Desire: The Carl Craig Story

Writer and Director: Jean-Cosme Delaloye

Hailed as one of the kings of Detroit techno, Carl Craig has left an indelible print on dance music. Two talking heads declare in this 90-minute documentary that Craig was the first musician to make synthesisers cry: An exciting accolade in what is otherwise a dull film.

Techno was created by Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, who had their studios along Techno Boulevard in Detroit. Craig moved there too, undoubtedly influenced by their proximity. At first, he wanted to replicate the sweeping reverberations of Xerox machines, but soon he was putting his own spin on the dance music genre by adding elements of funk and jazz to the repetitive beats. Another talking head suggests that Craig is the Miles Davis of techno.

While there were some Frank Sinatra records in his father’s record collection, Craig’s main inspiration comes from Black jazz, and this documentary, written and directed by Jean-Cosme Delaloye, wants to reclaim techno as Black music. It’s true that Britain, riding high on the Second Summer of Love, was the first country to fully embrace techno, but sometimes its history has been overshadowed by white musicians such as, for example, The Chemical Brothers.

And yet, Craig’s music isn’t the hard thumping beats we think of when we listen to techno. French DJ Laurent Garnier proclaims that early Detroit techno was always melancholic, the soundtrack to the empty factories and derelict houses that came as a result of the city’s decline in the 1980s. Craig adds features of jazz to further deepen the ruins.

However, it’s s shame that we don’t hear more of Craig’s music. We are only allowed a few snippets of Bug in the Bassbin, recorded under the name Innerzone Orchestra, with its jazzy drum loops that herald the beginning of Jungle and Drum and Bass. For the most part, the film is a series of interviews with DJs and musicians, which too often cover the same ideas, discussing how Craig is a pioneer.

But there are a few gems amid the talking. Britain’s DJ Fabio remembers how he played one of Craig’s tracks at double time during his sets, while American Recloose, once working in a sandwich bar, tells the story of slipping a demo into Craig’s order. Soon after, Recloose was signed to Craig’s record label, Planet E. Photos of Craig’s free Detroit Music Festivals are lovingly supplied by Grandma Techno, whizzing around on her mobility scooter.

The last act of Desire is a little flabby, charting transatlantic journeys as Craig travels to Europe to headline gigs. We hear about the ends of the nights where Craig, with ears still ringing, returns to his hotel, a little deflated and a little lost. It may tell us something of the man, now aged 55, but we see little of the joy that he brings to the club. The shots of people dancing are recent, the venues numbingly corporate.

Some of us can recall dancing to his music in clubs where sweat dripped down from the low ceilings and where rumours spread that this night would be the one when the police finally raided the joint. Desire is an important film in the history of dance music, but the thrill is strangely absent.

DESIRE: TheCarlCraigStory is released in UK and Irish cinemas on8th May.