Carl Craig follows up Dia Beacon installation with ‘Party/After-Party’ LP

In 2020, Detroit techno legend Carl Craig was commissioned by the Dia Art Foundation to create a sound installation within the Dia Beacon museum in New York. The installation, Party/After-Party (2020), was the culmination of a five year engagement with the institution.

“Carl Craig’s Party/After-Party at Dia Beacon was truly revelatory for all who experienced it,” commented Dia’s Jessica Morgan. “Deftly marrying the tenets of minimal art and techno, Craig transformed the lower level into a soundscape that inspired both melancholy and euphoria.”

Now, the installation lives on through the release of two vinyl LPs. The album, Party/After-Party, includes four tracks of studio versions of the artist’s commission and live recordings from Dia Beacon that highlight the acoustics of the exhibition space. The LP will be released on 13 September.

It also features extensive liner notes (pictured below), featuring an introduction to the project by exhibition curator Kelly Kivland, a note on the work’s technical components and its unrepeatability by Randy Gibson, a consideration of the work in light of Black musical traditions and Detroit by DeForrest Brown Jr., and a reflection on the commission by Peter L’Official.

“I am so pleased that this work can now also be experienced by the public at home,” Morgan added.

The release is supported by Italian couture house Bottega Veneta and distributed by Carl’s Planet E Communications, which marks thirty years of releases this year.

Read More: 909rewind Vol. 13… Carl Craig

It’s not the only recent project undertaken by Craig – in early 2022, the Carl Craig Synthesizer Ensemble partnered with Carnegie Hall’s citywide Afrofuturism Festival, which saw the producer team up with musicologists director Kelvin Sholar, Underground Resistance’s Jon Dixon, jazz wizard Ian Finkelstein, Dr. Nikki Mooney and Darrius Quince.

Elsewhere, for the 59th Venice Biennale, Craig performed a special set in the cavernous naval complex Tese 98, in celebration of artist Stan Douglas’ participation in the Canada Pavilion.

More information on the launch can be found here. Main photo by Bill Jacobson Studio.