XCD-041 Various Artists – Untitled (ten)

When ten artists of this calibre are asked to compose a special track for Extreme’s ten-year anniversary you can be sure it is going to be a special album. Untitled (ten) fulfils all expectations about what Extreme is and where music is heading in the next millennium.

“It pleases us that we continue to discover great music by artists from the four corners of the globe. This is what makes music such a vital force in art and culture. The challenge for Extreme in the years ahead is to continue to explore new music, to expand the possibilities of music, and to provide an ever evolving listening experience for our audience,” said Roger Richards, Director of Extreme.

Pablo’s Eye opens with a seductive dub-reggae style that contains fragments of sound and loops of compelling rhythms. Fetisch Park defines their sound with hard beats and ethereal voices whilst Muslimgauze and guest artist Johar Ali, on the soulful bhairavi alat, create the middle-eastern atmospheres that are a hall mark of their music.

Ed Pias gives a vigorous percussive performance in Morocco, which is followed by a surprising new track from ethno-ambient group Soma. Social Interiors provide a sonic backdrop to the mysteries of space and Sk?li Sverrisson allows his bass guitar to explore the colours of sound.

Otomo Yoshihide returns to Extreme with an exciting new track that showcases his new recordings, and heralds the demise of Ground Zero. Merzbow manages to decompose sound into noise, using recordings provided by Shane Fahey, of Social Interiors, and Dan Burke of Groovy brings the listener back to earth with his 70s retro dance tune.

As a bonus, the first edition of Untitled (ten) also includes Untitled (mix), an Extreme cut-up by Social Interiors. Ten years of recordings have gone into the making of this album and the results are testament to both the talents of Social Interiors and the great music that has been released on Extreme over the past decade.