Sixtoo

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With Sixtoo's star apparently in the ascendant in the alt-hip hop heavens (is there not another word for this kind of music? Please let me know if there is), an e-Bay busting retrospective round up of the Canadian's earlier work seems like a timely release. However, his next appearance as part of the Ninja Tune stable (the boy having found his spiritual home there) will have to be something mighty indeed if it's to live up to this collection.
I'm not entirely sure of the "Psyche" referred to in this record's subtitle is the name of the label the stuff originally came out on, or a description of the music itself. The generally slow pace and introspective mood as well as the choice of samples and sounds hint at both psyche as in "-delic" and also as in "-chotic". Sixtoo weaves a web that is always threatening to tangle, but never quite does, however complex and deep it becomes.
Lyrically, Sixtoo shifts across a wide spectrum. Opening thumper "Destroy" seems to be a standard piece of rap brag, with it's repeated declaration "It's time to crush the opposition" and its insistent "Destroy" sample, but then goes on to set out a clear agenda "Self-distribution...we record ourselves on 4-tracks to keep the cost to a minimum...from the sidelines we advance..." A manifesto for leftfield hip-hop, and possibly the first (to my knowledge) reference in popular music to distribution methods.
Other favourite themes are mysterious global cataclysms (the disturbing "Caukazoid Germ" seems to tell the story of some horrendous virus in a piece of dystopian science fiction, or it could all be a sinister allegory that I'm missing), and above all the weather. While his preoccupation with global warming is admirable, and the shocked declaration that "My son will never see the snow" on "Lacking Precipitation" is very moving, he does occasionally verge on sounding like a grumpy old bloke complaining that the summers aren't what they were when we were kids.
Going deeper into his psyche, Sixtoo isn't afraid to look into himself either. The gorgeous, haunting "Sultry" weaves an (appropriately) sultry cello around some intimate beats while Sixtoo talks (and definitely doesn't rap here): "take these lies in the poem of your heart...they're all I have...this one box that holds my entire life in it", before offering said box to the listener by the end of the piece.
While Sixtoo's rhymes intrigue, the greatest strength here is the music itself. A great range of samples from trumpets, cellos, a didgeridoo, flutes and god knows what else seem to haunt the beats in a sound not ever so far from what we used to lovingly call "trip hop". A few instrumental interludes tease and then fade before building into anything substantial - and this is a great shame. Sometimes you find yourself wishing that Sixtoo would stop his flow and let us just listen to those great beats more. An instrumental version of this album would be a fine thing, fine as Sixtoo's rhymes are.
Less shouty than the Def Jux people, lusher than Anti-Pop and not as self-referential and overtly wacky as Clouddead, more of Sixtoo's psyche is worth keeping an eye out for.