Although the movement had been developing for almost ten years in 1997, this compilation by tabla player, composer, and club owner Talvin Singh is credited with giving it the name the Asian Underground. On this album we find artists like State of Bengal, Kingsuk Biswas, and film composer A.R. Rahman blending traditional and classical sounds from the Indian Subcontinent with Western electronic dance music — especially jungle and drum and bass. Such fusions have come commonplace today, but when this album was released the sound was new and electrifying, and it still holds up very well 25 years later.

– Rick Anderson