After weeks of digging through your sofa and looking behind the fridge for loose change to save up for your very own Secret Stash stuff, it’s finally here! Our web store is open. We are so excited about this that we’d like to make you a special offer. For the month of February we are offering free shipping on all items in our store….so get your Secret Stash LPs, tees, and slip mats now.
Checkout the web store here
SOVIET FUNK VOLUME 1
Back in October we posted an update on our website called Funk Knows No Boundaries. In it we shared as much as we could about some great unreleased funk from around the globe that we were trying to get our hands on. 10 weeks later, we are very excited to announce our first release of content born abroad. SOVIET FUNK VOLUME 1 will be available 02/02/10. This will also be our first release to include a free downloadable version of the album with each LP purchase. That way if you don’t have a turntable you can still enjoy this record. For more information and to hear audio samples, please view the youtube video. You will also find more background info below.
This collection of SOVIET FUNK was all recorded by Pavel Sysoyev in Abakan, the capital city of Khakassia between 1971 and 1976. Sysoyev was an employee of the USSR State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcast (state controlled media). He ran a recording studio intended to create content solely for the government media entity. However, Sysoyev frequently brought in his friends and run late night recording sessions when no one else was around.
In spite of the loosened restrictions on art and music during the 70s, most Soviet citizens had very limited access to essential American funk records. Sysoyev acquired a small collection of U.S. R&B and Jazz albums in ‘68 from a friend, but that was about it for him and his friends. Yet somehow, this small group of classically trained musicians was able to forge a funky sound of their own. Rooted much deeper in the jazz quartet tradition than the R&B styling of James Brown and The Meters, they tapped into a way of playing jazz with a relentless groove that we endearingly refer to as funk.
Secret Stash Records was contacted by Sysoyev himself in mid 2009. In a matter of weeks a deal was reached granting the label rights to release these funky rarities. Hundreds of hours have been spent digging through stacks of dusty old master tapes to find the best of the best. Soviet Funk Vol I is just a small sampling of the vast catalog of recordings produced by Pavel Sysoyev and his friends, and is just a little glimpse of things to come (more volumes). Listen closely and from time to time you will find elements of Russian classical music in the precision execution of oddly metered unison parts, complex poly-rhythms, and the use of time signatures other than 4/4 (so commonly found in most American funk).
TRACK LIST
SIDE A
01. pavel sysoyev: gostiny dvor
02. pavel sysoyev: zapovednik
03. pomogite: avantyurist
04. pomogite: snokhachestvo
05. pomogite: izvinite
SIDE B
01. victor chizhova & boris baykov: agentura
02. victor chizhova & boris baykov: chernosotenec
03. da/n’et: vyrodok
04. da/n’et: demagogiya
05. pavel sysoyev & victor chizhova: kak vas zovut
Keep digging,
SSR
We are very excited to announce that we are currently building a store for our website. All of our LP titles will be available as well as Secret Stash t-shirts and slip mats. Everything should be up and running by mid-January. Let’s hope it doesn’t suck.
Stay tuned for more info.
-SSR
The long wait is over. Yesterday our Mad Dog LPs arrived and we got them shipped out to our distribution partners. They turned out even better than we had hoped! Your local shop should have them in stock by Monday of next week. We’ll let you know when some of our favorite online stores have them available as well.
Thank you to everyone who participated in our Funky Ice Cream Contest. Responses came in via the website, facebook, twitter, and one dude even called his in.
The winner of the porno groove test pressing and 2 posters is (drum roll………………….)
Kyle of Indianapolis.
Here was his response:
It has to be a vanilla bean flavor because you can add so many “toppings” to it to create your own sundae. People might say vanilla bean is boring or too neutral but that is where the hidden “flavor” lies, in the depths, where shallow taste buds disappear and true flavor begins. Vanilla is not one dimensional and like funk, it can enhance/create … See Morenumerous “flavors” and possibilities to excite anyone.
Thanks again to everyone who participated. If you didn’t win, don’t sweat it. We’ll have plenty more fun contests coming up VERY soon. If you didn’t participate, stop sucking and throw your hat in the ring next time. After all, who doesn’t like free stuff?!
-SSR
Want a pressing of a record so collectible that there are only 4 other copies in existence on the entire planet!? How about getting it for FREE? For the first time ever, Secret Stash Records is giving away a test pressing of Porno Groove: The Sounds of 70’s Adult Films. In addition, we will also include two free 12″x12″ album jacket replicas (Mad Dog cover on one side and Porno Groove cover on the other). All you have to do is answer the question below.
QUESTION: IF FUNK WERE AN ICE CREAM FLAVOR, WHAT FLAVOR WOULD IT BE?
Send in your answer and a brief explanation right here. You may also post it on our Twitter or Facebook page. Good luck!
We understand how hard it is for collectors in some places to purchase the records they want. So…..ask and thou shalt receive. Due to popular demand, WE ARE NOW SHIPPING WORLD-WIDE.
Also, after stuffing our faces with turkey, getting stabbed at wal mart on black friday, and drinking our weight in egg nog, we were so moved by the holiday spirit that we decided to start giving to others. For a limited time only, place an order on our ebay store and receive a FREE POSTER. This poster is printed on a very heavy stock paper and looks exactly like an LP jacket. See below for pics.
We got pretty stoked today when our manufacturer sent us the photo posted below! In just a few days we should have our finished copies of Mad Dog’s Hustle (original motion picture soundtrack) LP in house. We ended up spending a little more time than we initially thought on the re-mastering phase, but it was well worth it. The long wait is almost over.
the wait is almost over
Keep digging,
SSR
Brendon David has uploaded a new blog post about Secret Stash. He spoke with one of the label’s founders to discuss why we do what we do and how we intend survive in a dying industry. Check it out here.
