CCL - uNLEASH tHE bEAST

RAH · March 22, 2006

Artist: CCL

Album: Unleash the Beast

Label: Doof Records

Web: http://www.doofrecords.net

CAT: DOOFCD21

Sonic-Energy: http://www.sonic-energy.net/core/content/view/188/2/

01. Intro

02. Banani [143 BPM]

03. Massive [143]

04. LF-Ants [144]

05. Geiger [145]

06. Oob Oob [144]

07. Tie Ripped [145]

08. Scratch [144]

09. Utb Remix [146]

10. ID Slayer [146]

What's this about?

Paul Elfferich (Zebra-N), and Troy Leidich (REV) previously known as Fungus of Light, make up the CCL ensemble. Troy released his latest solo album Inverted last year, featuring hard beats with a funky edge and very mix-friendly material. In REV's album, Could Care Less (CCL) presented the original version of “Unleash the Beast”, which I didn’t agree entirely with. I enjoy their music on an individual basis and I had very shallow knowledge of what CCL was doing, having heard a couple of tracks. Let’s unleash the beast then… that judging from the cover is apparently a flea.

01. Intro *

This is actually pretty decent starter, with ominous vibes and menacing dub beats. Even more disconcerting is the overwhelming jungle vibe, coupled with a voice moaning something or some other, before the static eats it all away.

02. Banani

I’m living in a place that has a small region called Banani. Want to take a wild guess at what kind of fruit they export? At pain of death, for creating yet another meaningless trance cliché Jungle Trance makes an appearance. Just listen to the drums, the trumpet at the beginning and the scathing lines topped with curiously ridiculous samples. At this point the vivid imagery is taken to the point of hearing digital crickets making their damned ruckus, with an interesting pace shift by mid-track.

03. Massive *

The stampede of beats arrives unannounced, introducing organic tambourines echoing like a hammock in the wind. It doesn’t amount to much until the second part, when the main lead starts crunge-ing away. And it’s pretty sweet. It pains me to say so, but it does seem massive for their own particular style.

04. LF-Ants *

If you have ever heard what an ant sounds like -in the discovery channel or something- you can probably pick up the tingling, beady sample skipping along. It’s how they communicate with each other. We go into deep hypnotism before the soundstage evolves in the aftermath of a car crash, most probably somewhere in Mexico (if the voices are any indication of anything). Funny and weird enough, it picks up from introspection a little abruptly with good results nevertheless.

05. Geiger *

A tabla of sorts picks things up with a sample bringing that naive 1950 quality to it. The kid counting in the background or god knows what, adds a little spice to the tribal fusion in the mix. The digital mish mash unfolds atop with the with the usual sounds. Speed-infused, progressive tribal, a-la CCL.

06. Oob Oob *

Another solid beat with a great combo of bass lines gets underway with an evil, delicious laugh. Coincidentally it reminds me a lot of the work Naked Tourist did in the remix of “Three Lines in a Row” for Peak records, which is not easily forgotten. My guess is the might go well together. The final sample got me smiling. Nothing that stands up much, but solid stuff for the floor nevertheless.

07. Tie Ripped *

“It probably really hit me when I got inside crowd, and looked around and began to understand how the craft was operated and finally grasp the whole project –as a whole- as what we were doing. The fact that we weren’t building this thing, we’re trying to find out how it was made, we were back engineering it. When I first got to look inside craft, all I can say is an ominous feeling, you walk in there and… it feels as if you shouldn’t be there. I know it sounds kind of funny, but it is a real ominous feeling, it’s an exiting feeling. Ah, it brings a whole lot of question in the mind. I only witnessed one test flight up close, with virtually no eclipse and a small corona of discharge in the bottom of the craft, indicating the presence of high voltage…” As you can imagine this a beam-me-up-Scotty kind of track, exuding the usual artillery of effects. The real gem for me is the tweaked voice sample by the beginning and the end, like an alien voice rhyming… seriously sweetening the deal. I would have liked to hear that voice more often on this chapter. Or at least a replay by the end to spice transitions.

08. Scratch *

At this point we find ourselves inside the craft while the alien machinery blips and blops, the communication devices are steadily transmitting sonic information, clearly incomprehensible for our feeble little brains. That doesn’t stop it form being really trippy. There is one machine that is defective though and it keeps making this scratchy sound underneath the higher ranges. Trippy stuff for sure…

09. Unleash the Beast (Remix)

After scanning the original track again, the differences are pretty undeniable. CCL stripped and scrapped the original effort and apparently started from zero again. The under tones are the first thing you notice, as they are steep and relentless. Included in the mix: a voice blip of some dude -that could well be the deceaced singer from INXS- doing his thing for a bit. There is a climax this time they seemed to be missing in the original one which adds a bit more rush. Overall, the new beast has also shed new light on the original version, I have come to appreciate under a different light altogether. And even though admittedly I’m not crazy about either one, they are kind of cool… especially this one.

10. ID Slayer

This is a little more tribal than expected but equally steep and fast. In the same vein as the previous tunes, with a great groove to be complemented, but rather uninspiring on it’s own. Yes it is filled to the top with all sorts of sonic attacks coming from every angle, but I do miss when they sneak some sort of strong melodic line, since they know how to build a groove so well. I guess the point was to close the thing and it does just that.

All and all

There is that subtle evolution in the work that makes me think of a hard assed progressive number in most of their tracks -and even though it’s in not going past 146- it feels a lot faster, with alien lines and the repertoire of effects and distortions. I liked most of the tunes, I think they have a future in the dance floor. As one cohesive ride though, the experience might be too smooth to bring out the subtle differences in each track. As a live act it might be a different story altogether, especially if they can conjure that little extra to shine on the performance. Word to the wise, it all seems to fit in more strongly with a cloudy head. The beats in general have that REV gusto, turning into backbone material at one point or another for my kind of pace. The cover is tripped out too, and in my view it reinforces that jungle vibe even more…

Where to get

http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=5599

http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/doo/doo1cd021.html

http://www.beatspace.com/dettagli/dettaglio.asp?id=2671

DeathPosture · May 4, 2006

ccL – uNLEASH tHE bEAST

Posted Image

Hi-res cover: front + back

Artist: ccL (The Netherlands)

Title: uNLEASH tHE bEAST

Format: CD (digipack)

Label: Doof Records (Israel)

Cat. #: DOOFCD21

Distribution: Arabesque

Date: March 2006

Track listing:

01. 01’55” Intro

02. 07’47” Banani

03. 07’17” Massive

04. 07’59” LF-Ants

05. 07’57” Geiger

06. 07’05” Oob Oob

07. 08’04” Tie Ripped

08. 07’38” Scratch

09. 06’43” Utb Remix

10. 07’05” ID Slayer

.m3u-playlist: http://tinyurl.com/zjt53 (all tracks!)

Review:

aNTS iN tHE pANTS…

From Israel’s most nocturnal label, Doof Records, comes the debut album from ccL. This duo consists of the flying Dutchmen Paul Elfferich (Zebra-N) and Troy Leidich (Fungus Of Light/Rev/Rev Particle). I haven’t heard much of Leidich’s stuff, but I’ve heard a bunch of Elfferich’s compilation tracks and this guy has yet to let me down with his dark, twisted take on murky psytrance. I’ve often been impressed with his distinct, twisted work – and I’m hoping he’ll take some of that edge with him onto this album…

Let me take you thru the tracks…

#01: Intro

The intro is a gruelling, gruesome preview of what’s about to happen… It’s somewhat dubby and introvert, but it flies pretty well… And I would have liked it even more if it had been longer…

#02: Banani [143 BPM]

The first dancefloor track starts with the familiar sound of jungle drums – they are soon brutally shredded in half by a razor-sharp, relentless bassline from hell… It’s accompanied by some severely focussed acid-lines and some evil knievel synth experimentation… There are a couple of very dubious passages here, but generally I like how this track keeps evolving… There are more than a few surprises here – something that will work wonders on the dancefloor… Nice!

#03: Massive [143 BPM]

“It’s more than a piece of paper!” Massive is indeed massive! We’re still deep in ccL darkpsy, but this track is much more riddled in acid and electro than the previous one… The level of knob-adjustment and hardcore tweaking, sequencing and filtering going on here is simply impressive – and gives the track a very interesting punch… Massive reverbs! [Pun intended!] I’m totally rocking out to this one!

#04: LF-Ants [144 BPM]

And now it’s time for some psychedelic ants-in-the-pants… As the pace quickens, the acid level also goes up and this is one severely hard-hitting piece of dancefloor fodder… It’s not as versatile as the previous track and it does seem a little monotonous at times… What saves the track though, is the very interesting bassline that’s tied up to some outer worldly acid-kick-thingy… It’s hard to describe really… Not a bad track, but there are no jaw-dropping moments either…

#05: Geiger [145 BPM]

The next track is a little more full-on’ish… Don’t get me wrong, this is not full-on – it’s just a little more uplifting than its grim, pounding predecessor… The intro is bursting with condensed energy – and it’s just waiting to explode… When it finally does, it’s to a tribal-like rhythm section and a subtle bassline… Very refreshing and surprisingly trippy too! Reminds me of Penta with its oddball twists and turns… A very lovely tune!

#06: Oob Oob [144 BPM]

“Oooooh shit!” Just like Hyper Frequencies, Para Halu, Phi, Kluster and N3xu5 have done before them, ccL cleverly incorporates laughing samples into this crackpot track… This is druggy, acid-ridden, high-pitched party music… The ultra-high frequencies can get a little over the top at times and I think other acts master this distinct style of psytrance better than ccL… Also, the acid lines sound too retarded and they start to bug me eventually… It’s not a bad track at all – in fact there are several groovy moments, but as a whole I don’t really think it holds up…

#07: Tie Ripped [145 BPM]

“It probably really hit me when I got inside the crowd, and looked around and began to understand how the craft was operated and finally grasped the whole project as a whole as what we were doing. The fact that we weren’t building this thing, we’re trying to find out how it was made, we were back engineering it. When I first got to look inside the craft, all I can say is an ominous feeling, you walk in there and it feels as if you shouldn’t be there. I know it sounds kind of funny, but it is a real ominous feeling, it’s an exiting feeling. Ah, it brings a whole lot of question in the mind. I only witnessed one test flight up close, with virtually no eclipse and a small corona of discharge in the bottom of the craft, indicating the presence of high voltage!” We start with a lengthy UFO-sample – very reminiscent of the old days… But there is nothing old about the alien music that follows… The guys seem to have found the balance between dancefloor mayhem, raw nocturnal night time basslines and acid… This is the perfect hybrid of all those – resulting in a very trippy, danceable and groovy track… One of the best tunes of album!

#08: Scratch [144 BPM]

Following in the footsteps of the previous track, this is another venture in to sci-fi night trance – with a couple of surprises thrown in just to break the mould… The biggest surprise is the female vocals which I did *not* see coming… But they are a welcome – and experimentation like that is what grabs and retains focus… And some of that same experimentation would have worked wonder in the second half of the track which has a couple of stale moments… Still a tasty track though!

#09: Utb Remix [146 BPM]

My sources (Well, my buddy Guillermo) tells me that Utb is an acronym for Unleash The Beast – a track which was originally featured on Rev’s album Inverted (Doof/2005) – and now remixed for this album - and coincidentally being the title track… Now I haven’t heard the original, so I can’t really comment on it… What I can do, is sit back in awe and listen to this raging mad, piece of nocturnal horror trance… Galloping away at an incredible speed this is definitely not for the fainthearted… This is pure evil, relentless, four-to-the-floor material… Very energetic and it would have been the perfect party tool if it wasn’t for those horrible voice-samples… That singing is downright horrible… What a shame, coz otherwise this is a pretty awesome track – but I can’t seem to get past those hideous samples…

#10: ID Slayer [146 BPM]

The final track doesn’t seem as fast as the BPM would indicate – and definitely not as fast as the previous one… Anyway, what we get here is pretty standard ccL stuff… A pounding, morphed-with-acid bassline accompanied by all kinds of trippy FX… Nothing overly exiting, but nothing too boring either… It’s just plain good, wholesome psytrance… A tasty way to end the album…

I didn’t really know what to expect when I first got this album. Well, I knew that Zebra-N was a very skilled producer, but on the other hand, Doof Records have often been criticised for mass releasing an endless stream of mind numbing, spirit crushing CDs in larger numbers than teenagers at a Skazi gig… But I’m happy to say, that this debut album isn’t just a pointless release – it holds some excellent music! Sure, there are a couple of tracks that wasn’t as good as previous Zebra-N material, but also a bunch of tracks up to par with his older, mostly wonderful work… Another important thing here is the level of variation. The so-called darkpsy can often become too boring, too fast – but that’s not the case here as the guys excel in surprising little twists and turns… Well done!

So whilst this might not be an essential album, it surely is worthy of a purchase for fans of kaleidoscopic night trance… I’m not a big fan of the AOL-type writing on the artwork, but besides from that the cover is much better than what we’re used to from Doof Records. Also thumbs up for the Case Logic friendly DJ slip (if it had featured BPMs it would have been double thumbs up!). All in all, a pretty nice album – which fans of labels such as Parvati and Trishula should definitely not miss out on… Enjoy!

Favourites: 2, 3(!!), 5, 7(!)

DeathPosture

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