Available on Audio Cassette and digital download directly from the label’s Bandcamp: https://cclurl.bandcamp.com/album/a-night-in-the-skull-discotheque

Side A: Bass is Eternal
Side B: 2-step Mutual Dream

A Night in the Skull Discotheque by the beloved underground selector CCL is the latest offering in the T4T LUV NRG label’s highly limited DJ mix series of cassettes. This immersive journey through a wonderland of proto-dubstep sounds from the late 1970s through the year 2000 is a sonic sibling to CCL’s acclaimed 2018 mix Ode to Queer Steppas.

Inspired in part by Eris Drew’s use of “old records to create new styles out of fragments” on her Raving Disco Breaks Vol. 1 mixtape (T4T LUV NRG, 2019), CCL approached this recording with a parallel frame of mind. Created with 3 CDJs, one Turntable, and a Boss Digital Delay 200, the tracks included in the mix are deconstructed from their whole, and constituent parts are intertwined, sampled, and dubbed out while being further stretched beyond their physical limits. CCL mixed many tracks at the 'wrong speed', pitched beyond their original recognizable tone; others are recontextualized through imaginative layering.

With a solid nod to seminal mixtapes of the early 90s, CCL references the namesake for Side A, Bass Is Eternal, an unreleased 1992 mixtape by influential Bristolian producers Smith & Mighty, an important sonic fulcrum amongst the musical tributaries of the hardcore continuum that continues to reverberate to this day. CCL experienced the after-effects of this ‘proto’ sound genesis in 2008, while living in Bristol, by which point its emergent whispers had coalesced into what became known as dubstep. Tracing a rich history of reference through the samples, basslines, moods, and drum patterns emanating from Bass Is Eternal while looking for connections that predate it became a long-term fascination for CCL. The result is a DJ mix that connects the oft-forgotten dots between proto eras and modern developments in bass and dubstep.

For the resulting sonic ride on A Night in the Skull Discotheque, CCL leads us to a fantastical place of timeless surreality – a majestic haunted dancehall soundtracked by a giddy rush of steppers and dubbed-out delights. Subs rattle through syncopated percs, and moody synths glisten in macabre glory. Fantastical dancers wriggle in wispy eternity, liberated from their corporeal forms in all their greatest spiritual wonder. Both extravagant and dusky, A Night in the Skull Discotheque is a world of seductive in-betweens, a place caught between the moodiest depths and the highest exuberance – A love letter to one of the most impactful formative sounds of the last decades.


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A portion for the proceeds from this release will go to fundraiser "SUPPORT PALESTINIAN SOLIDARITY IN EUROPE!". You can also directly donate via:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-palestinian-solidarity-in-europe
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Tape design: Nina Muro
Mastering: TJ Hertz
Additional tape mastering: Eris Drew
Photography: CCL 
Linear notes: Nevan Jio

A Night in the Skull Discotheque [T4T015]

CCL - A Night in the Skull Discotheque

Rinse FM Podcast

Dance Regular with Streeton & EVM128 - 21 March 2024

My latest Swing Dash radio session featuring brand new music from Creature & Machine and a preview of my set at the Blue Soup launch party, Friday 17 May at The Carousel, Nottingham.

Future Jazz Orchestra & XL Regular – Astral Sorcery / AMMA Records
Boxcutter – Kab 27 / Planet Mu
Neon Phusion – The Future Ain’t The Same / Laws of Motion
Domu – Ya Nah Gonna Get It / Neroli
Likwid Continual Space Motion – Givin’ Up (feat. Alyssha Joy) / Super-Sonic Jazz
Moyege (Mark’s Disco Dub) – Tony Allen & Mark Ernestus / Honest Jon’s
Nubiyan Twist – Carry Me (feat. Seun Kuti) / Strut
Ezra Collective – Ajala / Partisan
Tony Allen & Jimi Tenor – Darker Side of Night / Strut
Dego – Da Fuzz (feat. Matt “Lordamercy” Lord) / 2000Black
Creature & Machine – 1, 2, 3 / Bandcamp
Creature & Machine – Hallucinations (feat. Ssaule) / Bandcamp
Maddslinky – Spilt Milk / Askew Recordings

Live mix:
Ben Hauke – HEYYYYY / Touching Bass
Bruk Rogers – Jelly Head (feat. Wipe The Needle) / Tru Thoughts
Carry Me (Streeton Dub) – Streeton / Bandcamp
Seiji – Loose Lips (feat. Lyric L) / Bitasweet
Likwid Biscuit – Inner War / People
Sjazna – Minerals / Co-Operation Records
EVM128 – Slo Mo (VIP Mix) / Studio Rockers
Cousin Cockroach – This Ain’t Tom ‘n’ Jerry / Bitasweet
Mitch von Arx – We Drop (Bruk Version) (feat. Oliver Night) / CoOp Presents
Opaque – Sonic / Archive
Vikter Duplaix – Looking For Love (Bugz In The Attic remix) / Hollywood Records
4hero – Hold It Down (Bugz In the Attic remix) / Talkin’ Loud
New Sector Movements – Bless (Trev remix) / CoOp Presents
The P6000 Invasion – Laroye / Faces
Peter Kruder – Root Down / Compost
Joakim – Melting Blue Ice (Seiji Remix) / Future Talk
Cyclonix – Who In Charge? / Bandcamp
Zero DB – Bongos, Bleeps & Basslines / Fluid Ounce
Likwid Continual Space Motion – Soul In Yo Mind / Super-Sonic Jazz

Swing Dash Radio - Blue Soup show - 06.05.24

Blue Soup launch party: 17 May at The Carousel, Nottingham. Bringing you eclectic selections of soulful broken beats, fast-footed jazz, funky horns and spaced-out dub flavours. Ticket link below.

Swing Dash Radio - Blue Soup show - 06.05.24

Blue Soup

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