Fusion by Adham Saikh

Tracks:

Opal
Flying Beyond
Dubfire
Infusion (Bombay mix)
Ohm (Transfix mix)
Gayatri Mantra Shuffle
Somptin Hapnin (Ganesh mix)
Krishna Raga
Shake It (Shaikh it)
Newborn Shuffle
Rabbit Hole Raga (Spore mix)

Review:

It's a task to take South Asian rhythms and overlay them on Western beats in a manner that pleases both parties. It's an even tougher task to have presented them so that both groups are taken aback in awe.

While this album manages to accomplish that, what it misses out on is sense of cohesion.

Initially, Saikh does something that has eluded most others out there: music, to lounge to, that doesn't suck. He gives you tracks that are meant to 'play in the backround,' yet you can listen to them without falling asleep. In these tracks, if you pay attention to the music rather than sip that coffee or read that book, you'll hear intricacies that are so inspired that your book's plot line will refuse to hold your interest.

Then there are the dull points. Prime example - track six: a raag/prayer in sanskrit with beats added. This type of song has become a cliched requirement for an artist producing this brand of music. Were the beats presented as an instrumental track on their own who knows if the dullness would have been of such prime quality.

Finally, there the decent tracks that just don't belong. From the 11 min oddessy that belongs in a classical South Asian album i.e. track 8 to the African housish drum track which has the feeling of never reaching it's full potential i.e. track 9 the album kind of just languishes on with decent tracks that are present for the sake of having presence and nothing more.

Saikh has definitely shown us that he has talent in track production but what he has also shown us is his dire need of lessons in album production.