The idea of CDr is that if a musician or producer has a ‘work in progress’ they get to hear it played on the best sound systems in London and see the reaction of the crowd. This is such a good idea in today’s digital age and multitude remixes, do we ever know when a track is really finished or met its full potential?

CDr was set up by Tony Nwachukwu (Attica Blues) and Gavin Alexander three years ago and it currently runs as a monthly gig at Plastic People. Not only is it free to get in but it has now got two nominations for the Best Club Night category in the annual Worldwide Awards.

Gilles Peterson has already played a couple of tracks off the CD and our soul-boy favourite, Aaron Jerome is a regular so don’t get the idea it’s just broken beat trendies. He also played Rex Spence’s electro track on his show and Marshmallow Blackbird’s, ‘Wash Ya Butt’. He’s clearly impressed as she recently guested with him and Zinger at Soul Heavan at Canvas.

‘Wash Ya Butt’ is the most ‘obvious’ track of boogie, so fair enuff it should be the opener but Aaron Jerome! If ‘Blue Lotus’ doesn’t excite you, you’re on the wrong web site my friend. Spacey synths and manic percussion is what a blue lotus sounds like. Also check Aaron’s myspace site for some more great sounds including a remix of ‘Products’ by Sway. Time to update the Mr. Soul Blender feature I think.

Wah Syndicate (aka Phil Craig, Elroy “Spoonface” Powell and Michael “Kaspa” Gosling) bang out an off-beat ragga broken soul jazzer, which probably best encompasses the ‘give it a go’ spirit of CDr.

‘I’ll Be Your Everything’ is apparently still at ‘Demo Mix’ stage. Dobie says he wanted to avoid clichés and allow, “the vocals to run unhindered.” It’s a grower with a huge vocal performance by Holly Palmer who happens to be touring with Gnarls Barkeley in June.

The variety keeps coming with some leftfield experimentation on ‘Sand Hill’ and ‘Punchdrunk’. If you’re not sure about ‘Nice ‘n’ Slow’, listen to ‘Misty Dawn’ first as a warm up so to speak.

‘Well’ and ‘Mr. Virtigo’ keep us in the groove and are equal to any of the current spate of great IDM house albums along with ‘Only You’ and ‘Brazilya’ (also on myspace, see links below). Phoenix Black provides a touch of hip-hop anti-bling with her track (also a version on her myspace site).

The Naciente Quartet’s track ‘Lo Siento No Entiendo’ stands out as it sounds like a proper ‘live’ band. Not only that, one that’s in touch with some Latin rock influences; as is Mr. Fentum by the sound of things (albeit a disco version).

This must be just the first CD of many more to come. If you want to get in on this, get down to Plastic People (see links below) and submit your own productions. You never know, your ‘work in progress’ could be on the next CD!

Hectic Mix nomination: Has to be Aaron Jerome - ‘Blue Lotus’ + ‘Mr Virtigo’ (love those strings).

Reviewed:
Various - Burntprogress 1.1 (Burntprogress) Cat. No. BURNTCD001P Release date: May 2006
Credits: Compiled By - Tony Nwachukwu

Tracklisting:
1 Marshmello Blackbard - Wash Ya Butt! (4:35)
2 Wah Syndicate - Madness Gwarnin (6:06)
3 Rex Spence - The Republic (4:58)
4 Spooge - Well (4:57)
5 Dobie - I’ll Be Your Everything (Demo Mix) (7:23) Vocals - Holly Palmer
6 Daisuke Tanabe - Sand Hill (3:45)
7 A.E.B. - Only You (5:26) Vocals - Kate Dwyer
8 Paul Freeth - Punchdrunk (5:08)
9 Drea Parks - Nice ‘N’ Slow (5:49)
10 Phoenix Black - Bling Bling (5:56)
11 Soundspecies - Brazilya (3:39)
12 The Naciente Quartet - Lo Siento No Entiendo (5:04)
13 Michael Fentum - Crawling (4:24)
14 Aaron Jerome - Blue Lotus (6:00)
15 Richard Brown - Mr Vertigo (6:11)

Links:
Currently available at Sounds Of The Universe at the bargain price £6.99
www.burntprogress.com Plastic People, 147-149 Curtain Road, EC2, 9pm - 2am, Free Entry
www.myspace.com/aaronjerome
www.myspace.com/hollypalmer
www.myspace.com/dreaparks
www.myspace.com/phoenixblack2001
www.myspace.com/soundspeciesUK
www.freeness.co.uk Prior to Burntprogress, there was the Freeness project which CDr co-sponsored with artist Chris Ofili and Charlie Dark (Blacktronica/Attica Blues).
www.blacktronica.com
Gilles Peterson - Tracklisting Sunday 5 March 2006 : Robert Mitchell’s Panacea in Session
Marshmallow Blackbird - ‘Wash Ya Butt’ (Burnt Progress)
Digital Mystiks - ‘The Goat Scare’ (White)
Rex Spence - ‘The Republic’ (Burnt Progress)
Daisuke Tanabe - ‘Sand Hill’ (Burnt Progress)
Gillies Peterson www.myspace.com/gillespeterson ‘Worst Door Staff Ever’ blog.