Carl Craig needs no introduction. His Paperclip People album was a high point of mid-90s techno and another landmark in the canon of outstanding techno that has come, and is still coming, out of Detroit, Detroit, Detroit, Detroit, Detroit (slow fade to Infiniti).

Paperclip People
The Secret Tapes Of Doctor Eich
Planet E/CD/US 
Carl Craig’s ongoing Paperclip People project gets its first full length deliberation, and all you can ask yourself is why he didn’t do this earlier. Craig is remarkable in his ability to plough deep furrows in the experimental underground and still manage to make girls (and boys) move their butts, to quote Run DMC (who never wrote a rap about Carl Craig, but should have). This album comes with some of the old Craig favourites, “Oscillator,” “Throw” and “Climax” whilst introducing new and grandly titled gems like “Parking Garage Politics” and “Country Boy Goes Dub.”

The humor of the intro cannot be escaped, in fact it has an almost Kraftwerkian deadpan that may well escape some of the more serious techno boffins out there. Hot on the sprung heels of “Bug in The Bassbin” this album shows you that Carl Craig has never lost his way in the confusing sonic labyrinth that constitutes the modern techno scene. The reason for this is a willingness, a passion to delve into several genres, pervert them and make their machinery work better. Also, regardless of how far out Craig’s orbit extends he still beams back to constants like the influence of disco and funk, evident in “The Climax” and its “Disco Circus” beats and in “Steam” with its smooth, rolling bassline. A very essential album from an artist who never fails to stun. Chris Orr