© 2013 Secret Stash Records (uploaded with permission)

While Secret Stash has been in the business for several years releasing a number of gems ranging from the soul of America to reggae takes on Miles Davis and acoustic Peruvian folk music, they are now focusing some effort on new music as well. Longtime Secret Stash fans rest easy, though. They are still going to continue to mine the vaults the world over to find long-forgotten but essential music.

One of their first new music releases is coming out this September courtesy of Black Market Brass. The band and label both hail from Minneapolis. Secret Stash, which has a very DIY approach to their label, often hosts record-release assembly parties where the local community is invited to come to their offices and assemble the records and album sleeves in return for pizza and beer. It was through several of these that Eric Foss, VP of Marketing and Sales for Secret Stash, met Mitch Sigurdson, one of the founding members of the band.

Sigurdson assembled some friends and local talent to play a variety of styles, often Ghanian highlife and funk. Per Foss, “I think it took a little while for them to realize that they play Afrobeat as well or better than most of the bands out there doing it today. I watched as they transitioned from playing spot-on covers of Fela and Tony Allen to writing their own material.”

This past April, the band headed to the studio to record some original material. Coincidentally, the band picked up a new baritone sax player, Cole Pulice, who was already working with Sonny Knight & the Lakers and Dérobé Dance Band, bands whose original material also will be seeing releases from the label. In a single afternoon, they cut the two tracks heard on the upcoming 45.

“Snake Oil Man” is heavy Nigerian madness. You can bet that it’s no beginners luck. Check out the flip side, “Big Muffler," on Secret Stash’s SoundCloud page (https://soundcloud.com/secretstashrecords/black-market-brass-big-muffler). If this is their first swing at the genre, you can expect some exciting material in the future from Black Market Brass who has enough original material already for a full LP.

We reached out to Pierre Chrétien from Souljazz Orchestra, who knows his way around an Afrobeat tune, to hear his thoughts on the band’s sound. Says Chrétien, “It sounds amazing. Definitely no lack of sweat and stink here!” No disagreements here.


Black Market Brass "Snake Oil Man"

Willie Wright's 'I'm So Happy Now' off his sophomore album (from 1977) 'Telling The Truth' out now on Numero. http://www.numerogroup.com/catalog_detail.php?uid=01222#

Willie Wright- I'm So Happy Now

Boogaloo Joe Jones

It's Valentine's Day, and the new DopeGems record is on point with that special occasion... Heartfelt, soulful performances from the vaults of early quiet storm is what it's all about.

Two beautiful tracks from the golden era of symphonic soul ballads rearranged as rich and intense small group instrumentals.

As an added 'secret' threat, those who know and recognize 'game' will be delighted to see this music reflect either side of their persona.

Available February 14th on digital

Limited Edition White 7" w/ deluxe die-cut cover available March 11th.

Vibraphone : Yragael Unfer
Keyboards : Giuliano Veludo
Guitar : Slikk Tim
Bass : Emmanuel Harang
Drums: Slikk Tim

Arranged, recorded and mixed by Slikk Tim.
Mastered by Shawn Joseph.

Graphic Design by Anton Gret

Special Thanks to Francky "D "

Ballads - EP

DOPEGEMS  "Travelling Man"

Modalicity Penta

Remix of Renegade Brass Band's 'This Shall Not Stand', taken from the remix album 'Beats, Rhymes & Brass Remixed'. Album also features remixes from Tall Black Guy, Colman Brothers and Paper Tiger.

The track also appears on my recent compilation of remixes and productions for BBE 'All Night'.

Renegade Brass Band - This Shall Not Stand (Chris Read's All Night Mix)

Music knows no boundaries and trespasses every geographic wall and culture. Rooted in Lausanne, Switzerland, Professor Wouassa is a living testimony of this - a special blend that brings together the principal Swiss afrobeat players into one groovy pot, cooking uplifting and infectious afro music.

Born in 2003, the combo released their first album Dangerous Koko! early 2011 and soon picked up airplay in such diverse countries as the UK, Greece, Brazil, Canada, only to be reinforced by their incredible live delivery – and soon invited to be the opening act for Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 in the reputed Cully Jazz Festival. After a string of memorable concerts throughout a packed tour, 2015 marks the release of Grow Yes Yes!, mixed by none other than Malcolm Catto (The Heliocentrics, Mulatu Astatké, to name very few) and with featured appearances by afrobeat shining stars Seun Kuti and Ebo Taylor.

The album, about to be re-issued on Matasuna Records - house of the smouldering hot new project Dem Juju Poets – and for the very first time on vinyl, will surely add fuel to the fire across dancefloors everywhere.

Serema, its first track, laces Ebo Taylor's smokey voice with an almost Cuban feel melody, preaching a message of love while Doumadem is a testament to the afro beat heritage, Thais Diarra's voice hovering beautifully over a landscape of heat-infused rhythm, cropped with precise horn stabs and arrangements that would make Antibalas proud.

We dare you to stand still while listening to We Thit. Seriously. If you aren´t compelled to dance to it, check your pulse. Surely something will be racing inside you.

Sunu Reou is a vintage, slow tempo afro groover and it is only fitting that it has Seun Kuti as its guest, proving, if proof were needed, that Professor Wouassa are a singular musical project that pays homage to and does not shy away from mixing afrobeat, high-life and ethio-jazz with contemporary funk. Yes Yes!

Grow Yes Yes!

Bandcamp

Serema (feat. Ebo Taylor)

The new scorching EP with some fiery horn lines and the signature sounding vocals of the Tarzan Bros!

Big thanks to everyone involved and all the help that friends and family have given us in order to complete this album! 

Tarzan Bros band: 
Patch Morgan - Drums 
Alex Robinson - Bass 
Tom Harris - Keys 
John Diver - Guitar 
Charlie Lancaster - Trombone 
Greg Cain - Saxophone 
Jack Davis - Trumpet 

Featured artists: 
Tim Cook - Drums (Imperial Bros) 
Thomas Maddison - Bass (Imperial Bros) 

A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO Fiona Kuang for the extraordinary illustration that she produced for our album cover! 
Genius! 
Follow her on: 
www.facebook.com/Heyfey-175203783001219/ 

If you like it, smash that LIKE button and even better that SHARE button, so you can help us spread the message! 
BIG LOVE x

Cut Off The Drugs

Artist: The Cactus Channel
Release: Emanuel Ciccolini / Budokan
Formats: 7” vinyl record (45rpm) / digital
Cat: HS006
Release Date: March 2012

The kids from The Cactus Channel are finally Legal! One year after their debut vinyl release turned funk and breaks lovers worldwide on their heads, Australia’s baddest High School band have come of age. Recorded under maximum pressure in the final months of their secondary education, the new release is cooking with all kinds of gas. The musicianship, and writing on this record is superior, the production ruffer and tuffer, and with a full length LP only a few months away, Emanuel Ciccolini/Budokan is just a taste of the badness to come.

Emanuel Ciccolini - Named for guitarist Lewis Coleman’s Italian Grandfather, you can imagine the original Emanuel was a very bad man. This is some sinister, high-octane car chase funk. Think of the getaway scene in a heist movie set in Napoli circa 1974 and you get the idea. Ciao!

Budokan – Let’s not beat around the bush, this is makeout music. This B side is as smooth as the A-side is tuff. If teenage pimping on a waterbed was a song, it would be this song. The lowdown tempo and fat drums take it where it needs to go. Who knew teenagers could do it this slow?

The Cactus Channel - Budokan

From the upcoming album, Fu Chronicles, out February 2020. https://daptone.ffm.to/bwav9ee

Antibalas "Fight Am Finish"

<b> 128kps mp3s for preview purposes only </b>

Purchase the 7" or digital at the Wonderwheel Shop - http://wonderwheel.11spot.com/nickodemus-baila-a-tu-manera-feat-sammy-ayala.html

Wonderwheel Recordings is very proud to present a collaboration between the legendary Sammy Ayala (Rafael Cortijo y su Combo, Ismael Rivera), Nickodemus, the Candela Allstars (Puerto Rico) & the Whiskey Barons. Recorded right before the passing of the late, great Sammy - Nickodemus was recording ideas in the studio with the 77 year old Latin music legend after being inspired in Colombia to make a universal song for all dance floors. Sammy instantly gravitated towards the tune and wrote the lyrics before even hitting the studio. Horns and bass were recorded in Puerto Rico with the Candela Allstars (who were notably the players on Nickodemus and Quantic's "Mi Swing Es Tropical", which famously ran as an iPod advert on television), and the work in progress was passed on to the Whiskey Barons (who have notably done a series of remixes for Fania and have a brand new album coming out on Ubiquity Records this year), who stretched it out with a steady reggae influenced dancefloor stomper with Sammy's vocals "Baila la salsa, bail a tu manera" holding down the vibes throughout.  

Also included on the 7" is the instrumental  - stay tuned for more remixes & originals of these sessions on Turntables on the Caribbean & other WONDERWHEEL releases in 2013! 

Baila A Tu Manera (feat. Sammy Ayala)

Baila A Tu Manera (Whiskey Barons Instrumental)

Nickodemus feat. Sammy Ayala - Baila A Tu Manera (Whiskey Barons Remix)

Heavenly Sweetness is a French label spreading colorful music for the soul.

DOPEGEMS "Travelling Man"

Heavenly Sweetness

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