Carl Craig

A modern master of electronic music, Carl Craig is revered for bringing sensuous warmth to techno’s industrial noise and electro attack. His music can be as lovely and inviting as a soulful house anthem. But he’s capable of banging out hard funk, too, and that element is missing in Sessions. Ostensibly a collection of Craig’s remixes for others, Sessions stacks two CDs’ worth of tracks, including his loopy, Grammy-nominated reworking of Junior Boys’ “Like a Child.” The first disc has its highlights, including the ominous Afro-beat thump of Rhythm & Sound’s “Poor People Must Work.” But it’s abstract to a fault, and one track seems to blend into the next with nothing to distinguish them. The second disc is slightly better, thanks to cuts Craig produced under the alias Tres Demented, such as “Demented (Or Just Crazy)” and a throbbing remix of Xpress 2’s “Kill 100.” Its dynamic rhythms leave a more indelible impression. 3 stars