Backspin
that milestone, the label looks ahead to the future by looking back, with a collection of surprising and distinctive covers: Backspin, a Six Degrees 10 Year Anniversary Project. Backspin features a dozen artists from the label’s eclectic global roster, each presenting a new spin on an old favorite. Songs by Led Zeppelin, The Police, The Cure, and Pink Floyd, among others, are re-imagined by Six Degrees stalwarts including Karsh Kale, MIDIval PunditZ, Banco de Gaia, Ojos de Brujo, and more.
World music purists have never been happy with the Six Degrees label’s pan-cultural mash-ups or the fact that western rock has a global influence. They’ll take no comfort when India’s MIDivil PunditZ lay their digitized-Bollywood sound on Led Zeppelin’s "Four Sticks," nor respite when Spain’s Ojos de Brujo conduct a flamenco romp through Bob Marley’s "Get Up Stand Up." It’s all part of the concept of Backspin: A Six Degrees 10 Year Anniversary Project. Each of these artists, all associated with Six Degrees, covers a song that had an influence on them. Like Jimi Hendrix with "All Along the Watchtower," the best make the song so personal that you forget the original. And speaking of Hendrix, psychedelia fares well on Backspin, with a cover of the guitarist’s "If 6 was 9" by Rara Avis (from Desert Dwellers). A nine-minute compression of Pink Floyd’s "Echoes" by Banco de Gaia is a jewel of hallucinogenic electronica. Singer Azam Ali and Niyaz are probably the only ones who could take the Cure’s "Love Song" and make it sound like a Rumi love poem. Dzihan & Kamien’s soul-jazz take on Herbie Hancock’s "Rockit" is actually more jazz-driven than the original electro-funk hit, with some Herbie Mann-style solo flute driving the track. Few transformations are as radical as the Real Tuesday Weld’s deadpan, Leonard Cohenesque read of ABBA’s "The Day Before You Came." Yet even the relatively faithful versions reveal new dimensions in these works, like Karsh Kale’s ominous stomp on the Police’s "Spirits in the Material World." Shrift’s ethereally intoxicated drift through the Beach Boys’ "God Only Knows" makes it sound even more heavenly than the original. But most artists here completely reinvent their songs. Backspin isn’t meant to be profound, but it does underscore the global-village ethos that has brought the music of the world as close as the click of a key. —John Diliberto
