Beyond Skin

Interesting concept, but I didn’t love it.

Pre Listen:
Never heard of this fella. I read the Wikipedia article as I couldn't gleam anything at all from the guy's name or the album cover, sounds like an interesting concept album. I dislike the cover art though, so slightly lower expectations than usual going in to this one.

Notable Tracks:
Tides - My favorite song by a pretty large margin. I'm a sucker for piano jazz, and this song was both smooth and soothing as hell. Felt like I was in a Jacuzzi.
Nostalgia - Least favorite song, but by a thin margin against "Pilgrim". Pilgrim just got annoyingly repetitive (yes I know what a mantra is), but Nostalgia's vocal work was horrible. I have a deep personal distaste for breathy, whispery vocalists, and this woman wouldn't cut that shit out.
Beyond Skin - This sounds like it was taken straight out of Metal Gear Solid 4 or something. Nitin should play that series if he hasn't yet, I bet he'd enjoy it.

Post Listen:
This thing was somehow exactly what I expected and not what I expected at the same time. Should've been called something like "Beyond Genre" instead, because each song was kind of it's own thing, tied together by a somewhat shared theme?

I liked the start of each song being something about nukes. I didn't understand half of the lyrics for obvious reasons, but I think I got their vibes. I honestly preferred the non-english songs, as every song with english vocals fell flat for me. As a more political album than anything I've seen on here yet, it was cool.

The vocals were solid, the instrumentation was solid, everything about this album from a musical structure perspective was solid overall. I can appreciate it for what it is, it's just not my style? I won't be coming back to anything other than Tides, and I wouldn't say anything outside of that song is especially amazing. It's a bit more political art than music I feel, which is fine, but left me feeling sort of 3/5.

I'm fine with foo-fooey music. This tried to be many world genres at once it seems, which results in this beige/gray collage. It was fine to listen to but super forgettable. 2*

It was ok. Definitely different, but not something I have an overwhelming desire to revisit.

Almost the platonic ideal of a good work album - spacey, driving, varied enough to keep it interesting, repetitive enough that it fades back and focuses your attention. Trip Hop ambience, downtempo breakbeats, ecclectic world music melodic leads and instrumentation, some annoying RnB stuff.

Ik dacht even verrast te worden met een eeuwwisseling-pop-zangeres die toch wel geinig klinkt. Tot het derde nummer de illusie genadeloos doorbreekt. Het album wordt een mix tussen Aziatische en Westerse klanken. Als de culturen echt samensmelten, zoals bij de Aziatische zang op drum&bass muziek (met een fijne diepe bassdrum) van Nadia werkt het eigenlijk best goed. Maar vaak is het meer een afwisseling, waardoor het album meer een geluids-wip-wap wordt.

Beyond Skin was an album that i had a really good time with. In a lot of ways, this album reminds me a fair bit of Talvin Singh's OK mainly because both albums are by British guys using styles from Asian music. I think i like this more due to it being more concise than that album which i felt dragged for longer than it should have. A lot of the songs had some pretty interesting ideas, some of which i never expected like Pilgrim which had some rapping in it and i thought it really worked. The vocals in a lot of the other songs were enjoyable too. There were a few songs which i didn't feel like they worked very well with their elements and some of them did drag but overall, it's a really good album.
Best Song: Pilgrim
Worst Song: Serpents

Found this to be interesting throughout. It is such an out there record with the mix of fusion it delves into without disregarding its message.

8/10 [KEEP]

A couple interesting tracks, but I was pretty bored with most of it.

Eigentlich ganz chillige Beats und eintauchen in verschiedene Genres, aber das indische Gedudel ist dann nicht mehr so mein Fall. Trotzdem 3*

I want to unironically fist-fight the creator of this list.

I did not REDEEEEEEM this album.

This is an interesting mix of western composition and traditional Indian ragas. It's much more than that too, and the instrumental performance suggests incredible talent. Vocals are quite beautiful as well. I also respect the themes being explored here. However, all that being said, I don't really respond to this overall. I just don't ever see myself returning to listen to this. It's not bad, just doesn't have anything within in that really inspires me to dig into it.

Man I gotta get the lyrics to The Conference.

This album is beautiful! I love how it's a combination of a lot of different things.

Downtempo, electronica, and trip hop are all genres that I really like. So despite the rather cautious reviews in this forum, I was excited about the album. I liked most of it, but I wasn't blown away. The Indian/Asian influences are too foreign to me for me to feel comfortable with them. I probably won't listen to the album again. 3/5

mostly nice coding music, but it gets absolutely unbearable the moment a human being starts singing in a human language

Deeply un-enjoyable listen.

Not for me.

1.5 rounded up because I’m happy it’s over with.

Couldn't quite get into it

Wow so cool you wrote an album about nuclear weapons with heavy use of Indian styles! Too bad you couldn’t make it interesting. Tides is a good peaceful moment, but most of this does not appeal to me.

Forgettable! Music you might hear in an elevator or a perfume shop... It was a bit difficult to get to the end and it certainly wasn't the best day to listen to this!

Anyway, I give it a 2 because, as it was forgettable, it didn't do any harm either ;-)