Discodelic: Discos Viajantes de Otros Dimensiones
Discodelic: Discos Viajantes de Otros Dimensiones
Phil Le
Phil meets with Discodelic, a record shop turned music label in San Francisco, co-owned by Ruben "Ruffy" Rangel, Maria Jose "Majoo" Salguero, and Miles Ake, which specializes in rare and soulful genres from Central America and the Caribbean. Their unique curation, described as "vinyl discs from other dimensions," reflects their passion for discovering and preserving lost music.
In recent decades, reggaeton artists like Daddy Yankee, Bad Bunny, and Karol G have become the most listened-to Latin musicians to the average American. For an enthusiast of Latin music looking to go beyond reggaeton club bangers, there is a small record shop in the Mission District of San Francisco that is a treasure trove of feel good genres hailing from Central America and the Caribbean.
Discodelic's storefront displaying their slogan "Discos Viajantes de Otros Dimensiones" situated on 24th Street in the Mission District. (Phil Le/Fault Radio)
Discodelic is a record shop turned music label that focuses on genres that feed the soul. What makes their store unique is their curation—what they describe as "discos viajantes de otros dimensiones," which translates to "vinyl discs from other dimensions," and speaks to the heart of both their musical interests and their process in collecting.
The La Familia Santana mural located above the 24th Street Bart station honors San Francisco's Carlos Santana's contribution to pioneering Latin Rock. (Phil Le/Fault Radio)
Just a few blocks from the Santana family mural on 24th and Mission, Discodelic offers rare records, in-store DJ sessions, artist Q&As, a four-day music festival, and anything else Ruffy’s ambitious mind can come up with. The shop is owned and operated by Ruben "Ruffy" Rangel and Maria Jose "Majoo" Salguero, a married couple from Central America, as well as Miles Ake, a recent addition to Discodelic's San Francisco team. I had the opportunity to catch up with Ruffy and Majoo to learn more about their inspiration, methods, and where they're taking their project.
From left Maria Jose "Majoo" Salguero, Ruben "Ruffy" Rangel, and Miles Ake co-owners each pose with one of their favorite records. (Phil Le/Fault Radio)
So when did y’all start collecting records?
RUFFY: I started collecting records... I think around '97/'98. Which is curious because that's how [Majoo and I] met, it was through our passion for Jamaican music and soul music a long time ago, like in 2010. Some of the first records I started buying on vinyl were from some punk groups, some Chicano groups like Los Crudos. Their punk vinyl was one of the first ones that we could get in the city. Punk vinyl for some reason had better distribution in my town. I guess those were my first records, the punk, ska, and reggae records in the '90s.
Majoo and Ruffy pose while inventorying their salvaged records on one of their international travels to obtain more inventory for their store. (Owners/Discodelic)
How did that love of collecting records turn into opening a whole store?
RUFFY: Me and Majoo started traveling around Central America, Nicaragua, Honduras... The beginning was just trying to discover new music because it was so much fun discovering. You can try to Google [some albums], and you won't find anything. Never sold on eBay, it's not on Discogs, so we discovered amazing tracks from labels in Guatemala or labels from El Salvador, and every time we discovered something new, it would just blow our minds! How's it possible that nobody knows some of this music because especially El Salvador, Nicaragua, have a bad reputation that it's only gangs and violence, civil war in the '80s, but there was also a great explosion of musical groups from the '60s and '70s that were lost in time.
So first, for me and Majoo, we were trying to discover all these groups that were lost. At some point, we started buying a lot from radio stations - crazy collections! And we focused 100% on doing that for six or seven years. And at the end of that, we had completely full warehouses not just in Mexico but also in El Salvador and Guatemala. Then we said we should start selling records to get some money to buy more records, right? So we opened our first record shop in El Salvador in 2015.
Even then, the idea behind the record shop was not so much to sell records but to buy even more records because we have an actual place to do that now. People will come with boxes and sell records because they don't use them anymore. So that was how we started actually because we were buying so much and needed money to buy more, and then we just loved music so much it was a natural process.
That's one hell of a story! How does everyone contribute to the shop to keep the adventures going?
RUFFY: That's a good question. I think that's why Discodelic works. Because I am very disorganized. And Miles, the other owner, he's very organized. He does all the Excel things, all the stuff and all the papers that we need to fill up, and I'm the one that comes up with all the crazy ideas. Let's go to Trinidad! Let's go to Guyana! And I’ll find the connection to find the records. That's my skill. Finding places where the records are. That's one of the hardest parts. So pretty much I do that. And Majoo will talk to customers.
MAJOO: My English is not so good, but I still talk with people. And I like to check the details like what's going on and yeah. So I like to socialize. Checking on different things in the store to make sure it's tended to.
Speaking of finding records, how much would you say your inventory is from traveling?
RUFFY: I would say 85% because we have some new releases too that we get from different labels and different labels that we like. All those records [from traveling] we find from houses, warehouses, old record shops, and old radio stations. All these records come from different owners from all over the world. I was talking the other day about how many memories and energy must be held in these records. That's crazy, right?
Yeah, I bet! Are you still traveling to increase the inventory every now and then?
RUFFY: Yeah yeah. We try to do it every month. We just got back from Guatemala. Now we're thinking about where to go next.
Digital poster for the Ralph Weeks in-store Q&A scheduled for August 26, 2023. (Owners/Discodelic)
Glad you host DJ sessions to share these rare finds. When did that start?
MAJOO: We used to have a party in El Salvador called El Salvador To Go. It was just like five people [laughs]. We had a party for like five of our friends. And we made one in Guatemala.
RUFFY: In our minds, we knew this was temporary. We just wanted to be here for one year. One in El Salvador. One year in Guatemala. Then we moved to Mexico. Because I'm from Mexico and the music scene in Mexico is huge. I've already made parties in Mexico in 2006 and 2008, so I knew it would be the perfect place to start creating more parties, so we moved to Mexico in 2017. But the first Discodelic show was in Guatemala in 2016.
For people to get a sense of the vibe, If you could choose a record to represent Discodelic's sounds, what would it be?
RUFFY: Definitely "Poder Del Alma" from Nicaragua. That's the soul of our brand and label. It was actually the first record I wanted to reissue. Let me show you. One of the musicians lives here in San Leandro. Those guys are from Nicaragua but they ran away from Nicaragua in the '80s. This group is so fantastic! It's amazing - Latin-funk/psych-rock, and the record is so hard to find. But yeah, I think this 100% is what Discodelic likes.
Instagram poster of the in-store DJ session with Gia Fu scheduled for July 22, 2023. (Owners/Discodelic)
Do you have any particular goals you want to achieve with Discodelic, SF? Specific artists you want to host, records you want to reissue, or overall goals with the store?
RUFFY: We want to have DJs here all the time. Like our favorite DJs that come to the city and do a free show here for the people. We already have some ideas with Cut Chemist. We're going to do something with him soon.
But also we've only been open for a few months, and we brought this artist from Panama [Ralph Weeks Q&A], and in just one month, we already made a festival. That's what all Discodelic does, adventures and crazy ideas! Like in Mexico, we did Latinos Con Soul. We brought DJs from Brazil.
Discodelic's first pressing, Poder Del Alma, on their label and store recommendation to sample Discodelic's vibe. (Owner/Disccodelic)
We're always creating something, but also you asked for the label. We have some big ambitions to do box sets for some of the releases. We've been doing 45s but now we're going to start working on box sets like seven 45s in a box and start working with a big UK label called Soundwaves. Those guys are coming to San Francisco in October to check out my collection and to check out what collaboration we can do together, that's another idea. Majoo has some ideas about some books too.
MAJOO: Yeah, I'm working on a photo book on El Salvador from the '60s featuring pictures from the '60s also. So we have many plans coming!
You mentioned Latinos Con Soul Festival, what's that and how did it come about?
RUFFY: Latinos Con Soul Festival is something we started in Mexico in 2018. It's a four-day party because we wanted to do it crazy! Not just one or two, we wanted to do it for four days! The idea is to bring all these DJs that have Latino roots. We especially want to bring DJs that are not just Chicano or Mexicans.
We want to collaborate with DJs from Venezuela, Columbia, Nicaraguan DJs because we want to bring them as a union, and it worked in the first festival. I brought Alex Figuera from the Netherlands. He is Venezuelan but lives in the Netherlands. We bought his flight ticket to come to Mexico, guys from New York, my friend Marco from Peru, and none of them have met each other before. But through the festival, they made connections after that. So that connection really works.
We usually do like 30 or 40 DJs. We had Joe Bataan for the first time in Mexico. But the festival is not just for Latinos but for highlighting Latin-Caribbean music enthusiasts like Names You Can Trust. He's not Latino but he has a label that has a lot of the Cumbia and Salsa from New York. So it's a celebration of Latino music to create unity through music.
One last thing, for those that might be wondering also–what does "Discos Viajantes de Otros Dimensiones" mean to you?
MAJOO: Behind every record, there is a history, from the memories it holds to the time and effort it took to create the record. It's all energy inside. We collect records from so many places; we think of the store as a center where these "dimensions" meet. We want to give these records another chance at life or a second chance to be enjoyed.
Record wall display of rare LPs and 45s inside Discodelic. (Phil Le/Fault Radio)