Untouchable Outcaste Beats, Volume 1 (1998)

«London’s Outcaste Records continues to sate those in the know with some of the most intriguing fusionary sounds on either side of the Atlantic. Untouchable Outcaste Beats, Volume 1 will serve as the label’s American calling card – an amalgam of tracks from its roster as well as from other seminal works in the genre. Dance Music Federation’s essential “Cybersitar” stands out as a pioneering work, lacing a furious breakbeat with confused sitars and repetitive chant. Artists like Shri, with his serene “Meditations”; Nitin Sawnhey, who takes it to the lounge with “Bengali Song”; and Badmarsh, who abuses the hardsteppers on the dance floor with “Jungle Sitars” all take the music on divergent paths yet still find roots both in traditional Indian sounds and more frenetic U.K. club rhythms. The Outcaste sound fails to be monolithic, and precisely because of that, it paves the roads toward tomorrow.

The great thing about this disc is how it mixes older funk/psychedelic rock tunes with sitars (“Mathar” and “Streets of Calcutta”) with newer techno sounding ones (“Cybersitar”) and songs that could be considered acid jazz (“The Hand of Contraband”). It also captures more traditional sitar playing in its own rite. Listening to this disc is like taking a trip to different countries and worlds to hear many artists interpretations and styles of sitar playing melting with many different music genres.» (Amazon)

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