Discus Music

19/07/2024

Just buy the record (episode # 761)

Biyartabiyu - duets for saxophones and percussion by Martin Archer and Walt Shaw. Original artworks by Walt.

"The balance between these two players is strikingly rich and nuanced and rather melodic at times. There is some obvious camaraderie going on here, some respect and connection to a common goal. Most impressive on several fronts." - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery NYC

5 track album

17/07/2024

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/this-celestial-engine-166cd-2024

"The mindspace is colored with dreamy tones, with touching memories, faint hopes, dark forebodings." - Rigobert Dittmann BAD ALCHEMY

"Each song has an own identity and style, which gives you overall a very diverse album that should appeal to both jazz and prog fans!" - Gabor Kleinbloesem STRUTTER'ZINE

"A psychedelic-tinged, avant-jazz rock-fuelled sonic dream, ensyruped in fractal and kaleidoscopic energy." - João Morado, BEATS FOR PEEPS

Roy Powell: Keyboards, Loops
Dave Sturt: Bass, Ebow Bass, Weird S**t
Ted Parsons: Drums, Percussion

5 track album

16/07/2024

London Friends - check out this album launch gig next week (Tuesday 23rd July) for Discus Music artists Keir Cooper + Eleanor Westbrook - forthcoming release "Star Quality".

Join us for the first listen of new album Star Quality (released with Discus Music in Sept 2024) in a specially-created version for cinema. There will be a short Q&A with guest hosts and an opportunity to purchase the album at the event.

15/07/2024

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/circle-of-kiono-9006dl-2024

Hilary Jeffery - trombone, trumpet, melodica
Eleni Poulou - synthesizer, melodica
+
Hayden Chisholm - alto sax, pūtōrino, harmonica, penny whistle
Simon Rose - baritone sax

A fascinating work from ex-Fall synthesist Poulou working with Keith Tippett alumnus and multi instrumental brass player Jeffery under the name Organza Ray, joined here by two additional reeds in a series of slowly unfolding improvised soundscapes..

7 track album

13/07/2024

Paul Dunmall's next Discus Music release "Red Hot Ice" heralds a subtle shift of emphasis in his music.

Paul Dunmall - tenor saxophone, C soprano saxophone
Percy Pursglove - trumpet
Richard Foote - trombone
Alicia Gardener-Trejo - baritone saxophone
James Birkett - electric guitar
Andrew Woodhead - synthesizers, organ, rhodes
Glen Leach - acoustic piano, lorenzo organ, voice
James Owston - double bass
Jim Bashford - drums

Produced by Martin Archer & Corey Mwamba. 2025 release.

12/07/2024

Does anyone have a contact for Dave Sumner pleas ?- he reviews jazz/improv for Bandcamp Daily and used to have a site The Bird Is The Worm.

12/07/2024

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/jaktar-136cd-2022

Paul Hession - drums, cymbals and gongs
Michael Bardon - double bass
Christophe de Bézenac - tenor saxophone

A couple of years after release, very few sales indeed of this absolute masterclass in free improvisation. Give it some love please!

"Right from the rip-roaring opening, there is a powerful, intense free/jazz eruption taking place which just lasts a couple of minutes before it breaks into a restrained section, sparse, yet spirited. When the second piece starts. it sounds as if the tenor and bowed bass are both connected and playing similar sounds. Things quiet down for some restrained frees spirit midway, the sax and bass both creating soft eerie drones for a segment. Eventually the trio soars again for some intense free improv. Mr. Bardon starts off “Carn Delk” with another haunting drone while the tenor sax centers on expanding a similar drone, making it thicker as it evolves. These three voices work well together, using similar textures and timbres and making their sound as one ecstatic sound which breathes in and out as one spirit/force." - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery, NYC

10 track album

10/07/2024

I've just been through a complicated six month process with a team of marketing consultants, at a cost of many thousands of pounds and endless meetings, to come up with a new inspirational strapline for the Discus Music label. I can now reveal it for the first time, burnished to linguistic perfection:

"Just buy one one two fu***ng records occasionally please"

Here's where:

Discus Music was founded in 1994 by Martin Archer. The label releases leftfield rock music, free jazz, extended songform, electronics, improvised music, and other sounds which defy categorisation. EU customers! Your purchase will be shipped to you from within the EU. No unexpected import charges!

10/07/2024

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/circle-of-kiono-9006dl-2024

Hilary Jeffery - trombone, trumpet, melodica
Eleni Poulou - synthesizer, melodica
+
Hayden Chisholm - alto sax, pūtōrino, harmonica, penny whistle
Simon Rose - baritone sax

Meditative, slowly unfolding improvisation for synth, brass, woodwinds.

7 track album

10/07/2024

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-act-of-noticing-172cd-2024

Josephine Davies - tenor and soprano saxophones
David Beebee - electric piano / effects
Martin Pyne - vibraphone / balafon / percussion

The results are as soothing as they are interesting. These pieces won’t put the listener to sleep — there is too much going on to capture the imagination, but they will evoke a state of calmness and peace at the receiving end. Too many improvisations sound like they were enjoyable for the players, but maybe not so much for the listener. That’s definitely not the case here with The Act of Noticing — this is one you could play on repeat for hours on end and it will continue to hold your interest. - Peter Thelen, EXPOSÉ

11 track album

10/07/2024

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/now-we-are-here-174cd-2024

A second collection of engrossing solo piano improv from Grew, a player based in the North-west of England. Shimmering and angular, making judicious use of space and acoustics, the six pieces here draw the listener into a twisty-turny, compelling sound world. - Kevin Whitlock, JAZZWISE

6 track album

05/07/2024

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/practical-dreamers-178cd-2024

Discus Music new release.

Ron Caines (the East Of Eden mastermind) is a massively underappreciated treasure, with a complex and emotional style of playing saxophone. Here we present his sound world in an extended concerto for electronics plus live improvisors.

Ron Caines – alto and soprano saxophones
Martin Archer – bass and Bb clarinets, flute, tuned percussion, electronics, whistles, harmonica
Hervé Perez – laptop, sound processing
Laura Cole – piano
Anton Hunter – electric guitar, electronics
Michael Bardon – cello
Gus Garside – double bass
Johnny Hunter – drums

7 track album

05/07/2024

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/biyartabiyu-177cd-2024

Discus Music new release.

Martin Archer - alto, sopranino, tenor, baritone saxophones, saxello
Walt Shaw - drums and percussion

Five real time duets. I'm one of a vanishingly small number of UK saxophonists who plays in what I simply think of as AACM style jazz. It's the music I've always loved best, and here in this duet with maverick sound sculptor Walt Shaw, I'm playing in a very pure and simple way which I hope respects that tradition. Enjoy the dialogue!

5 track album

05/07/2024

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/harpsichords-175cd-2024

Discus Music new release. Music for harpsichord trio / solo plus live processing from Matthew Bourne, who writes: "Three harpsichords in various states of disrepair were kindly offered to me by Leeds Conservatoire. I accepted, and a memorandum of understanding was swiftly drawn up. The offer was made under the condition that I might make some music from them, given my penchant for infirm instruments, and their conventional worthlessness to anyone wishing to use them for their intended purpose. There seemed to be an auspiciousness surrounding these harpsichords, the stories they might reveal, and more importantly, the promise of setting them alight in some sort of sacrificial bonfire after their usefulness had expired."

17 track album

04/07/2024

The fabulously talented Laura Cole plus Yours Truly - pictured today at Matthew Bourne's studio on the moors above Keighley. Recording a new work for Discus Music "The Palace At 4.A.M" - Laura Cole - piano, Ron Caines - compositions. Recorded by Chris Sharkey. Due for release next year.

04/07/2024

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/biyartabiyu-177cd-2024

My new duo record with Walt Shaw.

"Here is instant listening and interpretation swooning between two improvisers." – Steve Day, June 2024

5 track album

03/07/2024

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/from-the-rough-hill-164cd-2023

“Strong inspired free improv can achieve this magical casting it’s spell over the audience vibe when it works. This is the case here.” – Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery NYC

“From The Rough Hill is a thing of ancient and elemental beauty, an inland journey for the head and for the heart.” – Mr Olivetti, FREQ

“Perhaps my favourite Discus disc in recent memory.” – New York City Jazz Record

13 track album

02/07/2024

Three new releases this Friday 5th from Discus Music.

Ron Caines / Martin Archer AXIS
Martin Archer & Walt Shaw
Matthew Bourne

All shipping worldwide from https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/

Please jump in and find some new music to love!

26/06/2024

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/bright-light-a-joyous-celebration-162cd-2023

Paul Dunmall - Soweto Kinch - Xhosa Cole - Corey Mwamba - Dave Kane - Hamid Drake.

"There is endless jubilation and good vibes going on here that make me and hopefully you smile when we listen to this treasure once and for all time." – Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG NYC

"The title track, whooping with the clamour of 60s South African townships, is the highlight of an exultantly conversational set inscribed with a multitude of post-Coltrane jazz stories." - John Fordham, GUARDIAN

5 track album

25/06/2024

In production now for release on discus Music later this year - "Private View" by Martin Archer and Jan Todd. We've surprised ourselves with this record, so we hope you'll be surprised too :-) !

23/06/2024

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/adios-al-futuro-94cd-2020

A favourite bit of back catalogue here.

8 track album

22/06/2024

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/star-quality-speculations-for-guitar-and-voice-179cd-2024-pre-order

STAR QUALITY

This remarkable forthcoming Discus Music release from Keir Cooper + Eleanor Westbrook is now open for pre-order, and you can audition one track here:

10 track album

20/06/2024

OK - At precisely 9.51 pm this evening - the moment of the solstice - I'll be releasing Circle Of Kiono, the DL only release by Organza Ray. Anyone buying within the first minute os guaranteed eternal youth.

Hilary Jeffery - trombone, trumpet, melodica
Eleni Poulou - synthesizer, melodica
+
Hayden Chisholm - alto sax, pūtōrino, harmonica, penny whistle
Simon Rose - baritone sax

Meditative, slowly unfolding improvisation for synth, brass, woodwinds.

Recorded at Berlintune Studio in December 2023 and January 2024
edited and mixed by Hilary Jeffery
produced by Hilary Jeffery and Eleni Poulou

Forming a circle of kiono during the winter solstice the ancient pattern spring was brought into the future by breath causing oxygen alarm

We asked and another call answered then held us tight into a breath which visited waited and linked us all within the circle

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/circle-of-kiono-9006dl-2024

19/06/2024

Introduce a friend to Discus Music!

If you introduce a friend to Discus Music and they place their first order, then I’ll give you a 75% discount on your own next purchase of one CD/DL. Here’s how it works:

• Tell your friend(s) to visit https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/ to place their order
• Ask them to send me a message along with their order saying that you introduced them – including your name and email. I’ll be able to see they’re a new customer.
• I’ll send you a one-time code (no expiry date) which gives you a 75% discount (on one CD/DL only please!) on your own next order.
• You can introduce more than one friend, in this way - you’ll get your discount each time I get a new customer.

Please get busy and tell your friends and colleagues about Discus Music!

Discus Music was founded in 1994 by Martin Archer. The label releases leftfield rock music, free jazz, extended songform, electronics, improvised music, and other sounds which defy categorisation. EU customers! Your purchase will be shipped to you from within the EU. No unexpected import charges!

19/06/2024

Jon Davis writes in Exposé:

"Overdriven surf-rock crashes into 70s movie soundtrack music, then gets interrupted by a moody Eastern European ballad, only to be swamped by electronic noise, free jazz, and deadpan spoken word. Industrial post-punk, a moody torch-singer waltz, and swampy blues-rock also figure in the mix. As jarring as that may seem from the description, Ward makes it work, aided by a talented set of collaborators: vocalists Sylwia Anna Drwal, Adi Newton, Pete Hope, Stephen Mallinder, Vina Figueroa, and David Was; Ward plays a range of woodwinds along with electronics and keyboards; and more than a dozen other contribute guitar, bass, drums, strings, woodwinds, and keyboards."

16 track album

18/06/2024

A trailer for Funfair by Das Rad - out soon

Funfair is the 5th album by Sheffield improg band Das Rad. Here's a quick snippet from each of the tracks. Released on Discus Musicwww.dasrad.ukhttps://discu...

16/06/2024

Now's the time to catch up

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/

16/06/2024

DISCUS MUSIC PRESENTS
A joint Northern UK tour by two cutting edge psych / electronic / progressive bands.

THIS CELESTIAL ENGINE
Roy Powell: Keyboards / Dave Sturt: Bass/ Ted Parsons: Drums, Percussion

This Celestial Engine are an exciting new project that fuses the talents of three remarkable musicians from diverse musical backgrounds- drummer Ted Parsons (Swans, Godflesh, Killing Joke), bassist Dave Sturt (Gong, Steve Hillage Band, Bill Nelson), and keyboardist Roy Powell (InterStatic, Anthony Braxton, Mumpbeak with Bill Laswell). Their album delivers a unique blend of experimental ambient avant-jazz rock improvisation.

Latest album: https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/this-celestial-engine-166cd-2024

DAS RAD
Nick Robinson - guitars, keys / Martin Archer - woodwind, keys / Jon Short - bass guitar / Steve Dinsdale - drums, keys / Peter Rophone - voices, guitar.

Das Rad - where krautrock grooves, extended arrangements, free improvisation and electronic abstraction all meet in the creative centre of the sound. Commentator Sid Smith (Prog Magazine) says: "Is it jazz? Is it rock? Is it folk? Is it prog? Is it electronica? The answer is all of the above and probably a lot more besides. Not that Das Rad care and neither should you. Energetic, incisive and infused with an inquisitive, passionate spirit, Das Rad create music that goes where it needs to. Do what you can to join them on that journey."

Latest album: https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/veer-154cd-2023

3 SEP – EAGLE INN, SALFORD
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/discus-music/this-celestial-engine-plus-das-rad-eagle-inn-salford/e-kbpxpg

4 SEP – GOLDEN LION, TODMORDEN
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/discus-music/this-celestial-engine-plus-das-rad-golden-lion-todmorden/e-dekzxr

5 SEP – HYDE PARK BOOK CLUB, LEEDS
https://www.seetickets.com/event/this-celestial-engine-and-das-rad/hyde-park-book-club/2942425

6 SEP – SYDNEY & MATILDA, SHEFFIELD
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/discus-music/this-celestial-engine-plus-das-rad-sidney-matilda-sheffield/e-plkapb

7 SEP – DUBREK, DERBY
https://www.gigantic.com/this-celestial-engine-tickets/derby-dubrek-studios/2024-09-07-17-00