Artist: Sonantes Album: Sonantes Label: Six Degrees Records Release Date: May 20th, 2008 Listen to "Quilombo te Espera": Sonantes is a musical collaborative from Sao Paulo - the result of which is greater than the sum of its parts. The parts in this case are: CéU, members of Brazilian groups Nação Zumbi and Instituto, as well as guest stars including Siba, Lucio Maia, Beto Villares, and Apollo 9. Last year LAist reviewed CéU's excellent and......

Artist: Jef Stott Album: Saracen Label: Six Degrees Records Release Date: 04/22/2008 Listen to "Lamaset (Miami Mix)": Jef Sott is the multiimstrumentalist cofoundeder of SF-based bands Lumin and Stellamara - Saracen is his first full-length solo effort. Featuring his virtuosity on Arab and Turkish lutes, Stott plays everything on this album:hammered dulcimer, bass, synth, and layers and layers of hand percussion. There are some excellent Persian and Arabic vocals by MC RAI, Reda Darwish, and......

Six Degrees Records has had a very busy Q1 - below are just a few of their recent releases and there's a lot more to come according to their release schedule. If you've watched PBS or listened to public radio then you know about the indefatigable travel expert Rudy Maxa, host of radio's "Savvy Traveler" and TV's "Smart Travels: (Insert Continent Here) with Rudy Maxa". "Music From Rudy Maxa's World" is both a great international......

Artist: Cheb i Sabbah Album: Devotion Label: Six Degrees Records Release Date: 01/29/08 Listen to "Qalanderi": Devotion CD Release Party @ The Temple Bar - Saturday, February 2nd The incomparable Cheb i Sabbah has produced Devotion, his seventh release for Six Degrees Records, once again inviting us to enjoy his updated presentation of the timeless music of central Asia. San Francisco-based Cheb i Sabbah traveled to India to record the vocals for several tracks with......

Artist:Da Cruz Album: Nova Estaçāo EP1&2 Label: Six Degrees Records Release Date: Fall 2007 Listen to the track "Intro (Sao Jorge)": Nova Estaçāo EP1&2 is another release in the "Emerging Artists" series from the label Six Degrees Records. This series is part of Six Degrees' efforts to get new and innovative artists out in front of people as quickly as possible and inexpensively as well - these are electronic releases that you can pick and......

Artist: The Real Tuesday Weld Album: The London Book of the Dead Label: Six Degrees Records Release Date: Fall '07 Listen to the track "Last Words": The Real Tuesday Weld is the recording project of Stephen Coates and The London Book of the Dead is his third release under the name and his second with the Six Degrees label. The name itself is very interesting because at the Six Degrees website refers to "the late......

Artist: Tom Middleton Album: Lifetracks Label: Six Degrees Records Release Date: 11/06/07 Listen to the track "Shinkansen": DJ, mixologist, and producer Tom Middleton has put out an album in his own name. You may have heard of some Middleton's other projects of the last 15 years: AMBA, COSMOS, Global Communication, and The Jedi Knights or his remixes of Prince, Coldplay, and Jamiroquai but this is his first release of his own tracks with his own......

One reason that I like the Six Degrees Records label so much is that it's a high-output label, constantly offering us new artists and music from literally all over the map. Six Degrees is also one of the first labels to truly embrace the web, with digital-only offerings, free downloads, and countless remixes available in almost real-time. Three recent arrivals in Six Degrees web-based Emerging Artist Series are EPs from David Starfire, Alien Chatter, and......

Six Degrees Records recording artist CéU is on her way back to LA for one last show before heading home to Brazil. LAist reviewed her excellent self-titled album a few months ago and we've had a chance to listen to the Remix EP of several of those songs. Three of the best tunes from her eponymous album are featured in delightful new versions on the Remix EP. Go there and check out samples. CéU will......

Looking for a way to cool off this weekend? The beautiful voice of the beautiful Bebel Golberto can be heard on Saturday night at the Avalon. Gilberto is touring in support of her album Momento but she will be playing plenty of other tunes from her nearly 20 year career. Artist: Bebel Gilberto Venue: the Avalon Date/Time: Saturday 09/08/2007, doors @ 6:30pm, show @ 7:30pm......

Artist: Various Album: CINEMATIC: Classic Film Music Remixed Label: Six Degrees Records Release Date: 09/11/2007 Finally an album for hardcore cinephiles and downtempo/electronica fans - lucky me, I'm a denizen of both camps. Producer Bob Duskis paired up film classics by Ennio Morricone, Henry Mancini, and Nino Rota with electronica producers like: King Britt, the Bombay Dub Orchestra, Bent, and Gaudi. OK, let's be careful here, there are hardcore cinephiles who will demand that nobody......

Artist: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan + Gaudi Album: Dub Qawwali Label: Six Degrees Records Release Date: August 7th, 2007 I count myself incredibly fortunate to have seen Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan perform while he was still alive, this was back in 1990, at a little hamlet called Santa Barbara, a year or so after Martin Scorsese's Last Temptation of Christ came out, which featured Khan on the soundtrack. The essence of one......

Artist: Spanish Harlem Orchestra Album: United We Swing Release Date: May 2007 Label: Six Degrees Records I don't pretend to be a connoisseur of Latin music: my collection includes a couple Esquivel CDs, Cal Tjader (on red vinyl!), Herb Alpert, Stan Getz, and the Big Latin Band of Henry Mancini - this all pure cheeseball of course. I do love old movies though, am a TCM addict, and I sure do dig it when......

Show Date: Tonight, Friday June 22nd, 2007 Venue: Grand Performances, California Plaza, 350 South Grand Avenue $0 @ 8:00 p.m. Artist:Ojo de Brujo Album: Techari + Techari Remixes Label: Six Degrees Records Barcelona-based flamenco-fusion-epxerimentalists Ojo de Brujo kick off their North American tour tonight in Los Angeles with a FREE concert at Grand Performances, California Plaza, 350 South Grand Avenue. This band of gypsy instrumentalists and DJs is touring in support of their most......

Show Date: Sunday 6/17/2007 Venue: the El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles $30 @ 8:00 p.m. Artist: Bebel Gilberto Album: Momento Label: Six Degrees Records I reviewed Bebel Gilberto's new CD, Momento, last month here on LAist and that CD review was supposed to coincide with her scheduled show at the El Rey but she broke her ankle in an accident and the show was rescheduled to this weekend. If her show is going to......

Show Date: Saturday 5/26/2007 Venue: Temple Bar, Santa Monica $15 @ 9:00 p.m. Artist: Cheb i Sabbah Album: La Ghriba - La Kahena Remixed Release Date: June 2006 Label: Six Degrees Records Cheb i Sabbah has been at the forefront of creating and popularizing something that has gone under many different names for over 40 years: global-beat, world music, ethnic fusion, transglobal electronica, and many other monnikers. Sabbah himself refers to these sounds as......

Artist: Bebel Gilberto Album: Momento Label: Six Degrees Records Release Date: 04/27/2007 Queen of the bossa nova, Bebel Gilberto is on tour promoting her newly released album, Momento. She was supposed to play the El Rey last night and tonight but this hadto be rescheduled to a later date for some reason. With all the heat and fires and smoke, the smooth, soothing, and romantic tones of Bebel might be what the doctor ordered......

Artist: Bombay Dub Orchestra Album: Remixed EP Release Date: 9/22/2006 Label: Six Degrees Records The Bombay Dub Orchestra is spinning a live set at the opening gala of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles on Tuesday night. Their self-titled album came out just less than a year ago but for those not quite ready to take such a big bite of electronified Bollywood and cinematic central asian soundscapes, a small remix project may......

Show Date: Saturday 4/14/2007 Venue: Temple Bar, Santa Monica $15 @ 10:00 p.m. Artist: CéU Album: CéU Label: Six Degrees Records On April 14, CéU (pronounced “say-ew”), the talented young Brazilian singer/songwriter, debuts in Santa Monica at the Temple Bar to celebrate the release of her self-titled debut album, co-released by Six Degrees Records and Starbucks Entertainment. If you like or are interested in exploring contemporary Brazilian music this is a show that’s not......

Downtempo electronica artist Rara Avis will have a chance to showcase tracks from his newly released E.P., Shaktified, at a series of shows in Hollywood and Santa Monica this weekend. The multi-instrumentalist’s work features a focus on tribal house/trance rhythms but his blues and Jimi Hendrix-influenced guitar riffs set him apart from others in this genre. Frequently a collaborator with other electronica DJs and producers, such as the Desert Dwellers, Zen Dancing, and the......