The Secret Life of a Six Degrees employee : Michael K. (The Worker)

In our ongoing mission to introduce you to the many talented folks that work here and who help make Six Degrees the label it is, we present to you our second installment in our "Secret Life of a Six Degrees Employee" series. If you are new to the blog, you should backtrack and catch up with our bass loving "head of publicity" Ryan Romana who recommends some vital trax in the dubstep genre.

Michael Kelly started working here as an intern in 2004. He stands as living proof that hard working, good people CAN rise up through the ranks of a business and turn an internship into an actual paid position. He is now our "head of marketing" which essentially means he spends his time trying to figure out innovative ways to make YOU aware of our artists and our releases. (no easy task in today's crazy market). When he's not racking his brains coming up with marketing strategies, he's spinning the best in minimal techno and other forms of electronic music as "The Worker". Here is his story:




During the day I'm the head of marketing at Six Degrees but in my secret life as a Six Degrees employee I promote and DJ techno parties in San Francisco with a group called FICTION under the name The Worker. We do a monthly residency at Vertigo and occasional one-off parties at various SF venues.

more info:
www.myspace.com/fictionsf
www.myspace.com/dwurkur



this too is world music

Here is another look at what world music can be - a "soundtrack of the world" from a significantly different direction. Instead of "world music" as a collection of vastly different and uniquely regional music collected under a conceptual banner of "world music" it is instead is a movement - albeit very loosely coordinated- of producers, performers and DJs participating in one focused, interlocking "art piece" - named techno. While other music, such as jazz, has been shared across the world, the development of techno takes musical collaboration to a whole new - global - level. Owing much of its conceptual roots to the minimalist art movement, the strictness of form in this music allows for vast yet cohesive collaboration. Developments with technology in musical production and the constant inclusion or referencing of each other's music by performing DJs (many who are also producers) add to this "collaborative culture." It's like one big musical session from all corners of the world where producers and DJs are constantly adding, subtracting, remixing and recontextualizing each other's music.

I have put together a wide sampling of producers that showcase these sounds - videos on YouTube showing either a live performance or music video. Some of the YouTube videos are rougher cuts taken on people's handheld cameras - certainly not professional. Sorry about the choppy nature of some of them - but I wanted to give a good sense of the vibe when these performers are playing out.






Hiroshi Watanabe (aka KaitO)
deeper more ambient oriented techno from a producer based in Tokyo who releases music with Kompakt from Cologne, Germany.

nice video piece of him and his music - YouTube - click here




Trentemøller
minimal techno producer from Denmark who includes crisp textural components and pop influenced vocal hooks

great video for his song "Moan" - YouTube - click here




Onur Özer
minimal techno producer from Turkey that focuses on tweakier tension building productions

performing at Love Parade in Berlin 2006 - YouTube - click here
performing with Mathias Kaden @ The Melt! festival in Germany - YouTube (warning: a bit choppy) - click here




Barem
deep, deep minimal techno producer from Argentina who often includes percussive bursts over rolling basslines.

live footage of his performance at Hafenstrand - YouTube - click here




Samim
Swiss-Iranian producer who relocated from Zurich to Berlin and produced one of the bigger hits in techno - "Heater" - in 2007. A very distinctive track it showcases an accordion often used in cumbia from Colombia. Not the typical approach in techno but a fun song (though it was overplayed and now problematic to include in many DJ sets) and the video captures the global feel of this musical culture.

the video for "Heater" - YouTube - click here