Cravo releases his solo EP Carícia 002: a good hybrid exercise piece of tracks and much needed for nowadays techno music.
Available on 12’’ and Digital through all platforms.
There’s something tender and restless about Carícia 002. Cravo’s new solo EP feels like a conversation between tempos. Techno shakes hands with house, jazz, and dub, not to escape itself, but to rediscover its potential.
Released on 12’’ and digital formats, this second release of Carícia extends the imprint’s vision, founded by Vil and Cravo, as a platform for sound without many boundaries, one where rhythm and soul is a language, not a rule.
Cravo brings a warmth to techno that’s been missing in much of today’s music, drawing from the touch of jazz and the spirit of house with its soulful bounce.
Just as Saint Germain once brought new audiences to house through jazz, Cravo now does the same but in a different direction, drawing listeners from techno toward jazz and house. It’s a shift that widens the conversation, connecting different crowds through shared rhythm and emotion.
Carícia 002 blurs histories, yet this time, the story unfolds from within the techno current itself—a rare and refreshing flux of groove and experimentation.
Pedro Cravo, born in Lisbon, studied Audiovisuals at ESAD (Portugal) and began his first musical experiments around 2007. He has a background in reggae and dub, which can be felt in some of his tracks, such as Futuredetroit from the first Carícia EP (CRC001). However, it was around 2010 that he shifted toward techno and began developing the side of his sound we know best today.
Carícia, a label created by him together with Vil, was founded to offer something different from what they are usually known for. It’s a fact that the two formed a powerful duo after releasing together on Klockworks, Be As One Imprint, Self Reflektion, and then now through their own label.
Carícia represents a refreshing space for them to explore where they can go and what they can create. Projects like this are always exciting to witness, as they push new boundaries and open new artistic visions. They expand the spectrum of their work, offering new layers of their artistry to the audience.
Dirty Epic Interview with Cravo
Dirty Epic: Your connection to jazz, house and RnB feels very natural in this record. Do you see it as a way of expanding your own language, one that, by doing so, might also expand how audiences perceive techno?
Cravo: Yes, absolutely.
I see in jazz a kind of musical freedom that I really connect with and I find a lot of links between that and techno.
Both (Jazz & Techno) share this sense of improvisation, repetition and sonic exploration.
I’m not doing it with the intention of changing how people perceive techno, it just feels natural to me and happens that way when I produce
Dirty Epic: You’re a son of dance music and now an active creative force contributing to it. St. Germain is certainly a strong reference for you, but growing up with artists and bands like Thievery Corporation, Jazzanova, Daft Punk, Kruder & Dorfmeister, or Zero 7 and you named more artists; how does it feel to have developed this EP now standing more in line with those influences after years of making techno music?
Cravo: It feels really natural, to be honest. Yes, those artists and many others, were a big part of my musical background, so this EP was a way to reconnect with that side of myself. Even though I come from techno, those influences have always been there, I just felt that now was the right time to let them come out.
Dirty Epic: It always feels inspiring to see icons bringing their worlds closer to ours. You’ve built a wide musical world around techno. Looking forward, what excites you most about where your sound can go? And, as a thought, would you love to release on Blue Note or Motown one day?
Cravo: I’m still figuring out where my music is heading, and that’s actually what excites me the most, the unknown. Lately, I’ve been feeling the need to move away from the darker side of techno a bit and explore more musical, uplifting sounds, something that brings light and energy, both to me and to the dance floor. Releasing music on a label like Blue Note or Motown would be a dream come true, definitely a big milestone in my career.
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