Disciples

Joseph Kamaru - Further Combinations

Out 3 July, five more archival gems from the king of Kikuyu benga, compiled with his grandson, the sound artist KMRU.

Ask your local record shop to order it in or pre-order here:

https://josephkamaru.bandcamp.com/album/further-combinations

Happy birthday to the one and only Mr Dennis Bovell!

Still can’t quite believe we made the Sufferer Sounds record a reality, a long-in-the-works labour of love celebration of one of my all-time musical heroes. The amount of amazing tunes this man has had a hand in is literally insane: “Typical Girls”, “Caught You In A Lie”, “She Is Beyond Good And Evil”, “The Man In Me”, “Song Of Blood”, “Riot In Lagos”, “Silly Games”… it goes on and on, an embarrassment of riches. The project nearly hit the rocks once or twice but it was all worth it in the end.

Dennis continues to be active, making tunes, playing all over the world, and long may he continue to do so. Wishing him the happiest of birthdays.

The Sufferer Sounds compilation is still available as a 2LP set or CD with fat booklet, liner notes telling the story of Dennis’ days with the Jah Sufferer Spund System. Contains tracks by African Stone, Cosmic Idren, Angelique (aka Marie Pierre), Errol Campbell, Janet Kay, Matumbi and more. All of course produced by the man himself. Ask your local record shop to order it in, or available mail order from the Disciples Bandcamp.

Photo by the amazing .shelton.9, processed by Studio , ripped and torn by Selpic Sid.
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Disciples I'm a disciple, I've become aware

Are you into critical organology? Timbre? The poetics of affect? Then boy does Dr Sarah Davachi have some reading material for you.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, when I’m not working on Disciples, I wear a number of different label hats, one of which is for Late Music, an imprint dedicated to the music of Sarah Davachi. We’ve co-released a couple of collections of non-album tracks by Sarah (Selected Works I and II) on Disciples, but in the case of this artist, having their own label makes total sense, a singular and prolific creative vision that demands its own platorm, like Corwood or Audika or Seventh Wave. 

When Sarah isn’t making you feel like the church you’re in is levitating, putting out brain-melting records, scoring films, working on commissioned pieces, or presenting a monthly radio show, she is hard at work academically, having now been awarded a degree in philosophy from the University of Calgary, a master’s degree in electronic music and recording media from Mills College, and a doctoral degree in musicology from UCLA. The dissertation for that doctorate is now available in book form, entitled From The Ruins Of The Literal. 148 pages, perfect bound, soft cover, royal size (6.14” x 9.21”), first edition, pre-order from the Late Music Bandcamp or Bleep. Ships late May from UK or US warehouses.

RUTH x MARY x COATSHEK

Your Monday reminder from Disciples:

- the blissful remix by Coatshek of “Vaseline Lens” by Ruth Mascelli & Mary Hanson Scott, a track from their Esoteric Lounge Music Now album, is out now

- ELMN tour phase 2 starts this Thursday in Minneapolis

- Coatshek also has an album out, Sound Bath, on the great Dark Entries label

- We’re currently running an offer via our Bandcamp where you can pick up the Ruth & Mary album for whatever price you wish to pay, with two bonus tracks added - the re-works from both Coatshek AND Freak Heat Waves

- ELMN forms the third part of a trilogy of albums by Ruth Mascelli on Disciples, each deserving their own new category in the record shop, starting with the ‘bath house techno’ of debut solo LP A Night At The Baths, and followed up by the ‘paranoid torch songs’ of Non-Stop Healing Frequency.

- There’s also been companion tapes to the first two albums: the chopped and screwed A Slow Night At The Baths, and the saturated ambient detours of The Institute For Astral Health. What will the companion volume to Esoteric Lounge Music Now be? You’ll have to keep it locked to Disciples to find out.

- if you’re a true Mascelli devotee, then you can dive even deeper with Trust No Wave by Special Interest, the vinyl pressing of the feral 2016 demo tape by the band that Ruth is one quarter of, or even take it right back to The Wild World Of Psychic Hotline, an anthology of Ruth’s previous project. We obviously hold Ruth in the very highest regard, and suggest you spend some time immersing yourself in their singular creative cosmos.

Happy to share a further extension to the beautiful ‘Esoteric Lounge Music Now’ album we released last year by Ruth Mascelli & Mary Hanson Scott.

In the hands of San Francisco based artist Coatshek, “Vaseline Lens” gets a sultry ambient techno re-rub, upping the BPM with a subtly delay-inflected drum machine, but retaining the dreaminess of the original, Mary Hanson Scott’s saxophone weaving through the steam of the q***r bath house setting that both Mascelli and Coatshek have both used at different times as artistic inspiration. A marriage made in heaven.

The remix is streaming NOW on the awful tech platform of your choice OR if you haven’t picked up the LP yet, we’ve added this as a bonus track (along with the killer Freak Heat Waves remix from last year) to the album on still-awful-but-not-quite-as-bad-as-the-others tech platform Bandcamp AND the digital is pay-what-you-want for the next 24 hours or so.

We also still have the vinyl in stock, housed in a sleeve designed by Brett LaBauve aka Bouffant Bouffant - DJ, graphic designer, and instigator of New Orleans dance party institution Gimme A Reason. Our records are distributed worldwide, and if your local shop is having difficulty getting it in stock, let us know.

For those of you in midwest USA, Ruth & Mary will play a short run of dates, starting next week:

4.30 Berlin Bar, Minneapolis MN
5.1 MKE Ultra, Milwaukee WI
5.2 Snapcrackle Tabernacle, Door County WI
5.3 Empty Bottle, Chicago IL

Sound Bath by Coatshek is out now on Dark Entries Records

Photo of Ruth and Mary by Tom Camilleri

Video by Ruth Mascelli

RUTH MASCELLI & MARY HANSON SCOTT

Esoteric Lounge Music Now Tour Phase 2: Midwestern Mindmelt

Go catch our favourite freaks live and direct at the following places:

30 April - Minneapolis

1 May - Milwaukee

2 May - Door County
**INVITE ONLY**

3 May - Chicago

Tickets available from venue websites.

The album ‘Esoteric Longue Music Now’ is out now on Disciples, as are the two Ruth Mascelli solo LPs ‘Non-Stop Healing Frequency’ and ‘A Night At The Baths’. Ask your local independent record store to order them in.

Fire remix of “Vaseline Lens” incoming! Keep yr psychic antenna attuned to the macrocosmic waves.

A good overview of the catalogue of the genius Maxine Funke has just been published by the Australian edition of Rolling Stone, thoughtfully written by Martyn Pepperell. Link in the bio if you’re interested to read. Pieces Of Driftwood, River Said and Saturdays/Clear are three of the best records I’ve ever had a hand in releasing. It blows my tiny mind that Maxine isn’t a household name that sells trillions of records. I mean, I think that about pretty much everything I’ve put out on Disciples, but I do get that some of it is a bit obtuse for yr average listener. Maxine makes totally accessible melodic songs with lyrics on par with the best novelists though, yet most people that are into ‘singer-songwriters’ want to listen to over-emoted over-produced sub-Fleetwood Mac sh*te instead. It was ever thus I guess. This isn’t a superior “I have better taste than everyone else” rant (ok maybe it is a bit) but just go listen to Maxine Funke FFS. Her latest release is Timeless Town on Kashual Plastik, but you can’t go wrong with any of it.

Really good overview of the catalogue of genius NZ singer-songwriter Maxine Funke over at Rolling Stone AU/NZ. Some of the best records we've ever had a hand in releasing

A Guide to Cult Folk Musician Maxine Funke in 10 Records Dunedin-based avant-garde musician Maxine Funke pens hushed stories of the mundane and magical moments in everyday life.