Congratulations to Orquesta Akokán for their Grammy nomination in the Best Tropical Latin Album category!
OREQUESTA AKOKÁN GRAMMY NOMINATION
DOUG SHORTS – CASUAL ENCOUNTER b/w KEEP YOUR HEAD UP
Direct from Chicago, Daptone Records is delighted to introduce the newest member to our celestial stable of stars, Mr. Master Plan Inc. himself – Doug Shorts. After cutting a series of now classic sides with Cherries Records, Doug came to NYC to work on some new recordings with the crack Production Team Silver and Gold: Frank Dukes & Homer Steinweiss. Luckily for us two of the tracks made it over to Daptone HQ, which is what we humbly offer up to you…The Daptone Family!
DAPPY HOLIDAYS
Not your shopping mall’s holiday playlist. Listen on Spotify & Apple Music.
THE DAKTARIS – SOUL EXPLOSION (REMASTERED)
“The Daktaris is a well-disciplined army of two hundred African Bull Elephants marching relentlessly up your business to the beat from Funky Drummer.” Or so began the liner notes on the original pressing of this album…
Truth is often stranger than fiction. In 1998, Desco Records—a precursor to Daptone and Soul Fire Records—released The Daktaris’ Soul Explosion, ostensibly as a reissue of an unearthed Nigerian LP from the seventies. Though it’s now common knowledge that the story was a bit of a hoax, the record’s significance as a seminal part of the Afrobeat and afro-funk renaissance of the last two decades cannot be denied. The roots of the Budos Band, Antibalas, and uncountable others can be traced back to this enigmatic afro-funk release.
Now, two decades later, Daptone has remastered the album from the original tapes, including a bonus track that had previously only been available on a 45, and featuring extensive all new liner notes by Bosco Mann telling the bizarre true story behind the Daktaris sessions.
CHARLES BRADLEY – BLACK VELVET
November 5th, 2018 would have been Charles Bradley’s 70th birthday. In celebration of his extraordinary life, we present you with his fourth and final album, Black Velvet, a collection of 10 songs by the late great Screaming Eagle of Soul, all appearing on album together for the first time and lovingly assembled by his friends and family at Dunham/Daptone Records.
CHARLES BRADLEY BIRTHDAY & BLACK VELVET CELEBRATION
To commemorate what would have been his 70th birthday and celebrate the release of Black Velvet, please join us next week for a night of music and love on both the East and West coasts in Charles’ honor.
THE AR-KAICS – IN THIS TIME
Wick Records is honored to release the sophomore long player from Virginia’s Troglodytic Troubadours, the group with the antediluvian je ne sais quoi: The AR-KAICS!
COCHEMEA – SONG OF HAPPINESS b/w STRANDED IN SPACE…
The debut solo-single from The Dap-Kings sax-man and long-time Daptone Family fixture, the peerless player with palpable provenance, Cochemea Gastelum! Recorded entirely in his humble bedroom studio, Cochemea masterfully blends the drum-machine-laden soul-explorations of artists like Shuggie Otis and Sly Stone, with the avant-garde, electric sax permutations of Eddie Harris.