FACT can exclusively reveal that Planet E will release a vinyl box set later this year compiling Carl Craig’s classic 12"s made under the name 69; a new album from Wendell Harrison’s Tribe, produced in collaboration with Craig, will follow.

Talking to the Detroit demi-god a few hours before his DJ set at the Mutek festival in Montreal on Saturday, the subject of re-issue culture came about.

"We have the Planet E Classics series," Craig said, ‘So I evidently have no problem with re-issues. I understand the importance of keeping things available.

"But I also understand the value of letting things go out of print for a while. If you let something go out of print for 10 years, there’s obviously going to be more interest when you do decide to bring it back.

"This year we’ll be releasing a box set of the 69 releases."

69 (pronounced "six nine") is a moniker which Craig first adopted back in 1991, with the release of the TG-cognizant 4 Jazz Funk Classics on his own Planet E imprint. It’s label featured the legend "Approved by 66 for Interplanetary Disco Dancing & Accenting Passionate Quadraphonic Sex Sounds. Techno for masses. Tested At Selected Space Labs" while the run-out grooves read ‘No hype, But Reality! Made In Detroit’ and ‘IN MEMORY OF MILES DAVIS – YOUR MUSIC GAVE US ALL HOPE OF DOING HOT MUSIC’ on A and B respectively. Including the tracks ‘Ladies & Gentlemen’ and ‘My Machines’, it was an instant classic.

The Sound On Sound 12" followed in 1993, its title track a masterpiece of beatless, arpeggiated menace – a brooding ancestor of Craig’s more recently celebrated ‘Relevee’ remix. If there’s a definitive 69 12", though, it’s 1994’s Lite Music – it features the breathtaking ‘Desire’, often cited as the greatest techno record ever made, all scuffed breakbeats and melancholic, post-Blade Runner synths. The full-on ghetto-house of ‘Jam The Box’ provides the perfect counterpoint.

Belgium’s R&S Records relicensed ‘Jam The Box’ and its subsequent success led to the release of The Sound of Music, a compilation of tracks from the 12"s which up til now has remained the best one-stop introduction to the 69 oeuvre. In 2006 Craig brought 69 back to life with the Pungtang 12", pairing two new productions with a previously unreleased mix of ‘Sub Seducer’ and a well-deserved second outing for ‘Desire’.

The 69 box set, due out in later summer, will collect the four Planet E 12"s: Pungtang, Sound On Sound, 4 Jazz Funk Classics and Lite Music.

Craig also confirmed that his long-awaited new Tribe album with Detroit clarinet/sax player Wendell Harrison is nearing completion. "Recording the instrumental parts we’ve done. Putting myself into the record as a producer, putting my touch on it a sound designer and producer has taken more time and thought than I first expected.

"Hopefully the finished thing will combine the best of his Tribe legacy with my own in electronic music."

FACT can also exclusively reveal that Carl Craig likes our new shoes. Look out for the full interview, coming soon.