Edito de Backspin: A Six Degrees 10 Year Anniversary ProjectAs I sit down to write these liner notes, I have just returned from a trip to New York to surprise my mother for her 75th birthday. That occasion has me reflecting on the fact that, the older I get, the more I understand the importance of taking the time to mark and celebrate milestone events in our lives, especially those having to do with family. For 10 years now, Six Degrees has been like a family (admittedly an extended and often dysfunctional one) and as such, we couldn?t let this 10 Year anniversary go unmarked. I honestly don?t know if my co-founder, Pat Berry, and I ever dreamed we?d be in business for 10 years when we started this label but I do know there were many times along the way where we didn?t think we?d make it this far. Six Degrees was started as an idealistic concept at a time when the music industry was just beginning to experience huge, tectonic shifts in its basic business model. Since our first release, we have seen the advent of illegal music downloads and file sharing, CD burners, music blogs, podcasts, Internet radio, satellite radio and now, legal music download services. Through it all we have tried very hard to hold on to our original concept that there is a place in this embattled industry for a smart, scrappy, independent label that produces quality music that exists outside of the mainstream. I won?t insult your intelligence by saying it?s been easy but I can honestly say, it?s never been boring. The concept for this project is a simple one. I asked our roster to produce a new cover version of a song that has been influential to them and their development as musicians. The record is special because of the artistry and creativity that each participant brought to these tracks. I?ve always been a sucker for a great cover tune and I think there?s twelve of them here, each one putting a new (back) spin on a familiar classic. Thanks for listening. We wouldn?t be here without you- Bob Duskis- Co-founder Six Degrees Records 1. Karsh Kale ? Spirits In The Material World 4:37 Written by Sting EMI Blackwood Music Inc. (BMI) (p) 2007 Six Degrees Records Karsh Kale - vocals, electric guitar, keyboards, drum and percussion programming Yosi Fine - electric bass, additional guitars Produced Recreated and Kovered by Karsh Kale Mixed by Yosi Fine at Exentric Sound I grew up studying the music of Sting and the Police. I remember being captivated by the sound of Sting?s vocals on ?Spirits? when I was a kid. They were so haunting and yet so present. At the time I didn?t even know what he was singing about, but as I grew, the song kept revealing itself to me in new ways. 24 years after its original release, it still sounds brand new. I only changed one line in my version from the original lyrics "there is no bloody revolution" to "this is the bloody revolution", which seemed a bit more fitting for the times. The coolest thing about doing this song was that I sent it over to Sting after it was done....and he loved it....he wrote, "You sound like you know what your singing about". I guess I finally got it. ? Karsh Kale 2. dZihan & Kamien ? Rockit 3:50 Written by Herbie Hancock, Bill Laswell and Michael James Beinhorn Published by Hancock Music Company (BMI)/More Cut Music (BMI) (p) 2007 Six Degrees Records Heinrich von Kalnein - flute DJ Mango - turntables Herbie Hancock has always been one of our favourites. Just hear him play, no matter if with the Miles Davis quintet, the Headhunters or alone. This man is free! - dZihan & Kamien 3. The Bombay Dub Orchestra ? Get Carter Theme 7:03 Written by Roy Frederick Budd and Tyler Lee Bates Published by EMI April Music Inc./EMI United Partnership Ltd. (ASCAP) (p) 2007 Six Degrees Records Garry Hughes and Andrew T. Mackay - keyboards and programming David Rainger - guitars Sirishkumar ? tablas Produced by BDO This is our version of the theme music from the 1971 film Get Carter. This was a British gangster film noir directed by Mike Hodges starring Michael Caine. It's not to be confused with the remake Get Carter made in 2000 with Sylvester Stallone! Although I haven't seen the film in ages the music stuck with me. For many years the soundtrack was unavailable and was extremely hard to find on vinyl. Thankfully Castle music released the soundtrack on CD in 2002 and Roy Budd's score still sounds great. If you like 70's music with a ?spybeat? and psychedelic slant you'll dig this. The track started off as a jam session in my studio with Andrew and I on various synthesisers and electric pianos and just grew from there. Terrific contributions from David Rainger on guitar followed, (note David's patent "guitar scratching" working beautifully here. SirishKumar delivered a rocking tabla performance to finish things off. ? Garry Roy Budd was an interesting guy, a child prodigy who found fame writing music for film scores. He got his first film score by faking up a soundtrack using music from all the leading composers of the day ? saying it was his music. He got the job but sensibly never used any of the themes from the temp score! He created a classic score with Get Carter for a tiny budget of only £450 and only three musicians, with Budd playing electric piano and harpsichord at the same time. - Andrew 4. Niyaz ? Love Song 4:46 Written by Simon Jonathon Gallup, Roger O'Donnell, Robert James Smith, Porl Thompson, Laurence Andrew Tolhurst and Boris Peter Bransby Williams Published by BMG Songs Inc (ASCAP) (p) 2007 Six Degrees Records Produced & arranged by Niyaz (Azam Ali, Loga Ramin Torkian, Carmen Rizzo) Azam Ali - voice Loga Ramin Torkian - electric guitar, guitar viol, saz, lafta Carmen Rizzo - keyboards, programming, synthesizers, drums It is difficult to say whether I chose this song for the beautiful melancholy it invokes, or the simply heartfelt words, which make up the lyrics. What I do know is that I loved this song when I was younger. It is rather strange and deep in its simplicity and unlike most of what I hear these days, it is so honest. ? Azam Ali 5. Rara Avis ? If 6 Was 9 5:56 Written by Jimi Hendrix Published by Experience Hendrix LLC (ASCAP) (p) 2007 Six Degrees Records Rara - vocals, guitars, keys, drums and bass Produced by Rara Avis Mixed by Rara at Yoni Island Studios I picked this song because it reminds me of my Father ? who is largely responsible for my awareness of Hendrix's music having played it at home since before I can remember. As a teenager I was relentless about listening to Jimi's music... Every day for well over five years I had to have it, so it is an amazing experience to be able to channel all that listening into finding a new way to deliver Jimi's incredible sound. I've also always loved the groove Jimi sets up in this piece, so it works really well when approached from a dance perspective. ? Rara Avis 6. MIDIval PunditZ ? Four Sticks 5:15 Written by James Patrick Page and Robert A. Plant Published by Superhype Publishing Inc./WB Music Corp/Warner Chappell Music Inc. (ASCAP) (p) 2007 Six Degrees Records Pankaj Awasthi - vocals Praveen Sethi and Bhol - dhol and duff Randolph Correia - electric and acoustic guitars Ajay Prasanna - flute Produced by MIDIval PunditZ (Gaurav Raina and Tapan Raj) Engineered by Gaurav Raina The version of ?Four Sticks? performed on the album No Quarter: Unledded has inspired us since our college days. It?s a brilliant version where they (Page and Plant) used a live string orchestra along with Middle Eastern percussionists to create a magical vibe. Its easy to see that Led Zep themselves were inspired by the music of the Middle East and India. We also read somewhere that the song was originally written in India when the band was traveling through Asia during the ?70s. So, maybe its time someone from India gave homage to the greatest band of all time. ? MIDIval PunditZ 7. Ojos de Brujos ? Get Up Stand Up 3:48 Written by Bob Marley and Winston Mc Intosh Lyrics in Spanish by Marina Abad and Rap by Maxwell Wright Published by Fifty Six Hope Road/Odnil Music Limited/Spirit Two Music Inc. (ASCAP) (p) 2007 Naquera Compas S.L./Diquela Records. Marina Abad - lead voice and backing vocals Paco Lomeña - flamenco guitar Ramón Giménez - flamenco guitar and clapping. Carlos Sarduy - trumpets, piano, timbales, hand bell and güiro. Maxwell Wright - voice rap. Sergio Ramos - cajón and clapping. Panko - scratching and electric guitar. Javi Martín - bass Xavi Turull - congas, tabla, bongó and shakers. Produced by Ojos de Brujo (ODB) Recorded at Feelback by Cesar Cisneros. Mixed in Musiclan (Figueres) by Jim Janick Mastering by George Marino at Sterling Sound. We like Bob Marley because he's an emblematic legend who freaks us all out in the best way. We feel a connection with him and share his goals. He was an honest artist who opened doors in music and in life, pushing for higher consciousness and using his art and popularity to really do something for the oppressed, for the poor, and fighting racial discrimination. He was always socially concerned and committed, like every artist should be. We chose this track for its message and subject matter, which is still very much alive. We have to keep fighting for our rights, fighting against poverty and racism, and pushing towards greater freedom. And of course, always fighting to legalize marijuana, too. How can it be that humans forbid something that has been created and given to us by God through nature? What a mysterious and suspicious contradiction! In our version of this song, we've used flamenco tango as a base and then move the music into a modern flamenco rumba/son cubano style, with flamenco guitars, palmas (clapping) and cajón as the leading groove instruments, adding the newest Ojos dimension of Cuban piano and horns. ? Ojos de Brujos 8. Los Mocosos ? The Bed?s Too Big Without You 4:12 Written by Sting EMI Blackwood Music Inc (BMI) (p) 2007 Six Degrees Records Carlos Soto: lead vocals, Gordon "Shorty" Ramos: sax and vocals, Victor Castro: trombone and vocals Gabe Sandino: guitar Ayla Davila: bass Roberto Quintana: percussion Steve Carter: keyboards Produced by Steve Carter and Los Mocosos. Mixed and recorded by Steve Carter at Steve & Carla's Place. Just like The Police, in some ways, Los Mocosos like to turn things around musically. ?The Bed?s Too Big Without You? was a perfect choice, with its infectious rhythm and catchy yet clever lyrics. We decided to add a cumbia beat with Spanish lyrics to add some Mocoso fun to this tune. I hope you will enjoy this tune as much as we did recreating it. ? Gabe Sandino 9. The Real Tuesday Weld ? The Day Before You Came 5:10 Written by Benny Sigvard Andersson & Bjoern K. Ulvaeus Published by EMI Waterford Music Inc/EMI Music Publishing & Universal Polygram International (ASCAP) (p) 2007 Stephen Coates Vocals: Stephen Coates Produced, arranged and performed by the Clerkenwell Kid. I remember hearing this as a child and being entranced. This release will be twenty-five years after the original was recorded. It is the last song that Abba made and is probably their most melancholic. It seems to perfectly evoke (without sentimentality) the potential of love to transform the ennui of ordinary urban life. In fact it is quite haunting - the lyric and the hypnotic repetition of the synths creating a wonderful air of foreboding and expectation. We never teach who the mysterious 'You' in the song is. I picked up on the ambiguous sexuality of that and re-imagined it sung from a male point of view and placed in a kind of dreamed eastern European cold war setting or perhaps in the romantic dystopia of Terry Gilliam's Brazil. It would also be possible to record this song as a hymn to the 'beloved' of Sufi poetry perhaps. Maybe next time.... - The Real Tuesday Weld 10. Shrift ? God Only Knows 3:11 Written by Brian Douglas Wilson & Tony Asher Published by Irving Music (BMI) (p) 2007 Six Degrees Records Vocals: Nina Miranda Music: Dennis Wheatley Produced by Shrift Recorded at the Storkery, London ?God Only Knows? has been with me since a childhood holiday where I would watch some painters at work every evening, crafting their imaginary old Cornish fishing scenes for the on looking tourists whilst listening to the Beach Boys greatest hits! When I returned home it was the first album I ever bought and although I was too young to really get the words, I felt strangely emotional about the song ?God Only Knows.? Like many Brian Wilson songs it has a complex simplicity along with plenty of raw feeling. Nina was relatively unaware of the song. She sung it after only listening to an obscure live version. We tried to strip the song down and avoided the temptation to recreate all of the harmonies and signature Beach Boys arrangement. - Dennis 11. Banco de Gaia ? Echoes 8:42 Written by David Jon Gilmour, Nicholas Berkeley Mason, George Roger Waters, Richard John Wright Published by Hampshire House Publishing Corp./The Richmond Organization (ASCAP) (p) 2007 Disco Gecko Recordings Produced by Toby Marks When I was about 10 I was introduced to the first Pink Floyd album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and, not knowing any better I assumed this was what all adults listened to and I went on fall in love with all of their albums up until The Wall. 30-odd years later it seemed a Floyd track was the obvious choice as an example of my influences and as ?Echoes? has always been one of my favourite tracks I decided to have a go at that. I trust purists will recognise the humour and affection in my version! ? Banco de Gaia 12. MNO ? Julia 3:44 Written by John Winston Lennon & Paul McCartney Published by Sony/ATV Tunes LLC/Beatles (ASCAP) (p) 2007 Six Degrees Records Vibraphone/Programming/Producer: MNO The simplicity of ?Julia? has always intrigued me, there is a calmness and purity to this piece which resolves the passion and angst of the White Album. Most of the melody consists of a single note that floats over changing harmonies. This being the case, it poses the question for me, how could such a simple melody be so profoundly beautiful? The simple and also profoundly beautiful sound of Balinese Gamelan music seemed an obvious choice to compliment the song. - MNO Thanks to: Our extended family of artists, staff members, booking agents, managers and like-minded labels past and present, Joe and Gene Amato, Barry Platnick, Carol Sue Baker, Al Evers, Gregg Hamerschlag, Larry Mestel, Amy Berry, Gregg Bryon and Samantha Rose Bryon- Duskis. Mastering by Ken Lee at Ken Lee Mastering Art direction/design by Michael Snyder Compilation produced by Robert Duskis Lire la suite