And Ever the Twain Shall Meet

The musical product of Ustad Sultan Khan’s collaboration with Thievery Corporation and other remixers.

elephant* is a wonderful magazine. We’re about organic dining, sustainable living, meditation, indie biz, contemplative arts and other good stuff. If something can be of benefit to you and me and this good ol’ earth of ours, we’ll find a way to talk about it.

But one thing we’re not, is cool. Let’s face it: Nicky and Paris aren’t clamoring to get into our parties. Paparazzi don’t chase our editor on his 40-lb cruiser (a good thing, too). When I describe elephant* to friends in bars, they almost always say, “oh, like, a hippie thing?”

Same goes for most of the yoga/massage-appropriate music we’ve ever reviewed. It might sound nice, but so do whales and trickling fountains. Don’t mean it’s cool.

Well, lemmetellu. Any of my cool friends walk in the last few hours, I wouldn’t have to jump up and switch off the music. I’ve been listening to Rare Elements, from David Nichtern & Co, in NYC — and it manages to be both “spiritual” and highly playable. The product of Ustad Sultan Khan’s collaboration with Thievery Corporation and other remixers, Rare Elephants (sic) earns our elephant*-of-the-issue award.

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~ From elephant journal, Autumn 2004.