Six Degrees

SoukSonik

admin — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 02:48:00 +0000

After listening to the first 10 seconds of SoukSonic, I had no doubt that Jef Stott's work is strongly influenced by Middle Eastern music. According to his label's profile, Stott is a musical anthropologist who plays several traditional Middle Eastern string and percussion instruments. His anthropological training "inform[s] his sensibility about cultural relativism and issues of appropriation”--an intriguing statement since souk is Arabic for "marketplace."

The album is basically Middle Eastern-infused techno. It is at times too frenetic, as though Stott hit the fast forward button and liked the results. At other times, it almost strays into trance, though the tracks are too short and the tempo too fast.

Stott is an experienced producer, but SoukSonic eschews the full-bodied mellowness of the instruments and sounds as though it used a synthesized facsimile rather than the real thing. Overall, the EP is worth a listen, but not memorable enough to get into my favorites playlist with the possible exception of the infectious “Lamacet.”

Written by: Vita Foster, June 8th 2007

Momento

admin — Mon, 28 May 2007 18:39:00 +0000

By Bebel Gilberto

Six Degrees

I’m not usually a headphones-in-the-outdoors type of girl, but I knew I had to take this one to the park. For real. This was an album requiring devoted listening. Musically complex, fresh and so fitting it’s title, this collection of songs required me to take a Momento to stop, appreciate and listen.

Maybe it’s the fact that I am sitting on a green-checkered blanket in the warm Oakland sunshine, gazing across the softness of sloping green grass at the lake on a Sunday afternoon. Maybe it’s the heat of the sun on my thirsty spring skin that has me flying. No matter which inspired which, Bebel Gilberto’s album has my soul dancing and swaying out across the water into limitless sky. I’m buoyed up by Bebel’s honey-toned voice, rhythms ranging from booty-shaking to a soft and steady heartbeat, achingly sweet acoustic guitar, funky electronic sounds and beautiful instrumentation. The cello on “Close to You,” melts me, the chorus of “Os Nuevos Yorkinos” demands that I get up to dance and sing along and her voice alongside the sax on her beautiful cover of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day” turns my knees to rubber.

Reviewing an album of Bebel Gilberto’s is a serious endeavor: to try and meet her half-way; to honor her vision, artistry and herstory; to try and describe the expansiveness of her musical expressions and the way her voice flows easy as a ripple across water, and yet reaches straight into ones gut. Her latest album, Momento, is as well-travelled as she is - recorded in Rio de Janeiro, New York and London with friends, colleagues and producers from all over the world.

As a song-writer and musician, Gilberto comes from a family with an impressive musical genealogy, and has had music in her ears before she even had ears. She’s been singing and songwriting since she was a little girl, and it shows. Her album is a collage of sounds and genres from afro-brazilian rythms and percussion, samba and Brazilian pop, to dance, electronica, acoustic ballads and world music. She released her first album, Tanto Tempo in 2000 (nominated for two Latin Grammy awards) and a second self-titled album in 2004 (nominated for a World Music Grammy). As she releases her third album, the whole world is still eagerly listening.

Take a moment - or put on your headphones and make a moment - to appreciate exactly where you are, and where a visionary artist like Bebel can take you.

Written by: Jessmaya Morales, May 28th 2007

Backspin: A Six Degrees 10 Year Anniversary Project

admin — Thu, 17 May 2007 18:45:00 +0000

By Various Artists

Six Degrees

"Everything is closer than you think” is the motto of indie label Six Degrees, moving on the perspective that everyone is connected by six degrees of separation. Now a leader in global pop music, the San Francisco-based company was founded ten years ago by two former Windham Hill employees, Bob Duskis and Pat Berry. To gain back control over who and what went on labels - not just satisfy the people in accounting - the pair started their own label with their “ears open.”

Backspin: A Six Degrees 10 Year Anniversary Project dovetails the look backward and forward in the progression of music across the globe. The label produces eclectic “genre-bending” records out of their operations base and this small, impactful outlet brings into its fold a cross-cut of a variety of cultures: Indian, Brazilian, Arabic and Latin, to name a few. Encompassing the world of electronica ethnography and revealing that electronic music is culturally various around the world.

Backspin presents a dozen artists recording legendary favorites in new adaptations. This collection of new spins on old favorites - originally by artists like The Police, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd - reflect the diverse perspective that music allows. The release is a cross section of artists recording standards in a new approach from their original casing, with Shrift covering "God Only Knows," New Dehli’s MIDIval PunditZ recreate Led Zeppelin’s “Four Sticks” and The Bombay Dub Orchestra rework the "Get Carter Theme." Artists from all corners of the world transcend geographic borders and touch the human spirit.

Written by: Mary O'Hara, May 17th 2007

Elysium for the Brave/Elysium Remixes

admin — Sat, 12 May 2007 01:41:00 +0000

By Azam Ali

Six Degrees

You know you’ve heard that sexy, haunting voice somewhere before. If you’re no stranger to sci-fi, you may have heard Azam Ali’s vocals on the soundtrack of such movies as Children of Dune, Matrix Revolutions and Earthsea, among others. Although Elysium for the Brave is only Azam Ali’s second solo album, the singer has been with world music duo Vas since 1996 and has started Niyaz, a side project whose first album debuted at #1 on the iTunes world music chart. This album has credentials and confidence.

Ali’s voice is simply lovely, especially when paired with Elysium’s richly layered instrumentation and hypnotic beats. The songs, in both English and Farsi, are dark and brooding with Persian, Indian and western influences. Ali sings of wars, internal and external, and the arrangements in her music carry that tension. Despite having all of the right ingredients, Ali’s sophomore effort was disappointing. Most songs on the album leave the listener waiting for a climax that never happens, which is especially frustrating because they are longer than a typical pop song. “From Heaven to Dust” is her shortest song at 4:18; “I am a Stranger in This World” goes on for over 7 minutes. Remixes makes this problem more apparent. Set to overused beats and sliced to its most simplistic, her beautiful but hollow music loses what soul it had. Elysium for the Brave is a showcase for Ali’s voice, and can be enjoyed as simply that, but listeners looking for the emotional intensity it seems to promise will be disappointed.

Written by: H. V. Cramond, May 11th 2007