CDR: For the people, by the people

‘The night of ideas and tracks in the making mixed from recordable CDs and other digital media’ – is one way to describe CDR, as written on their flyer. CDR is one of the longest running parties held at Plastic People in London’s Shoreditch. Plastic People is known as one of the finest soundsystems in town, and CDR one of its most open and interesting parties. Quite how it’s taken me 6 years to actually go there and witness it for myself I’m not sure, but boy am I glad to have finally got round to it.

I went to CDR last Thursday, on the first night of the bank holiday weekend for what was a special-ish instalment, which saw the party last until 3/4am with the likes of Marc Mac of 4hero doing a guest set among others. Before that though was the part of the night which CDR has become famous for, a concept that’s simple and brilliantly executed: people bring their tracks on a CDR and give them to the DJs before 10.30pm for the chance to have them heard on the Plastic People system, which as I’ve mentioned is one of London’s best, and a true test for any production.

The result is a night where you’re not quite sure what to expect next, a night that gives a real meaning to the concept of ‘open music policy’ and most importantly a night that challenges the overbearing feeling you can get from the more standard approach to club nights which is to feature one, or two, styles of music across a venue. I went there not sure exactly what to expect but with a good idea, a bunch of regulars in tow and high hopes that it was going to be worth it. Leaving the spot about 5 hours or so later I felt truly blessed in a way, on both a musical and social high.

One of the things that struck me the most during the night was the sense of community and the vibe in the venue as Tony Nwachukwu played tracks off CDRs for the best part of 3 hours. Plastic People is one of the most intimate venues you can get, with the small dancefloor normally separated from the bar area by a curtain and plunged in darkness and on Thursday it took on a slightly different vibe with the curtain pulled back linking the dancefloor and bar area and no door charge – it was still intimate but also more open, embracing the idea that people were there to hear each other’s music, to dance, to talk and to just soak it all in.

The night’s open music policy is all the more rewarding on a system like Plastic People’s, something I’d already discovered a few years ago when The Bug and Loefah used to run their ‘Bash’ night there on a Thursday. With CDR the musical scope seemed even more open in a sense, as you just don’t know what’s coming next, and the crowd seemingly reacts to that with people dancing alongside those talking and others just taking it in. On Thursday the music went from 4×4 and house flavours to hip hop, jazzy numbers and deeper, dubbier vibes. Knowing the people who made the music you’re listening to are also somewhere in the audience gives the whole thing an even more intimate and pleasant vibe.

Standing around the floor at various times of the night listening to my friend’s tracks, it really hit me just how powerful in its simplicity the concept of the night was. To have the chance to hear your music on a system such as this is great, and to make a successful, enjoyable night out of the concept is a real tour de force in a way because it would be easy to miss the mark and end up with something that’s quite inward looking and leaves out the general public in favour of producers and music makers chin-stroking their way through hours of their own productions.

I kept thinking back to the importance of Plastic People as the formative venue for the dubstep scene in the early 00s, a time when FWD>> was mainly populated by producers, DJs and their friends who would come to hear the latest productions on the system because of its quality. A lot of the people who during those years had their music played there have gone on to become household names today thanks to the rise in interest and popularity of the scene and music, and that’s another thing I kept thinking about the day after – just how CDR felt like it was on the tip of something, on the verge of ‘blowing up’ for lack of a better term, of really grabbing attention in similar ways that other London scenes and communities have in the past.

I was talking to Mr Beatnick at one point and we touched on the subject of how some people within certain scenes end up attracting more attention than others, something which is just a by-product of the whole process, it can’t be helped or blamed, it just happens. And I got to wonder the next day whether or not CDR could be one of those musical communities/scenes that blows up, especially considering its links to various parts of the new hip hop underground which has seen a fair amount of attention in the last year. At the same time, having been around for 6 years it feels like CDR might be one of those communities that just continues to bubble underground, beneath the surface, attracting attention and praise but never enough to truly explode. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as their position feels like an integral part of their success and of the quality of the night.

Before we came I was chatting to Ian from Various Production and he mentioned how some journalists make the mistake of applying mainstream filters to underground music in reference to some reviews of Various’ recent project with poet Gerry Mitchell. Writing some notes down the next day the discussion came back to me and how appropriate his quote was in a way to what I perceive to be CDR’s ethos in a sense. It feels like it could blow up yes, and yet it’s a night that really feels like it is by the people for the people, an underground thing that can’t have a mainstream filter applied to it because that would miss a big part of what makes CDR what it is.

Once the last of the CDRs was played the night continued with DJs dropping everything from classic 90s hip hop to jungle, afro jazz, Latin numbers and even some very dubby sounding house. Hearing ‘Westchester Lady’ followed by Adam F’s ‘Circles’ was probably the highlight of the night for me – as soon as the first drop hit the crowd went nuts, the tune got pulled and I got to listen to this classic in its entirety on the Plastic system for the first time, making me realise just how deep and timeless it felt.

Ultimately CDR proved that good music and good people is a fool proof recipe when it comes to building a community around musical interests. Maybe it’s ‘grown up’ in a way, but really it’s just a London thing more than anything else – a London thing which like so many others brings together the best of many places, people and cultures united under one roof and in front of one sound system. They just got themselves another regular.

Thanks and shouts to Beatnick, 2tall, Ian Various, Keir, Dean and everyone else that I met down there.

Below is a track taken from the Soundspecies debut album out this month on Burntprogress, the CDR label. Titled ‘CDR People’ it’s Soundspecies’ ode of sorts to the night and its importance in their own musical journey. Underneath that is a video edit of CDR’s late@tate session earlier in March this year which saw Dorian Concept and Soundspecies play in a very different space than they’re normally used to.

For more on CDR check the PP website and more importantly go there!

Soundspecies ft. Foreign Beggars – CDR People