Six Degrees Records is one of the reasons that world music is no longer considered a staid genre, the domain of ethnomusicologists combing the backwaters of the planet searching for lost, unclothed indigenous tribes bellowing field hollers to the trees. By fostering forward-reaching fusions of contemporary ethnic sounds and club-friendly electronics, Six Degrees has expanded both the verbal and rhythmic language of world music, at the same time doing more than its share to change the often restrictive face of dance music. Backspin is the label’s birthday present to itself, and to those open-minded enough to appreciate the idea of classic rock-and-related songs by Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, the Cure, the Police and the Beatles being shredded and pieced back together as new entities. Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit” naturally lends itself to the kind of funky treatment dZihan & Kamien bring to it, and ABBA’s “The Day Before You Came” is transformed by the Real Tuesday Weld into some sort of demented post-Commie Eastern European cosmic country. MIDIval PunditZ plays off Robert Plant and Jimmy Page’s obsessions with Middle Eastern textures to bring Zep’s “Four Sticks” even closer to its roots — with significant sonic updating, while Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up” makes the transition to nuevo flamenco easily in the hands of Spain’s fiery innovators Ojos de Brujo. Not all is beat-crazy though. Shrift takes Brian Wilson’s most perfect opus, the Pet Sounds centerpiece “God Only Knows,” and adorns it with lush orchestral effects and space-enveloping keyboards — the result manages to stay true to Wilson’s classic arrangement while rebuilding it into something he probably never imagined. On the other hand, MNO’s transformation of one of John Lennon’s most personal songs, “Julia,” into an approximation of Balinese gamelan music bears virtually no resemblance to the original, although it sure is pretty. – Jeff Tamarkin
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