Disciples

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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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.