Raag Digitaal

Bal takes responsibility for programming and keyboards (including harmonium),while Rehmi looks after the guitars (including "sitar guitar"), as well as doubling on the keys on Raag Digital. They work within a drum & bass framework, roughly treading ground already covered by Outcaste's Badmarsh & Shri. The beats tend towards the titanic, a solid bedrock for traditional Asian frills, tiny tendrils of harmonium, flute and what sounds like an electronically-distressed santoor (hammered zither). These elements aren't particularly rammed down the throat, but instead add a fairly subtle flavour. As with much of the current electro crop, there's too much emphasis on basic beats and not enough imaginative trimming , making this more of a club set than an lounge listening experience. Bass pervades "The Healer", while madly skittering percussion invades "Bajaman", but it's the closing trio of "Partial Eclipse", "Nobody Knows" and "Drone Zone" which impresses the most, its extended, monomaniac tabla & bass beats clipped into a tensed, quaking gait. --Martin Longley

Label: Unknown
Studio: Nation
Released: 2000-06-26
Format: Audio CD