Beyond Skin

A super clever fusion album. Sawhney collaborates with a number of artists to meld several disaparate styles. Some of these songs weren't my bag, but the format of the album is such that if you don't like something, all you have to do is wait a bit and something better is on the horizon. Really well constructed. Best track: Broken Skin

Don't agree with "Drum and Bass" on wiki but ok. This album started a bit like a Buddha bar album which I generally enjoy. There were some more jazzy/loungy tracks later. Then there was a really whiny song "Nadia" which made me go a bit crazy. The track after was quite pretty though. All in all this album makes me think a little bit of cheesy-ish music at a beach club (even though the subject isn't that festive/romantic at all).

This was not altogether terrible, but it was a very eclectic mix of songs with widely varying quality (with most songs falling on the lower end). A weird album such as this one always has to strike a delicate balance between being original and being annoying. In my opinion this album did not achieve that balance.

Very mellow, like Anita Baker. One reviewer says it melds Spanish flamenco with Indian ragas, but i don't hear either on the first track

Nah

Unfamiliar with this artist previously. Looks like a lot of soundtrack work, so probably heard their work, just didn't even realize it? Anyways, this album definitely has some 90s cheese factor going on, but grabbed my attention at "Homelands" and "Pilgrim" has a cool vibe. From there, it rides into a pleasant cofffehouse vibe of an album and kinda hangs there, with some cool unique flourishes involved. After digging in a little further, the album definitely has some cool themes running throughout. All in all, an enjoyable listen, but not something that needs to be in any regular rotation for me.

I had never heard of this album before. It was a wild trip to listen to it slide through triphop, jazz, and back around again.

First album to actually blow me away. I was not ready for this album to be so good. Great themes addressing important real world issues, and still being good music. Actually making every song vary from eachother and not just making a 50 min. song. I'm looking at you Rage Against The Machine. Starting off, or should I say, ending with a chill hip-hoppy, silent, broken future of a radioactive fallout or something. Just fucking builds up from there, cause "Homelands" really is a fucking masterpiece, and that caught me off-guard. "Serpents" is the only song that kinda sucks and gets tiring to listen to. "The Conference" was really fucking silly, but I heard it for the first time while getting my room ready for control in the military in like 2 minutes, stressing so much while two dudes yell "didkdkydduddjudjdududkdidudkidkdid" in my ears because I wouldn't take out my earbuds because I couldn't find my headphonecase. Crazy shit. But it really had an effect to say the least. 5/5

I really liked this! Pretty much echoed my thoughts for the album OK by Talvin Singh. It's a different sound for electronic music to have. Very enjoyable listen

Really enjoyed it - i guess I'm getting used to Indian music, but the overall vibe was of a chic curry house - one I'd like to eat at!

Guess it’s ok, some songs are ok some are skips

Quite enjoyed what I heard 3*

Actually quite enjoyed it. Very good as background working music. I'm unlikely to ever to remember to listen again though.

Odd.

A remarkable work of art with something to say and many layers to appreciate. Was new to me.

I found this to be mildly boring and frequently irritating.

Pretty chill down-tempo. I like a few of the songs but beyond that for a lot I'd rather them be instrumental.

Really surprising mix of east and west. Liked this one a lot.

Brilliant! Really like this! Don’t know how. Haven’t heard it before. I’ll get it on vinyl

A bit of a slog if I’m honest. Everyone raved about this album at the time but it’s not stood up well. The beautiful Hindi singing elevates the bland dance tracks a little and there’s a few nice touches and flourishes here and there. But not an album for the ages, sadly.

Beyond it all

really interesting blend of world and trance beats; The Conference has some crazy-impressive tongue work

Score might change on a second listen but was surprised how much i enjoyed it. Very unique

Internationaler Lounge Pop mit einer unüberhörbaren Datierung. „Homelands“ weiß wie vieles überzeugen. Das Gros zieht jedoch dem mangelnden Mut zur strengeren Editierung oder einer falsch verstandenen Kompletierungssucht den Durchschnitt arg herab. 2.4

Hmmmmmm

Fusión de diferentes estilos y melodías. No es incómodo de escuchar, pero no le he encontrado ningún aspecto que me llame la atención

didn't really gel with it, couldn't get past the first track even

Pilgrim mi je dobra ovo ostalo dost meh al kao kuzim al neb ponovo slusala jedino ak moram al ne moram. That's all folks

Poštujem istočne elemente u glazbi, međutim u ovom albumu ima tog lošeg zavijanja ako se smijem tako izraziti koje mi većinom upropasti pjesmu nego što ju pošećeri kao npr. Nadia, Homelands, Immigrant (ženski dio i instrumental je dobar), Anthem Without Nation. Pjesma Serpents - dakle nalazim se u pustinji, perjam škorpione sa nekim kolcem dok ovo svira u pozadini, ali nije napeta borba. To mi bilo u glavi, isprike. Pjesme koje bih izdvojio sa ovog albuma su sve nešto opuštajuće, nokturalne nakane (a la trip hop neki) , šteta šta ih je takvih malo (dobrih pjesama hehe) : Pilgrim, Tides, Letting Go i Nostalgia.

Jednostavno fantastičan album od početka do kraja. 👏

found the annoying song from the Apple commercial

loved it

crazy 3.5

Нуууууууу, не знаю. Вроде норм, но наверное не моё.

I want to like this, but it sounds like elevator music to me.

Soms wel aardig, vaak iets te veel van alles

Nee, dat was 't dan niet voor mij.

Het begin vond ik nog wel te pruimen maar na verloop van tijd kon ik er eigenlijk toch niet zoveel mee.

Kon er niet zoveel mee.

Tsja, wat zullen we hier nu eens van zeggen. Het varieert nogal. Origineel is het sowieso. Sommige nummers niet te doen, sommige hartstikke prima.

While some of the ideas here are exciting, there is absolutely way too much going on for anything to gel into something beyond a weird primal scream. The vocal are either great or insanely irksome, the instrumentation groovy and interesting or grating, and the overall effect one of misused potential.

super different. one of my favs so far, nadia, letting go, pilgrim, broken skin, homelands, nostalgia so fire

240324 15:45 3.5

This one surprised me. Not at all what I thought it would sound like based on the cover art. I was thinking something more industrial? I didn't walk away humming anything, but a nice listen all the same.

Eh. I feel like we're going to get every possible trip-hop or trip-hop adjacent album of any note whatsoever on this list. I didn't hate it, didn't love it. Was different than I anticipated. But can we just skip straight to Portishead?

This was an interesting listen. I enjoyed the originality of the album, and how they tried to weave a story with songs. I liked the overall vibes, even if a few songs are bit over the top.

A lot of different sounds on this album. Some of them are really solid, others I found incredibly grating. Cool album, but not for me in the long run.

Wonderful, visionary work. Everything about this feels so neatly stitched together – a seamless patchwork of lovingly curated influences and perfectly executed ideas. To have harmonised so many disparate impulses – let alone to often breathtaking effect – is something, but to have made it feel so immanent (as in: necessary, essential, teleological) is another. There’s a blueprint for a better world inside here, I wish we lived in it.

It's very pretty but this kind of music rarely grabs me. The imposition of quotes for the upcoming nuclear apocalypse and the juxtaposition against beauty and slick production are jarring, however, and it certainly had an effect. I found myself morose for most of the day after listening. So four stars for really meaning something, and for getting a rise out of me, and for several songs I get to add to the rotation.

It’s an interesting concept album, but I wasn’t able to appreciate it fully. The bits about nuclear incidents were interesting, but the music wasn’t for me. EDM with mixed in recorded playbacks told a story, just not interested in hearing it again.

Its ok I just didnt connect, I like the point it makes

Interesting, different, needs a few more listens to really get to grips with it

Very late-90s; watery.

Sounds great and I should like this but none of the songs grabbed me.

Heel verrassende muziek. Begon een beetje vreemd maar werd al snel een beetje RnB-achtig. Daarna kwam er toch iets meer India naar boven. Aangename zangstem. Muziek is wel een beetje voor de nacht, maar heel goed te luisteren. Mijn favoriet is "Nostalgia". ****

50/50 helft verrassend oed, helft verrassend minder.

Pleasant. I don’t think I can say anything else.

1.8 - I cringe because I would’ve pretended to like this garbage in grad school to ingratiate myself with my intellectual classmates. It would’ve been playing at some potluck dinner where I and half the guests brought store-bought tabouli. This is music to very deeply contemplate, doing your best to deny the voice within screaming at you to shut it off. Because deep down you know this music sucks. The fusion of genres is an utter mess. And it tries so hard to be a concept album but what’s the actual concept? Nuclear annihilation? Xenophobia? The Indian diaspora? The only reason this album gets a pass is because it appeals to peoples’ need to appear smart and worldly. We choke it down and smile politely like we do with our store-bought tabouli.

Meh

i’m not sure how to feel about this. i was okay with some of the songs and just didn’t like some. i liked the diversity of the songs but i just didn’t click with it

Trippy. How do you even characterize an album like this? Smooth, airy, haunting... usage of percussion loops, acoustic guitars, mellow layered vocals, various environmental sound effects. I definitely don't like everything, e.g. - the spoken word/raps (e.g. "Pilgrim") don't connect with me and I'm probably just not used to that quarter-tone eastern melody style which is used a lot here ("Anthem Without Nation"). This isn't rock music by any stretch - I still don't know what to call it (electro-easter-jazz-rap?) but the best bits sure were/are interesting and for every turn I don't love [sadly most of the vocal parts especially later in the album] it comes back to maybe jazz piano ("Tides") or breakbeats ("Serpent") that I get into. I don't like it enough to call it a keeper but I could listen to (most of) this again. 6/10 3 stars.

Indisk atmosfære musik og hiphop, med lidt avantgarde jazz indover. Meget mærkeligt blanding

As a political message, it makes a point. However, it's reminiscent of Lisa Stansfield. Would be a shame if Affection isn't included in this 1001 list.

Though there are a number of times that the music finds its vibe and balances electronic, classical, jazz, and indian music, nothing strikes me as very compelling. On the other hand, The Conference, Nadia and Pilgrim are irritating and felt like suffering to make it to the end of the track. Some highs, but more lows on this.

indian jazz/electronica. Might be too distracting for work but i hope not. I love it! not all his stuff but a great surprise and my first 5 star album <3

I think I even bought this album. Now I only quite like it. Very 'polite' in retrospect. some of it very nice, other bits a bit noodly jazz.

This was quite interesting. Enjoyed it.

The algorithm must believe that I need another 1 rating to offset all the 5's I've been getting lately. The instrumental track was nice. So were some of the songs with the female vocalists. I was thisclose to bumping this up to a 2, but that album cover just annoys the shit out of me.

This slots into a particular slice of global music that doesn't do a lot for me, though a few of the pieces stood out. Thematically, subtlety obviously wasn't the point, although maybe when the topic is nuclear proliferation, that's fair?

Culerísimo.

Sí me gustó, por lo general todo intento de combinar y experimentar que salga decente tiene mi aprovacion. Fav: nostalgia, suena muy pop noventero.

No entendí el disco (?), tampoco me esforcé esta vez en buscar más sobre él o el artista, pero la verdad es que lo disfruté y es un soundrtrack chill como para hacer otras cosas en la computadora o demás. Muy estraño, pero muy interesante. Favs: "Homelands", "Nadia", "The Conference" y "Beyond Skin". 9/10

Creative, and different album. Enjoyed it

Kind of interesting, almost a 3. It still sounded very 90s to me and too many rubbish tracks

Beyond Skin emerged at the tail end of the 90's to audiences that were looking for something outside of the dwindling grunge and rave scenes. Though not popular here in the states, there were some faint echos of this scene. Infused with drum and bass and an electronic Middle Eastern slant, this was playing in smart coffee houses and chic retail stores in LA. It created a relaxing yet inspired environment for shoppers and coffee drinkers. I was one of those people and really enjoyed walking through the air-conditioned stores off of the Santa Monica Promenade on a hot summer day with this playing in the background. What this does is creates the feeling that you're smarter than you are and only after buying overpriced Espadrilles while slinking back into your Honda CRX does reality set back in... "what the fuck did I just buy...?" Eventually, people caught on to this magic melody's power and nipped it in the bud... Fuckin' Espadrilles.

Beautifully composed. A spiritual journey.

Sometimes chill, sometimes beautiful, sometimes weird as hell. Lots of cool grooves and some world music tones too. Not my normal cup of tea but it was pretty relaxing at times.

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Broken skin, Homelands, Nadia, The conference

5/5 - Cool! Adding this to my library.

Chill electronic/trip-hop vibes.

Wtf was this beaty???

What a mess of styles. There’s a lot of interesting stuff here, but there is one point where consecutive songs switch from hip hop to instrumental jazz to drum and bass with Hindi vocals to piano pop. There is apparently some deep meaning according to the artist, but it’s lost in the telling. Also very surprised to see this on the list. Most things on the list have had some popularity in the US, with a focus on genres and artists popular in the US and UK. This seems an odd choice, though the artist has apparently won lots of awards in England and worked with lots of famous people.

I think there is great genius in this album. What a labor of love and caring that this prolific artist, operating mostly in the shadows, would use his clout to speak out, beautifully, loudly and passionately, about a cause that concerns him. The production is absolutely stunning, the mixes so complex and yet focused and affecting. The vocals are compelling throughout. The various styles could strike some as too all over the place, but I saw the eclecticism as a way of bringing together many eras and many peoples in a salute to our varied humanity. The concept can be a little heavy-handed at times, but the subject matter is so important that I can let that slide a little. Working backwards in time feels right to me, as it gets us back, at the end of the album, to a time of more innocence and helps us wonder how we might get there again, or where might we be without this threat. This is not an album to put on for easy listening and I wouldn't necessarily dial up songs from it on a whim. But it is an Important album in other ways. I'm glad I've heard it and can see great value in revisiting it in the future.

Because of all the references to India, this album reminds me of my biggest life travel regret. In the mid-2000s I could have gone to India with my friend and his family. It would have been great because his parents grew up there and speak the language, and it would have been great insider guided tour. Plus I really like Indian food. I didn’t go because I was doubling up on grad classes, while working full time, and I didn’t want to miss two weeks of the hardest class I ever took because I would not have recovered. I regret not going because I’m almost certainly never going to go to India and I feel like I lost my chance. Missing my opportunity at India was not worth the better grade in fluid mechanics. Homelands is definitely more appreciated following along with the lyrics. Without them the first time, I wrote the song off as gibberish because I didn’t understand what was going on. But seeing the lyrics, I reassess the song as a beautiful melding of several cultures. Most of the songs are well put together and pleasing enough. However, I don’t think this album knows what it wants to be. Thanks to jkav for pointing this out because I can’t unnoticed it. This just is not my thing. Side note: For Father’s Day I request a 5 star album. No whammies!

Weird album. No need to listen to again.

Weird album. Didn't hate it, didn't love it. Don't need it.

Don't like it. Bailed halfway through as I heard nothing redeeming with it.

Saved to listen later, I'm excited

Ce gars-là avait enchaîné les bizarreries, nous laissant apercevoir les prémices de l'escroquerie qu'allait être ce générateur.

triphopy and good !

Incredible.

I genuinely do not understand how this can in the list of best albums.

Grata sorpresa

The vocals behind the album are super fucking ethereal. The second to last song was used in an incredibly shitty Apple commercial that played nonstop during March Madness. Kinda cool, but I feel like if I didn’t look up the story behind the album I’d like it less. I’d give it 2.5 stars if I could

Loved the concept of the album and glad I listened to it.

Ignoriert man den weltmusiklichen Teil, super Album!

drole d'idee d'avoir foutu que des sons de merde au milieu de l'album, 3/5

Viel besser als gedacht. Teilweise richtig kluger Pop aber auch darüber hinaus

Ужасающие восточные мотивы. Отборное дерьмицо для извращенцев.

Never heard of this. It's on the softer, loungier side of downtempo, with lots of organic instrumentation collaged into a chilled, cerebral hour of electronic music. Personally, I found the slightly harder-edged tracks like "Nadia" and "Serpents" were the best - so I would have preferred the whole thing to be a more muscular trip-hop album really. The incorporation of Indian vocals and instruments works well, and gives the sense of "fourth world" aesthetics. Overall, it's pretty good with a few too many low points. 3.5.

A bit out-there in places, but there's some really interesting tracks on this album. Lots of diversity in the style of tracks - particularly liked the drum and bass influences in 'Nadia' and the hip-hop feel of 'Pilgrim'. Not sure I'd frequently play this album, but I enjoyed listening to it on the whole.

Well it is certainly...interesting. The themes of nuclear war between Pakistan and India is clearly interesting but it is hard to get past some of the musical features to listen to this again.

First one of these albums that I‘ve never heard of or recognise so it’s refreshing to do a review without any preconception of what it’ll be like... Its alright. A bit too much experimentation and far too high brow for me. There’s a couple of nice songs amongst mostly jarring over the top experiments with the Indian language but nothing stands out as incredible and I probably wouldn’t listen to it again unless for quiet background music with some snobby people. My first guess that this would’ve won the Mercury Prize. I was wrong, but it did get nominated and I really think this is pandering a little bit to the prestigious weirdness of the award.

Too sincere and miserable and well produced and humourless for me today

Some cools songs on here. Can't tell whether I love it or hate it. One minute the album is nice background music and the next it's aggressively shoving soundwaves in your ear (in a bad way). Very unique and sounds like it has a wide range of influences.

MEEH

2/5 Indian sounds kind of ambient. Didn't do anything for me though

Some of the songs I enjoyed, some made me question my choices in life. I feel like this album was trying to tell a story where I lacked the context.

Decent background music.

Bijzonder album. Lijk wel de beginselen van lo-fi en er zit wat pop bij

I don't understand what is significant about this album. Didn't do much for me at all. The story felt like a bad TV movie.

Niet echt mijn ding

The Conference is my jam, the rest sucked a bit

pretty strange but interesting! I wish the concept had been stronger and I didn’t love the English lyrics 7/10

7. Interesting musically and cool concept, but weird as an album and some of the songs weren't that great

Snoozeville

Dogshit

7/10. Tricky one to rate, but had an interesting concept, and was refreshingly different from a lot of the stuff on this list.

neeeeope

C’est un excellent album et exactement pourquoi je voulais participer à cette découverte. Par contre j’ai eu du mal à comprendre l’enchaînement des chansons. Ça ne se suivait pas toujours bien Je l’évite les tounes avec beaucoup de vocales, sont moyenne Je lévite tous les tounes instrumentales

Very interesting, but many songs don’t really hold up for their full lengths. The sound and production are amazing though. Overall, around a 7

j aime bien avec un rhum pour homme

What a bizarre album. I'm at a loss for words to describe anything about it, including genre. Ambitious?

J'ai pas été bin bin émoustillée... Je trouve les beats de plusieurs pièces redondants.. C'est correct mais je ne suis pas certaine que je le réecouterais

It was ok

Fascinating music with an occasional side swipe of intense 90s pop.

Transcendent. Jazzy, cinematic. Excellent. The first track isn't really my cup of tea, but then it takes off from there.

Very interesting. had some good songs tho

J'ai vraiment aimé ses sons. Souvent, ce genre d'album qui navigue hors des sentiers battues ne m'accroche pas vraiment, mais ici j'ai bien aimé. Je suis toujours intéressant par les sons/instruments qui me rappelle l'orient. Je réécouterais l'album. Lâche pas mon Nitin! Mon hit: Pilgrim. J'aimais le côté hiphop de la pièce, mais il répétait son refrain un peu trop souvent.

New age feeling

Actually really liked the mix of styles in this, was great work music too

This is an old fave of mine - and you couldn't really ask for bigger subject matter for an album, could you!? Lovely vocals and melodies, gorgeous beats, and sobering samples. Fantastic stuff. Fave track - "Nadia" perhaps? "Homelands" is amazing though, as is "The Conference".

De nuevo un disco al que no le veo el sentido o razón de por qué está aquí. Lo único que me imagino es a alguno de los editores insistiendo en que es una "hidden gem" pero incluso en ese caso eso no hace que TENGAS que escuchar este album. Después de escuchar leí un poco sobre Nitin y al parecer se dedica últimamente más a hacer soundtracks, lo cual creo le ha de cuadrar bastante bien (y sin tratar de oírme agresivo, también algo dice el hecho que como compositor de banda sonora tampoco se ha hecho famoso). La música por todos lados, creo abusa de tratar de fusionar y hacer todo, poner flamenco, jazz, funk, electrónico, cantos de taal, cantos de qawwaali (en donde por cierto no me gustó mucho que literal copia las líneas de Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan)... Termina sintiéndose en 80% como música lounge pretensiosa de gente en bar platicando sobre que "étnico" es este "proyecto." El concepto de ser un album para hacer consciencia sobre las pruebas nucleares en la India... me agrada... los insertos de noticiarios y los ambientales bien puestos... pero con ese estilo de música la verdad siento se pierde mucho (más tomando en cuenta los giros de estilo sin ton ni son entre canciones). Tres canciones muy buenas (Homelands, Nadia y The Conference), que aún así tampoco es como que fueran brillantes. El resto del disco olvidable.

strano strano

Este disco empieza muy muy bien y después creo que termina muy muy mal. La primera parte es variada, por un momento me recordó el soundtrack de Cowboy Bebop, con diversos géneros y buenas ejecuciones. La segunda parte supongo es de mucha influencia africana por tantas percusiones y la mayor parte del tiempo se la pasan haciendo scat (supongo) y es terriblemente aburrida. Lástima el cambio. 2.5 estrellas que no puedo subir a 3 porque sí es muy dramático el cambio.

An interesting listen with heavy Indian influences. I loved that it felt more like Nitin was trying to drag emotions out of the listener with all of the samples and that really added a weight to the album. But, as much as I love that, it takes away from the listening experience from song to song, more an emotional state of being than a direct statement. All in all, I liked the moodiness of the album and the dramatic presentation but don't think I'd listen to the whole thing again. Favorite songs: Pilgrim and Serpents

Wow. I was really blown away by this one. A diverse album from an artist with seemingly endless talents. The apocalyptic "beyond skin" themes add a lot of gravity.

I enjoyed this one. It was completely different to anything else I’ve heard in this collection so far, and it was nice to listen to. It was interesting and pretty varied and felt like it was introducing me to world music.

kind of all over the place

This morning I'm finishing up listening to Nitin Sawhney's album called "Beyond Skin" from 1999. This feels fresh to me, and it was a great thing to hear last night as I was getting ready for bed. It's very close to some of the lounge/chill/instrumental playlists I often listen to on Spotify. I'm also a fan of world music and rhythms and this had some really fantastic parts related to Indian culture. The title of the album makes sense, it's like music that transcends culture and skin color and connects you with these beats and rhythms that feel elemental. You connect with it, even though it feels worlds away from my point of view. Surprising and very enjoyable.

Cuando empezó pensé que iba a ser un disco de trip hop o algo similar y ya todo se fue al garete en la rola 2. Tiene muchos ritmos que tratan de homogenizar pero la verdad es que no le vi mucho sentido al disco, the conference nos hizo bailar a Elin y a mi como si tuviéramos ataques de epilepsia y fue divertido

De esas cosas que me parece rarísimo que estén en la lista: siento que no aporta mucho encima de otras decenas de discos de la sección de “World Music”; sin embargo, de hecho alcanza a la segunda estrella por el cuidado de algunos detalles. The Conference funcionaria para ponerle de despertador a alguien que odies.

Ethnic Music that I don't relate to.

Really liked that, different

Actually created a groove in my brain

This is one of those albums that I NEVER would've come across without this site. Thankfully, I did. What a weird, wonderful, eclectic collection of songs.

Humm, I was listening to this kind of stuff in 99 and never heard of this. Better things going on on MoWax and Ninja Tune. Feel like another box ticking exercise to get the world music quota up

First 5 baybay. that first track tho

fy fan vilken tråkig skit

Interesting but not my bag

Ganska tråkigt

Kändes mer som ett konstverk än ett musikalbum vilket för vissa säkert är awsome men jag pallade chi.

OK, kool

Cool album. The popier stuff reminded me of FKA Twigs and early Massive Attack -- which is a very high compliment. A very ecclectic album with all sorts of influences that I will return to.

This is not what I expected. I kind of liked it. Some tracks were GORGEOUS. 3.5/5.0

This is okay! Good vocals, interesting production Some of these songs are a bit too long Not keen on the rapping? These songs really do not need to be 5/6 mins 💀💀 they're repetitive enough as it is The genre mixing is cool though! Faves - Broken Skin Overall - some interesting ideas, but most of the songs are just way too long and repetitive No songs saved or added to playlists Rating - 2/5

Never heard of this before but I quite enjoyed it

lo-fi hip-hop w/ Indian music

what a load of artsy shit. not sure why it makes this list - beyond being a token entry for "weird shit". This actively annoyed me so 1/5.

Really interesting album. Probably will listen more