Mickey Murray Assembly Party

Jan 2012

 New  0  0

The parts for the new Mickey Murray reissue are trickling into our offices.  Everything will be here by the end of this week.  That can only mean one thing…ASSEMBLY PARTY TIME!  That’s right, it’s that time once again when we invite all our fellow vinyl addicts to the SSR offices to help assemble a new release.  You may possibly be asking yourself, “what the hell are they talking about?”  Let me explain…

We order all the different parts for our releases (jacket, vinyl, download card, etc) from different vendors.  Rather than ship all the parts to the vinyl manufacturer and have them assemble it, we bring the assembly in house.  This allows us a level of quality control that could never be achieved via 3rd party assembly.  It’s also a great way to open our doors to the local community to come in and check out our operation from the inside.

Here is how it works.  Come on by our offices in uptown and help assemble Mickey Murray records.  There will be FREE local pizza and beer.  There will also be a FREE copy of the limited edition version of the album (includes bonus 45) for those who help out.  It’s a great way to meet other record enthusiasts in the Twin Cities.  We’ve got a set of turn tables in the office, so feel free to bring a few records to share with the group.  Check out the details below.  We hope to see you there.

Where: Secret Stash Records World Headquarters

711 W Lake St

STE 211

Minneapolis, MN 55408

When: 6:30 PM ’till we’re done (usually take 2-3 hours)

Contact: 612-466-2224 or will@secretstashrecords.com

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Those of you who have a copy of Peruvian Funk are already familiar with Black Sugar. This Peruvian funk/soul/rock outfit from Lima only recorded two LPs (71′ and 72′). This vinyl reissue of their debut LP was pressed by our friends at Lazarus Productions a few years ago. Original copies often sell for over $200 on ebay. When we licensed the Black Sugar tracks from them for Peruvian Funk we also bought their remaining inventory of this title. Now you can get your copy directly from us for only $13. We only have a few left (most were shipped to distributors overseas), so act fast if you would like one. When they’re gone, they’re gone.

We are thrilled to announce that NPR has chose “Quizas Un Dia Asi” by Peña as their Song of the Day last Friday.

“it’s a testament to the stripped-down approach, demonstrating once again that less can be more. There is no overthinking, oversinging, overemoting or overplaying. But passion oozes from the outset, erasing the gap in familiarity to nail the performance — a feat that’s often lost on artists with longer résumés and deeper pedigrees.” -NPR

Click here to read more and listen to “Quizas Un Dia Asi” for free

Peña has arrived here at the Secret Stash world headquarters in Minneapolis.  Check out these photos of the finished products.  Each one includes a CD+DVD with 8 pages of liner notes and photos in a beautiful wooden box for $17 (US).  We’ll announce preordering very soon.  Stay tuned!

In April of 2010 Secret Stash Records traveled to Lima, Peru and assembled Pena, an Afro-Peruvian ensemble featuring a handful of the best musicians within the genre.  The group was a revolving door of sorts that included over a dozen players ranging in age from 24 to 65.  In seven days they recorded over 50 tracks.  With no access to a conventional recording studio they improvised by tracking in classrooms, living rooms, balconies, offices, and even on the stoop of a hostile.  The sessions were fast, free spirited, and generally consisted of one or two takes per track.  The result is an authentic display of one of the world’s most unique, unexplored and underrated musical styles.

Afro-Peruvian music was born directly out of the slave culture of costal Peru (approx. 1521-1856).  Each style or form of the genre reflects a different aspect of the life of slavery.  The distinguishing instrument of Afro-Peruvian music is the cajón, a large wooden box drum.  The first cajónes were nothing more than dresser drawers and fruit boxes used by slaves as drums.

For nearly 100 years Afro-Peruvian music and culture slowly withered away until the 1950’s when a small group of people in the village of El Carmen began a revival movement.  Over the following decades, Afro-Peruvian music began to thrive on a much larger scale.  By the 1970s Lima became the epicenter of its rediscovery.  Until now, outside of Peru, this music had received very little recognition or notoriety.  Only a small handful of Afro-Peruvian records are available abroad today.

 

In April of 2010, Secret Stash Records traveled to Lima, Peru in search of music to bring back to the U.S. and share with the world.  While down there, we asked everyone we talked to about Peruvian funk music.  No one had any idea what we were talking about.  They didn’t even know what funk was. The few people who thought they knew what it was had no recollection of any Peruvian Funk ever existing.  Convinced that some form of funk had to exist in Lima during the 70s, and determined to find it, we continued to inquire everywhere we went.  After much searching, we finally stumbled over some by total accident.

A local man was helping us sort through stacks of records in a run-down garage when he handed me a pile of what he called rock records.  Most of the stuff was psych and pop from the 60s and 70s.  But, as it turned out, a few were straight up funk.  Apparently, they had funk in Peru during the 70s, Peruvians just didn’t know that’s what it was called.

Peruvian Funk brings together the funkiest cuts we found that day in Lima on one compilation.  The mix of Latin jazz, soul, and hard funk found in these recordings makes for one of the most fun records we’ve ever had the pleasure of releasing.  We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.