Reviews

Secret Stealth

Secret Stealth SSSHHH!! Album coverSecret Stealth
Ssshhh!
Bocajito (UK)

Album of the month in i-DJ

"With a name like Secret Stealth and a title called SSSHHH!, you could be led to thinking that Crazy Penis¹s Jim Baron and Fug¹s Bob Sadler are on a covert operation not meant for public knowledge, but with beats as good as this, SSSHHH! is about to become as secret as the fact that the Tooth Fairy doesn¹t exist. Yes, I'm sorry if I've burst a few bubbles there, but it¹s true... get used to it, and while you¹re at it, check out Secret Stealth¹s debut opus a beautiful bundle of funk drenched organic melodies, this¹ll sooth anyone¹s soul, even if it didn't need soothing in the first place.

Take the opener, Stealth 2, igniting with a classic whah whah guitar riff, it builds both musically and percussively into a horn and organ drenched number that'll get you hooked from the off. Throughout the ride we¹re taken through many levels of funk, soul, and house with plenty of live instruments, lush vocals and subtle electronic touches (except the deep creeper, Stealth 1, which is blatantly electronic, but it's cracker all the same). I hate to be smug, but the advanced copy of this has been the soundtrack to my summer, and with a September release it looks like you've lucked out. But don't worry, this badboy will be around for many summers yet, and that's no secret!"

Dave Jenkins (i-DJ)

Review from Blues and Soul Magazine September 2005


Secret Stealth (AKA Jim Baron (Crazy P) and Bob Sadler (Fug) release their debut 'SSSHHH!' on Bocajito, a new subsidiary of the awesome Shiva label.

The album fuses dancefloor friendly soul and jazz with elements of downtempo thrown in for good measure. The songwriting is superb, most
evident on the gorgeous 'Can't Get Away From You', whilst the grooves throughout are impeccable 'Stealth 1'). Again, this is just a must have, from
the Shiva collective that can do no wrong at the moment.

Ben Mynott



Reviews

Yap Zeeland

Yap Zeeland
Music as a gradual process
Bocajito Records (UK)

iDJ Magazine November 2005

"Following the release of the frankly fabulous Secret Stealth album last month, Nottingham¹s Bocajito label return with another slow-burning delight.

This time the culprits are Neon Heights¹ Cal Gibson and Fug¹s Tom Bailey, though the premise is very much the same: two blokes in a studio with a load of instruments, a sampler, a computer and a bunch of old records. Very much like the recent album from East Midlands compatriots Amillionsons, 'Music Is A Gradual Process' pits cheeky samples (late night local radio phone-ins, classic comedy clips. snippets of vocals from obscure jazz records etc) against a series of warm and organic laidback grooves. It¹s a formula that manages to evoke memories of classic downtempo albums of old, whilst remaining on-point and focused enough to avoid the pitfalls of ambient noodling (thanks largely, it has to be said, to the abundance of live instruments on show).

I have to admit to being a bit surprised at first by the rather trippy and unsettling nature of much of 'Music Is A Gradual Process', but that¹s actually it¹s strongest selling point: this is proper late night tackle of the finest order. Yap¹s entertainment.

4 (out of 5)

Matt Anniss (iDJ Magazine)



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