Planet E Communications | |
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Founded | 1991 |
Founder | Carl Craig |
Distributor(s) | !K7 |
Genre | |
Country of origin | United States |
Location | Detroit, Michigan |
Official website | www |
Planet E Communications is an independent electronic music recording label that started in 1991 in Detroit, Michigan. The label was founded by DJ/Producer Carl Craig.
Planet E's first release was titled “4 Jazz Funk Classics,” which Craig recorded under the moniker 69. Initial releases on Planet E would mainly be Craig's projects under a multitude of monikers, but would later evolve into being home to a myriad of electronic music's most influential artists such as Kevin Saunderson, Moodymann, Kenny Larkin, and Recloose. In 2001, Planet E celebrated its 10-year anniversary with a celebration at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival. [1] Planet E is continually developing a roster, with producers such as Martin Buttrich, Jona, Ican, Glimpse and more.
In addition, Planet E has a subsidiary label, Community Projects. Craig developed this label to present music of other genres, everything from afro blues to space jazz to world music.
note: items in bold are Carl Craig productions or releases containing music by Carl Craig.
Detroit techno is a type of techno music that generally includes the first techno productions by Detroit-based artists during the 1980s and early 1990s. Prominent Detroit techno artists include Juan Atkins, Eddie Fowlkes, Derrick May, Jeff Mills, Kevin Saunderson, Blake Baxter, Drexciya, Mike Banks, James Pennington and Robert Hood. Artists like Terrence Parker and his lead vocalist, Nicole Gregory, set the tone for Detroit's piano techno house sound.
Juan Atkins, also known as Model 500 and Infiniti, is an American record producer and DJ from Detroit, Michigan. Mixmag has described him as "the original pioneer of Detroit techno." He has been a member of the Belleville Three, Cybotron, and Borderland.
Movement Electronic Music Festival is an annual electronic dance music event held in the birthplace of Techno, Detroit, each Memorial Day weekend since 2006. Previous electronic music festivals held at Hart Plaza on Memorial Day weekend include Detroit Electronic Music Festival (2000–2002), Movement (2003–2004) and Fuse-In (2005). The four different festival names reflect completely separate and distinct producers, brands and directions. All of these festivals presented performances by musicians and DJs that emphasized the progressive qualities of the culture surrounding electronic music including the celebration of Detroit being the birthplace of the popular electronic music subgenre Techno.
Broken beat is an electronic dance music genre characterized by syncopated beats and tense rhythms, including staggered or punctuated snare beats and/or hand claps. It has been heavily influenced by styles such as jazz-funk and R&B. Artists in this area typically emerged from the drum and bass, house, hip hop, techno or acid jazz scenes.
Derrick May, also known as Mayday and Rhythim Is Rhythim, is an American electronic musician from Belleville, Michigan, United States. May is credited with pioneering techno music in the 1980s along with collaborators Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, commonly known as The Belleville Three.
Carl Craig is an American electronic music producer, DJ, and founder of the record label Planet E Communications. He is known as a leading figure and pioneer in the second wave of Detroit techno artists during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He has recorded under his given name in addition to a variety of aliases, including Psyche, BFC, and Innerzone Orchestra.
Kevin Maurice Saunderson is an American electronic dance music DJ and record producer. He is famous for being a member of a trio, along with Juan Atkins and Derrick May, who came to be known as the Belleville Three, who are often credited to being among the pioneers and originators of techno: in particular this act helped define Detroit techno, the earliest style of this music genre. Born in New York, at the age of nine he moved to Belleville, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, where at Belleville High School he befriended the other members of the trio.
Eat Static is an electronic music project from Frome, Somerset, England formed in 1989 by Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton. Hinton left the group in February 2008 after 18 years to spend more time with his family.
Kenny Dixon Jr., better known by his stage name Moodymann, is an American musician based in Detroit, Michigan. He released his 1997 debut album Silentintroduction on the label Planet E Communications. He is the owner of the record labels Mahogani Music and KDJ Records. He is also a member of the group 3 Chairs.
Rodney Whitaker is an American jazz double bass player and educator.
The Belleville Three are three American musicians, Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson, who are credited with inventing the Detroit techno genre in Belleville, Michigan.
Craig Leon is an American-born record producer, composer and arranger currently living in England. Leon was instrumental in launching the careers of many recording artists including the Ramones, Suicide, Talking Heads and Blondie.
Urban Tribe is the alias used by Sherard Ingram, an electronic musician from Detroit.
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (BPM). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often characterized by a repetitive four on the floor beat. Artists may use electronic instruments such as drum machines, sequencers, and synthesizers, as well as digital audio workstations. Drum machines from the 1980s such as Roland's TR-808 and TR-909 are highly prized, and software emulations of such retro instruments are popular.
Programmed is a 1999 studio album by Innerzone Orchestra, which consists of Carl Craig and assorted musicians. It peaked at number 38 on the UK R&B Albums Chart.
Eastlawn Records is an American independent blues and jazz record label, based in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Co-founded in 1990 by RJ Spangler and Frank Traum, major artists include Alberta Adams, Planet D Nonet, RJ.Spangler's Blue Four, and Gino Parks.
Aaron-Carl Ragland, better known simply as Aaron-Carl, was an American electronic dance musician.
Matthew "Recloose" Chicoine is an American electronic music producer, DJ and musician hailing from Detroit, Michigan, US. He is known for numerous releases on independent dance labels like Planet E, Rush Hour, Peacefrog, Studio !K7, Sonar Kollektiv and Delusions of Grandeur. Chicoine is also a touring DJ who has played in and around Europe, the UK, the United States, Japan, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.
Abdul Qadim Haqq, also known as Haqq and The Ancient, is an American visual artist who was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan.
Esteban Adame is an East Los Angeles DJ who emerged from the Chicano/Latino rave or party scene in the 1990s. He started DJing at the age of 15. In 2004, he was asked by "Mad" Mike Banks of Underground Resistance to join the music collective in Detroit, Michigan. Banks reportedly was interested when he "found out Chicanos from Southern California were interested in UR records, sensing a common ground between Los Angeles's Latino enclaves and the Black neighborhoods of Detroit." Adame would go on to play piano for the label's electronic jazz band Galaxy 2 Galaxy.