OK

OK is OK, until it isn’t. For me, that was about 5 songs. Once again, my rule of thumb for the list hasn’t been disproven: If you haven’t heard anyone talking about an album on this list in 25 years, you don’t need to hear it before you die.

Loads going on here, most of which I didn’t like. The album is tedious and gets progressively worse from start to finish. I wouldn’t say I hate it, but I certainly didn’t enjoy my listen and wouldn’t go back.

oh, you put South Asian instruments on top of your boring-ass techno. cool, i guess.

If Yanni and Kenny G had a baby, that baby would grow up to make music like this, have sex with Linda Evans and be a surprisingly decent golfer.

The concept is fantastic! But if I was to record puppies sleeping and put it on an album, that might also sound like a great idea. I just couldn't get through it. Most likely not listen to it ever again.

"The world is sound" Great eastern tonalities and rhythm that mix in with hard driving beats. Pulls in a lot of eastern music (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, etc) Great beats.

OK, Talvin. Talvin, OK. I legitimately don't understand what the hell I just listened to. But it wasn't enjoyable, I know that. Nope. Not at all. Sorry, Talvin. That's a no for me, dawg.

OK is ambitious in scope and execution, simultaneously futuristic yet ancient in sound. A wonderfully layered fusion of styles and influences gives it a sense of timelessness. Equally at home on the dancefloor as it is on your headphones, this is a beautiful album.

BL: never heard of this artist before but the cover reminds me of the Roni Size brown paper bag album so I’ll be interested to hear if it’s in a similar vein AL: funnily enough, my 90s ambient DnB assumption was correct, and wow. This album blew me away. I wasn’t too sure about the opener, but by track 3 this album had me in a chokehold. The fusion of ambient DnB & Sourh Asian instrumentals and vocals was mesmerising, the drone of DnB was meant to go with the resonant frequencies of the sitar. Definitely some Bhangra influence in there too. Highly recommend this. It reminds me of another comment I saw under a different album (can’t remember which one though), with albums like this on the generator, you have to wonder why the people who wrote those chose so many 80s new wave and post punk albums. FT: “Eclipse”, “O.K.”, “Light”, “Vikram the Vampire” 5/5

I really enjoyed the drops and the multicultural influence. "OK" was the best track rightfully so, but there were a few other stand outs as well that covered a variety of energies

Really tried but couldn't get into this one.

Craptastic. 1.7/10

This. Is. Madness.

There's a genre of British electronic music that mixed it together with traditional Indian classical themes which I've always enjoyed. This is a great example, mixing in D&B, jazz, it keeps the songs varied. Some real standouts I was already familiar with.

This is a superb album. I loved it in the early 2000s and while I prefer Ha!, this is a really great album too.

this fucks

OK! Loved it. Cool fusion of eastern sounds with electro beats. Can't believe it's from 1998.

This is a very refreshing album this morning, Travelor is very busy yet free at at the same time. Its lush sound really just hit right today.

Loved it, my new everyday listen

Love this! It’s a must listen to, chilled out, sits there and makes you feel good type

5/5 - Really cool

Electronica,indian classical,exotica

This was an interesting one - Indian, classical, electronic. The first half of this album was crazy good, the second half was fine. I'll certainly keep coming back though. 3.5/5 -> 4/5

Way more unique and interesting then, say, a third Dexys Midnight Runners album or similar. Good uptempo driving music as well that works for me.

I did not hate this. Beats were good. I would have loved this in college.

ok

OK is the debut album from Talvin Singh, a British musician who plays the tabla, and produces electronic music. His work integrates Indian traditions - like the rhythmic patterns he performs on the tabla - into electronic music that ranges from ambient to dance tracks. The album was very well received, critically, and won the Mercury Prize in 1999. This is an interesting collection of tracks, highlighting the unusual mixture of traditions Singh utilizes. The result is good, but uneven. The ambient material is slow - even boring - in places.

an extremely strange album, but still quite interesting. some songs I found entirely difficult to listen to and skipped, some i solidly enjoyed. some songs I saved but not one I think I’ll revisit much.

this was challenging, but interesting. sort of like moby x some of the classical south asian musicians on this list.

I'll say this: I appreciate what this thing was going for. Combining Indian classical music with electronica? That's interesting, and, from what I understand of both genres, could result in something great if handled right. But, y'know... Well, when the album leans into its Indian classical influence, I like it quite a bit. Of the little of the genre I've engaged with so far, it's far from my favorite, but it does just well. If the whole album were like this, I'd give it a solid nod of approval. Of course, then there's the parts where the album leans into the electronica influence — which it does way more commonly — and when it does... B'oof. Being fair, it's nothing I can be too hard, since, believe me, I **have** heard worse, but... Like, I don't know. It's just not terribly interesting. When you're listening to it it's perfectly fine, but jeez, even as wallpaper there's stuff out there with more to chew on. Really, the album title sums it up pretty well: it's "OK." And this leaves me with one of those disappointed 3's that're never fun to give. Again, I can only imagine how combining Indian classical and electronica could've gone off — when they do happen to intermingle, it's neat stuff. And I don't wanna rate this thing based on what it's not, but jeez, it could've been so much more interesting. Like, if it weren't for the fact that my group's coming up on our 500th album, I probably could've let it sit in the backlog for a week like I did that French hip hop, and I wouldn't have missed anything. Y'know? Bleh, whatever. I'm not gonna pad out the word count any more. I just wish it coulda been more than OK.

I respect the concept behind the album, mixing Indian/south asian influences with electronic music, but it's not something most people would be interested in, myself included. Still, Talvin did a pretty good job keeping this from sounding like a horrible mashup of sounds.

Ambient, Drum & Bass and Classical Indian music meld to create a vision of a future that never came. Yes, the spoken word sections can come off as pretentious and some of the synths are cheesy, but it just adds to the charm. A forgotten artifact of Britain in the Y2K era.

At first sounded like post rock and then some indian (?) vocals came along as well. Interesting mix

Far better than native British electronic DJs from this list. I've enjoyed the softer tracks. The Indian spice adds very much to the whole composition. Something new for me.

No. 211/1001 Traveller 3/5 Butterfly 4/5 Sutrix 2/5 Mombasstic 2/5 Decca 2/5 Eclipse 2/5 OK 2/5 Light 4/5 Disser 3/5 Soni 2/5 Vikram the Vampire 2/5 Average: 2,55 Very interesting mesh of genres I never heard before. On most of the tracks I didn't work for me. Really enjoyed Butterfly and Light though.

Esto qué es como para correrte pa dentro o como

Interesting! All kinds of influences and styles present behind groovy beats and fun instrumentals. I'll give this one another listen in a week or so and see how it settles.

This was good, drifted into irrelevance at times but overall enjoyable

Just too many pan pipes :/

Quite creative to merge electronica/dance with Indian instruments but I found it a bit tedious eventually

It’s cool at first but gets real old and boring after a while

If I have to listen to another record like this I swear to god

My previous commentary got wiped out some how, but honestly, it was about as important as this album really is/was. That is to say, not so much. To sum it up, OK is hardly worth the time and is likely taking up a spot on this list that should be going to a far more deserving album. I'll give it 2 stars because there is some interesting live instrumentation on this album, but it's not enough to save the otherwise boring electronica album..

😫

nope for the love of god. just because you can doesn't mean you should

A little bit too experimental for my taste. Some of the songs were a nice mix of modern and traditional but they quickly get too drawn out and weird. Felt like being in a washing machine of music.

I know nothing about this album, its history, its context or the artist. What I do know is that I've had this on repeat at work all day. The perfect blend of background beats, storytelling moments and eclectic but smooth musical choices.

Outstanding!

Brilliant!

Really loved this one! I'd never heard of the Asian Underground subgenre/scene so this was a great discovery for me. I love electronica so much, it's cool to hear different varieties of it.

“World Music” is an idiotic term born of Western ignorance and ethnocentrism. However, in the case if this gorgeous mosaic of a record, it’s entirely appropriate.

Holy fuck!

First time listening to Talvin Singh. Interesting stuff. I appreciated the blending of world styles. Not my usually listen but I'm glad I heard it.

Super fun trance edm but with an eastern meditation vibe to it. Great listen.

Wow, brilliant. Loved this.

Weird but I like it

I was there too, the places Marco mentioned. We said नमस्ते to each other while floating into space

August 25, 2024 HL: “Traveller”, “Butterfly”, “Sutrix”, title track, “Light” Had low expectations going into this (the late 90s picks of this list are hit-or-miss imo), but it blew me away. Somehow equally fitting for a rave & a spa. I was worried when the grandeur of “Traveller” gave way to the dirty synths in “Sutrix”, but by the end I believed it was all part of the same artistic vision. For comparison, I didn’t always feel that way with Red Snapper and Nitin Sawhney from this list, era, and country (the UK, surprise surprise). An uneasy 5 stars from me

ggood

We’ve listened to some albums lately with painful mashing of genres, but Talvin Singh stands out for the way he weaves diverse influences and world music into a genre-bending electronica album. I checked out LTJ Bukem right before this, and while they both have a great atmospheric vibe Singh does more to break out from the chill monotony that can create. (Apparently Singh’s London club often featured Bukem, and in many ways “OK” feels like a logical progression from Bukem.)

i have very little to go on here in terms of reference points but it turns out this guy is the missing link between late Siouxsie, early Bjork, and 2000s Madonna...true world music in the sense that it brings any and everything together in a blissful sonic landscape 10/10

The mix of drum n bass and India classical works so well together. What utter genius. This is a great relaxing listen if a bit on the long side (some drag near the end)

Very interesing sound!

Loved this combination of old and new.

Electronica,indian classical,exotica.

Surprisingly good.

innovative

My goodness what an interesting journey. Loved that.

Hey, this rips ass. Between this and Call of the Valley, I guess I’m just learning that I like Indian/Indian inspired music. Eclipse in particular goes hard.

Love it. Right up my electro weird avenue.

I'm happy I decided to start this journey of reviewing an album every day for 1001 days. Even if it feels tedious sometimes, knowing that every day I must listen to an album, even when the album isn't a good fit for my mood that day, or I just do not have the mental energy to gather an opinion or write anything, it all pays off when it recommends something amazing and very much up my alley that I wouldn't have found otherwise. This is one such album. It has more of that Indian and generally Asian flavour that I fell in love with when I was introduced to Nitin Sawhney's "Beyond Skin" earlier in the list. This is a crazy, trippy, dramatic journey that blends orchestra, Indian classical music, electronica, drum and bass, IDM, dub, and so many other genres. It's chaotic but never loses its direction. And yet, it's all pretty chill but never boring. Just a pure journey of sound with influences from across the globe. Favourite: Butterfly

Electronica,indian classical,exotica.

Unique style and combination of instruments give a relaxing ambient sound that I thoroughly enjoyed. An hour of soft groovy beats.

это что-то совсем не из этого мира невероятная энергетика, безумное смешение жанров, один заглавный трек альбома Traveller чего стоит незабываемая работа возможно, лучшая из этого списка

Как только я начал слушать альбом, то я понял: он или гениальный или говно. Здесь все же первый вариант. Очень необычные сочетания медитативной индийской музыки и хауса/IEM/техно. В результате одновременно получается, что тебя вгоняют в транс и заставляют танцевать/рейвить. Поэтому очень необычно и круто звучит и по сей день. Сэмплы чувак взял, конечно, мое почтение. А теперь субъективный обзор: я только встал и сел за стол работать. Хочется очень спать, работать даже особо не хочется и тут я думаю: хм, а может включить альбомчик послушать с утра, взбодриться. И когда я его включил, то я думал что я сейчас умру от душноты (реально, первую половину первой песни можно смело пропустить, имхо). Но слава богу дальше все норм было. Честно говоря, реально думал что сейчас еще хуже станет)))

Ахахаха, это слишком хорошо, чтобы оказаться 100ым альбомом! Ладно, теперь серьёзно: индийская музыка не от мира сего. У них свои гармонии, которые могут казаться неправильными (непривычными) на первый взгляд. Это интересно услышать и оценить, но на постоянку возможно будет тяжело. Опять же, говоря об индийской музыке, возможно присутствует навязанный Болливудом и мемами стереотип о том, как это должно звучать. Это не относится к этому альбому. Где-то это техно, где-то симфоническая музыка, где-то акустика. Всё и вся собрано здесь, но основывается на вот этой восточной музыкальной гармонии (тут пусть лучше Егор в подкасте расскажет, как у них интервалы устроены). Но сука))) c "The True Story Of Extasy" я конечно улетел, это просто ор. Ещё и вот этим индийским голосом из видосов по программированию... Альбом крутой по задумке, лёгкий по восприятию (настолько лёгкий, что когда после заиграл Apex Twin, я был уверен, что пластинка не закончилась). Я не готов поставить 5 за музыкальность, ибо вопросики остались, но готов поставить 5 за вклад в развитие индийской музыкальной культуры.

Альбом создаёт вокруг тебя какое-то новое пространство, которое заполняется всеми звуками мира, как будто. Однозначно не на постоянное присутствие в плейлисте, но иногда вернуться и переслушал вполне кайф

Electronica,indian classical,exotica.

I really enjoyed this album! It was unexpected and had elements from so many different genres that I enjoy.

9/10 super creative and definitely stands out from mainstream electronic/DnB with its Indian/Asian influence

This is a classic Indian fusion album

Epic

I liked this. Helped i was working while listening. Got a little long. Very very 90s.

some of this was delightful, some a bit too heavy techno.

4.95 fabulous

indian electronica highly conceptual

I like these vibes a lot

I really liked this. Very unique, a little weird. A vibe.

Ricura. Repetiría. OK hermoso. Nada más que decir. Muy de su época pero muy bueno, que se yo, rico, muy bueno. Nota: 4.1

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this!

Really good love the composition

Killer drum n' bass mixed with Indian influences makes this an excellent, atmospheric, and immersive listening experience. Super underrated.

Electronic Indian music. Cool album i probably otherwise never would have found!

A remarkable fusion. Truly original and a great listen

I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll bump up to a slightly biased 4. When it comes to mostly instrumental albums like this, I don’t think there’s too much to say, because you either like it, or you don’t. In this case, I liked it. I didn’t like it enough to give it a flat 4, because there’s certainly enough repetition in the soundscape and enough filler moments to create a DBZ arc, but I like this enough to bump it up to a 4. My bias is simply that this appeals to a lot of my VGM sensibilities. That is to say, give me a PS1 jungle style beat, and I’ll vibe with it a lot of the time. This feels a LOT like PS1 jungle, and I love the way this blends aspects of traditional Indian music, Japanese DnB, & electronica. It makes for a really coherent soundscape, one that’s not too far removed from the Ridge Racers or Ape Escapes of the world, but just distinct enough to feel unique, at least for the hour-long runtime that this has. I do fully understand why this has a 2.61 average on the site, because to an ear that’s not paying attention, every track here sounds the same. Hell, even to my ears, I’m sure there are a few tracks that sounded the same that I just sort of chose to ignore. At an hour long, it’s shorter than some of the other DnB albums we’ve gotten, which helps a bit. It’s still long though. However, when it fully clicks, there are moments here where it just feels great to listen to – the stretch of Eclipse to Light in particular is the best stuff on the album, by far. If I gave this another listen, I might find it tedious, but I do think the floor here is a 3 regardless. It’s totally competent Indian-infused electronica that I vibed with on most of the tracks, and even at its most bland, it still sounds pretty good to listen to. Hence, a 3.5 bumped up to a slightly biased 4.

The title track is by far the weakest song on the album by far. That being said... This is the soundtrack for a turn of the century hacker film, right? Because it would excel at that. If I was making a movie about westerners robbing an Indian target, or vice versa, I'd call this guy to do the music.

Liking a lot of this. The tabla and flute work is fantastic, and fusing it all with drum-machine dance beats and bass drops is kinda wild. Not sure this will become something I listen to often, but I really dig how different it sounds.

A really interesting blend of Indian sounds and electronic. Adding the tabla to the mix really expands the possibilities.

OK, Talvin, go off and traverse the world with your tablas in tow, bridging continents through your boundary-breaking beats.

I really dug this.