Planet E US At Juno Download

Review: It's always difficult to strike a balance when remixing a pioneer like Carl Craig. Change the original material to make it sound radically different and you get accused of messing with their genius; make only subtle alterations and you get criticised for taking the money in exchange for little effort. Thankfully, these versions of Craig's 69 project manage the difficult feat of making the original sound good without stealing its magic. Prolific Dutch artist Rod turns "Poi et Pas" into a pumping, hissing percussion stomper, its intense chords building and dropping continuously. There is also an 'unreleased' version, which trawls through broken beats and emotive electronic riffs to create an abstract yet emotive track.

Review: Some of Carl Craig's most rewarding output has focused on introspection - check Landcruising if you're in any doubt - and he explores this terrain on Just Another Day to devastating effect. "Darkness" is a brooding wash of synths and chords, which rise and ebb spectacularly, while "Sandstorms" and the attendant C2 remix explore the string-soaked builds of his contemporary techno approach, only without the pounding beats. The real highlight however is "Twilight"; starting off as a jazz-tinged ambient composition it flirts with the kind of widescreen emotive melodies Derrick May pioneered on "Icon". Highly recommended.

Review: Carl Craig slips into a new guise, Carls Davis, to deliver a release that's radically different to his big-room sound. Delivered in six instalments, "Sketches" harks back to the era of Landcruising and beyond. The first track in the series sees broken drums and eerie synths lead into a dramatic build, while the second one sees Craig revisit Detroit's electro past to the sound of shuffling 808s and surging, acid-flecked basslines. Craig goes off on a further tangent on "Part 3", where wild guitar solos unravel over a menacing 303, while "Part 5" is inspired by Chicago, deploying kettle drums over a menacing ghetto rhythm.

Review: Reprising the Latin joys of Dutch legend Daniel Kneppers' debut on Planet E, Orlando Voorn takes "The Kick Off" into new territory on this second, and frankly delicious, bite of the cherry. Framing the original's Cuban-sounding pianos and swirling synth textures around a new, more filled-out beat, Voorn adds a devilishly abstinent and driving two-note bassline that acts as an exciting counterpoint to the Latin motifs, and makes for a predictably brilliant remix from the Dutch-born Detroit master.

Review: It sounds like Kneppers has immersed himself in the sound of 90s UK techno as much as the Detroit sound. Indeed, the title track takes its inspiration from the frenetic jazz techno of Dave Angel and Vince Watson's more upbeat arrangements on Bio as a rolling rhythm breaks into a dramatic, surging chord sequence and epic strings soar all the way to infinity and beyond. However, Kneppers is also tuned into the Planet E back catalogue and "You FO" takes the shimmering chords of late 90s era Carl Craig and fuses them with the broken beats of Recloose and the pulsing, acidic bass of Common Factor to create something familiar yet strangely unique.