Disciples レコード& CD

Review: Sarah Davachi returns on hidden Warp sublabel Disciples, in collaboration with Late Music, presenting the second Volume in an archival series of selected electronic and acoustic works. Featuring (way) back catalogue material from various CDs, cassettes, and EPs; singles and original film scores; as well as miscellaneous live and studio recordings, this series is a look-back on Davachi's career so far, and her mastery of every analogue ephemerum you could possibly think of: Mellotron, tape delay, various organs, you name it. This second part makes up a more atmospheric, dreamy coda to the first's dour exposition, centring on the hauntingly revelatory 'Composition Of Flowers'.

Review: Non-Stop Healing Frequency is music designed to soothe you. It is the second album from Ruth Mascelli, aka one quarter of Special Interest, and is a progression from their debut album in that it is a "carefully constructed sequence of electronic mood pieces, tender ballads, kosmische disco tracks and industrial symphonies" Using synth, drum machine and piano, as well as Mascelli's own voice, these 11 pieces explore themes like new age and self-help scams, gnostic mysticism and different ways of working through grief. It's an exploration of how we all get through life, basically, and by listening to you will, in fact, get through life a little easier.

Review: You'd think there weren't that many stones left uncovered in the quest to reissue all Drexciya-related works, but here's a little nugget from 2013 which may have passed many by. NRSB-11 is a collaborative project from Gerald Donald, Sherard 'DJ Stingray' Ingram and Penelope Martin which resulted in one EP and one album. Disciples have opted to reissue Commodified, and with good reason. This is advanced electro of the highest calibre, absolutely wrought from the same lineage as Donald and Ingram's myriad accomplished endeavours but with a distinct flavour which speaks to Martin's input.

Review: Here's another classic from the archives of the Drexciya-verse, as Disciples track back ten years to revive a somewhat overlooked masterpiece from Gerald Donald, Penelope and Sherard Ingram. Originally released in WeMe, Commodified is a powerful demonstration of electro as more than dancefloor machine funk. There's a strong sense of Ingram's Stingray sound in the eerie sheen of the atmospherics, while Penelope's deep-running history as a techno and electro DJ in Spain bring a sense of structural focus to the project, but it's unmistakably glued together by Donald's distinctive sound and vision. If this got missed by some on its initial release, this reissue should help place it firmly in the forefront of Drexciya's many devoted fans.

Review: Nothing hits quite like a dose of that raw Midwestern noise Wolf Eyes are capable of conjuring. Nate Young's troublesome project has shirked popular consensus for 25 years now, following its own gutter-dwelling logic into ever slimier surroundings. Of course not everything along such a path is perfect, but when the noise hits right, it's majestic. On Dreams In Splattered Lines, released on the ever-excellent Disciples label, Young and fellow Michigan miscreant Jonny Olson are on superlative form, wreaking some tangible brilliance out of scattershot chaos. Just listen to 'Plus Warning' and you'll understand - this is Wolf Eyes at their best.