster. In early 1998 came the first Recloose release, "So This Is the Dining Room," surprising many with its jazzy breakbeat approach unlike anything yet to come from Detroit. A second Recloose release, "Spelunking," has just been released, refining the musical aims of the University graduate. In addition to producing music, Recloose has been a regular DJ at Motor Detroit, the city's top dance club. "The new Recloose just shows his development, how' he's just grown musically and has grown as a better pro- ducer," Craig said. "I think that Recloose could end up being a major force in the electronic music scene." The second new artist to bring new sounds to the Planet E roster is Jason Hogans. He debuted this past summer on a four-song EP titled "Peter and the Rooster" which also broke away from the traditional Detroit sound, mixing ambient soundscapes with melodic drum and bass. Craig has another release from Hogans that will soon be available for the public. These two artists along with Common Factor and the many guises of Craig represent the new sound of Planet E. This past spring Planet E released a full-length album by Common Factor titled "Dreams of Elsewhere," com- piling two of his EPs with some new tracks. An hour of hazy Chicago house incorporating plenty of industrial Detroit techno sounds, this albums delivered a dreamy sublime experience with enough funk to make sitting still Read Daily Arts online at difficult. "With all of these artists, we're working on devbd1dh them as album artists rather than just doing EPs,"Cfig said. "For Detroit I think that most of the releases've been EPs, but I see labels like Ninja Tune who havd,-n themselves out of that whole singles and EPs mark'iIithd into a more serious game which is making LPs. IThhiiA that gives the artists better representation. We're lookine forward to doing more of that." This ambitious goal of Craig's comes at a time when larg- er labels such as Astralwerks in the US and XL in the UK are finding success with full-length albums. Artists such as Roni Size and Basement Jaxx, who both began by rMng singles, have released critically acclaimed ful?-tetigth albums capable of penetrating mainstream audienes "What I want to develop Planet E into is just not-)ol artist based label but also a professional label that puts out music that we want to," Craig said. "I feel that a lot o artist based labels aren't considtred professional kecaust they're run by the artist, who doesn't know shit about busi- ness. I want us to develop artistically into developing oui artists to have respect like Eno or Philip Glass to where wt can still put out interesting music and have that respect. That way if someone like Recloose or Common Facto blows up, we won't look like sell-outs." Craig has already began furthering the reach of his 1" bel by allowing Astralwerks to release Planet E's mostaci- pated release yet, Innerzone Orchestra's "Prograipsd." A group comprising Craig, Recloose and a few other musi cians, Innerzone Orchestra's sound mixes free ja z with electronic music. Craig hopes Astralwerks can do for hi; group what the label did for Air and Basement Jaxx. "One of the reasons I decided to go outside of th Planet E distribution system for this record is because o! the marketing support that a larger label can offetAggai. said. "They have their hands in all aspects of the industry where if the album goes over really well, they can go a lo- further with press and record positioning in stores:* See CRAIG, Page 15A t www.michigandaily.com"._ N I COLAS C A G E Listen and respond to your email over any phone. FREE. Sigr Suptdyat myTalk com Earn extra cash as an on-campus myTalk rep. Contact our campus recruiter at campusreps@myTalk.com for details.