This must be the album that I've been listening to the most the last two years. It has become one of those few albums that almost is a part of me. Some compilations can have lots of great tracks, but can't manage to get a "flow". That is what seperates 'good' compilations from 'great' compilations. Sasha & John Digweed's first Northern Exposure-album is one of the 'great' compilations, the Ambient Dub-releases are also 'great' ones. But the greatest of them all must be this one: Dakini Record's "Sky Dancing: Nada Masala vol. 1".
It starts of with a funky and pretty fast dub-track by the mastermind Makyo, the man behind this release and the whole Dakini Records. "Tantrika" is just an OK track actually, but it is great as a starter. The second track, "Guidance 66", is fantastic. It is a kind of spaced out and chilled breaks-track with some soulful deep house-hints. Listen to this song while you're driving in the mountains or skiing and you will feel sooo good...
Track 3, with the weird title "Boubanebass", is one of my favourites on this compilation. It doesn't get more chilled than this. The oh-so-slow dub beats combined with all the swirling and dreamy pads really puts you inte the right mood. It sucks, though, that the song only lasts for 5 minutes, especially since the last minute is so beautiful that it hurts. The end of this song actually reminds me of the absolutely most beautiful ending of a song ever: the piano part of Jaïa - After the rain.
Professor Trance is up next, with the extremely hypnotic tribal grooves of "Medicine trance". 13 minutes with almost only tribal drums may sound boring, but listen to this song at high volume in your headphones and you will soon realise that you are dancing with your eyes shut.
Drift (Adham Shaikh and Tim Floyd) released a magical ambient album in 1996, which is as good as Shaikh's two first albums "Realignment" and "Journey to the sun". Those albums are, in my opinion, three of the best albums ever, all genres included. The Drift-track on this compilation, "Arc-en-ciel", is a very typical Dakini Records-track: melodic, exotic, hypnotic and extremely beautiful, but not so psychedelic. You have to hear it...
And then we have my favourite on this compilation. "Tsubo dance" has a special place in my heart. About a year ago I had a chilled night with some of my best friends. We smoked some weed and I felt really good. Suddenly I felt that I just HAD to listen to this track. I turned all the lights down and played this track pretty loud. All of a sudden: I was flying... Since that night I have always considered this album as the best compilation ever. When I'm listening to this track right now I'm almost crying because of it's pure beauty. To bad it is only lasting for 5 minutes and to bad that Takashi Kohgo's albums are impossible to get from Sweden...
Next track, "Livresse des profondeurs", is, as usual when it comes to Jaia, great. The word that comes up to my mind when I hear this track is 'space'. It has a very spacy atmosphere with lots of distant, echoing melodies and sounds. I hope that we soon will see Jaïa-album on Dakini Records (not Yellow Feather) in the future.
And at last we have "Multiverses" by Padmasana. I love Padmasanas mini-album on Dakini Records. Very typical Makyo, but perhaps more spaced out than organic and down-to-earth. "Multiverses" fits perfectly as the closer with it's feel-good-atmosphere. It is like waking up happy from a really good dream. Not psychedelic at all, just extremely smooth.

The man behind this compilation, Gio Makyo, must have been spending lots and lots of time trying to find the perfect tracklist. And he must think that it was worth all the time, when he looks at the results. It is so much more than just a regular ambient/downtempo-compilation from, say Ultimae Records. The eight tracks on this compilation are all unique, but you can still find a general theme in all tracks. And the coolest thing about this album is that three of the artists were completely unknown in the ambient/trance-scene when it was released. How could Makyo find these hidden talents?
Anyway, if you see this album in your local shop, don't hesitate. Just buy it! And if you see the two other Sky Dancing: Nada Masala-albums buy them also, because they are just as good. Any Dakini Records-album is worth buying, it is the best label out there today. If they keep on releasing albums with this quality for some years on I will even rate Dakini before Instinct Ambient and Fax etc.