OK is the debut studio album by English / Indian tabla player and record producer Talvin Singh, released on Island Records in 1998. It won him the Mercury Prize for 1999. The record was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It took nine months of travelling around and recording to complete the album. Singh recorded in London and on Okinawa Island to capture folk singers, as well as in India to collaborate with the Madras Philharmonic Orchestra.Singh hired various collaborators, including guitarist Jon Klein, with whom he had previously recorded on Siouxsie and the Banshees's single "Kiss Them for Me" and toured during the inaugural Lollapalooza festival. Ryuichi Sakamoto played flute on the album and sent his parts via a computer with an email which was a first in the late 1990s. Rakesh Chaurasia also performed flute. Singh recruited an eight female singer choir for the song "Soni". Guy Sigsworth played keyboards on the opening track "Traveller", and also on "Sutrix" and the title track of the album. Vocalist Suchitra Pillai joined in for the song "Sutrix".In the NME, reviewer Christian Ward noted that Singh was "trying to cover the globe with his music", as a voice intones "The world is sound", at the start of the album. The record is rooted in India with odes to Asian underground scene, dub rhythms and jazz. There is also a contrast between "geisha choirs and cut-up beats", along with plaintive orchestral arrangements. Reviewer noted that "convulsive rhythms compete with sensuous strings to create a deep, dark atmosphere", concluding with this positive sentence, "There are still more sonic territories to explore, but on this evidence, it seems that Talvin Singh will get there first."
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.
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.
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.
"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.
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
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.
130/1089
Based on title, cover, and artist name alone, i think this’ll be right up my street
and the first song alone is giving me exactly what i was expecting/hoping! the dramatic set of violins that come in at the 8 minute mark are stunning
Overall, i really enjoyed this album, I love this type of cusp-of-the-millennium, enlightened ethno-futuristic electronic music. The combination of traditional Indian elements with contemporary European dance music is so enchanting to me.
I can definitely see this becoming part of my background chill music rotation.
faves: Butterfly, Eclipse, Light, Traveller, Sutrix, Vikram the Vampire, OK
79/100
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.
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..
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.
There’s something really familiar about this record, it may well have been in the collection of an old housemate, but I don’t have any specific memory of listening to it. Anyway, this is some high quality 90s IDM, and it’s right up my street. Super complex drum patterns with droning sitars, soaring strings and wandering flutes, as well as a lot of jungle and dub influence. It’s as if Goldie and Squarepusher had an Indian baby. I love that the tracks have so much time to breathe and evolve, there is something cinematic about it. This is what I’d have classed as a 5am album back in my partying days, mellow but with enough action to keep heads nodding and bodies moving. The album also builds and flows very nicely, it’s not top loaded at all and I found I got more and more involved as it went on. Absolutely solid 90s electronica, interesting till then very end, what a find!
The Good: The album will be okay!
The Bad: What if we don’t like Electronica?
The Ugly: The damn trance…
There are moments when I really scratch my head trying to figure out how to start my rating… in the case of Talvin Singh’s effort, I really didn’t know what to write that might not sound racist… All of this due to the fact that it is Christmas season currently and we’ve been listening to the Spotify playlist Talvin’s cousin, Vindaloo Singh.
Setting the above aside, OK turned out to be more than okay. It is, in my opinion, interesting enough for a person who does not live in the UK or USA to listen to.
The Electronica isn’t too invasive, the Indian portion, aside from 1 or two songs, is agreeable.
All in all something that merits being added to a list of albums one should listen to again…
4*
I got into Talvin Singh’s music a year or so ago without realizing this album was on the list!
Really like the opening “Traveller”, it’s aptly named - I felt like I was being transported very intentionally into the world of this album.
But “Light” is my favorite song off this record, by a country mile. The opening new wavey piano refrain immediately induces a sense of placid relaxation for me - I listened to this song a lot when I was running at sunrise this past summer. I can’t recommend that experience enough!
Another highlight, “Disser/Point.Mento.B” felt like an homage to the hazy aesthetics of 80’s sci-fi soundtracks.
Last, the pads that come in halfway through “Soni” really elevate the song and make it memorable for me.
I’m unsure if this is a 3 or a 4. If I’m being objective, maybe a high 3. However, Ive had some personal time with this album as I mentioned with it soundtracking my morning runs in the past. It’s the perfect set and setting to elevate the album to a 4/5 for me. A nice blend of Indian music and some jungle for good measure
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
The best parts are the classical Indian ones with subtle beats. He takes a lot of risks here and not all of them work, but still a very interesting listen.
OK is an album I find more interesting than consistently enjoyable. On paper, it should be a perfect collision of ideas, blending classical Indian music, drum and bass, ambient electronics, and club culture into something forward-thinking and boundary-pushing. And at times, it absolutely works, creating textures and moods that feel genuinely fresh and exploratory rather than novelty-driven.
Where it falters for me is in how uneven the experience is. Some tracks feel immersive and purposeful, locking rhythm and atmosphere together in a way that draws you in, while others drift into abstraction without giving much emotional or melodic reward. The album often feels like it is demonstrating possibilities rather than fully committing to them, which can make it feel more like a showcase than a cohesive statement.
In the end, OK is a record I respect and occasionally really enjoy, but not one I feel compelled to live inside. Its ambition and cultural significance are undeniable, and there are moments of real beauty and invention scattered throughout, but they do not quite add up to a fully satisfying whole for me.
This made for some solid background music. Favorites from memory were the title track OK (sounds a bit like MIA), Mombasstic, and Sutrix. But I'll say that the theme kind of ran thin for me and some of the drum n' bass ran together and felt a little monotonous. For me this is 3 territory.
Haaa I remember listening to this on college. The way it was hyped you'd think it was the next coming of Christ but it's just another example of jungle being used by an artist to be "cool" (see David Bowie's Earthling as the biggest example).
Going back to it and it has aged poorly and is absolutely not a good example of the genre. If anything it's a great example of the somewhat lacking depth of knowledge the authors have with 90's electronic music and what was truly culturally and artistically impactful.
“Britpop was the sound of the nineties!” so goes the aging writer, as they attempt to sell another reminiscence of being ridiculed by Damon Albarn outside of The Good Mixer. They are wrong; Popular trance and house music was the sound of the nineties.
This was not popular.
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.
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.
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.
Yeah this album sadly wasn’t for me. I understand it’s a landmark for cross genre music, but the bled for me didn’t work too well. I felt the tracks had one idea at the start of them and then stuck with that for often too long. I actually preferred when it leaned more into the traditional Indian instruments rather than the rather bland drum and bass beats. Just find it all a little uneven.
Q: What if there was a late 90s electronic album but instead of being made by a couple of English dorks, it was an Indian guy?
A: It would be more listenable, but only marginally.
The first track was difficult to get through, but it improved a little from there. Feels like this album would be enjoyed by someone who was more familiar with the influences being drawn upon, in terms of Indian music and Bollywood compositions. Not poorly made just not for me.
Genre: Atmospheric Drum and Bass
So… this is interesting? South Asian music mixed with spacey, ambient breakbeats. Sort of like what you’d hear at a hookah bar. But is this essential? No. I couldn’t play this anywhere that would feel appropriate. Me alone in my car, I felt semi-embarrassed the whole time. Odd album.
2/5
I’ve never heard of Talvin Singh before, but naming this album OK is a bold choice, because you know the smartass critics are going to have a field day with that. Reading about this album, it seems like an interesting concept to combine electronic elements with elements of traditional Indian music. I’m not sure if this is going to land with me, but there’s only one way to find out!
I wasn’t that into OK. I like the idea of this album, but in practice, I found it pretty tedious to get through. Nothing on this album was abrasive or annoying to listen to, but these songs weren’t very memorable, and even with their longer run times, the melodies never went anywhere interesting. It didn’t feel like there was a unifying tone or atmosphere to the whole album, and as a result, I found myself just passively letting these songs pass through my brain.
The title of this album is super appropriate. It's OK. Is it essential? No. I feel like Robert Dimery really crapped the bed in the late 90s -- devoting a bunch of spots to mediocre electronica instead of actual classic albums. 2.5 stars.
In places, it sounds like two or three completely different records playing at the same time. That drum 'n' bass sound was probably great at 3am on a Sunday morning in the late 90s while you were waiting for the drugs to ease off so you could go to your mum's for lunch, but in 2025 it sounds like someone in the studio made a mistake. I like some elements, like the string sounds and the Asian influences but for the most part, it sounds like the kind of record that gets played slightly too loudly in the kinds of bars I don't want to be in.
Today's album sounds like some seventeen year old teenager after just being gifted 3 different computer programs to make his own music, installed them promptly onto his Windows 98 machine and then proceeded to churn out 61 minutes of sporadic drumbeats and Indian chants, weaving them together to make an album that can cause seizures in 75% of his listening audience. To quote Marsellus Wallace from Pulp Fiction, this album was "pretty fucking far from OK."
Hey man, I listened to 30 minutes of this 1 hour album and I don't think I'm gonna listen to the other 35-40 minutes. I've heard enough. I get and appreciate the artist was doing, I guess he was recording all around the world and took him 9 months to record or something like that? That's pretty cool, I can respect that. But I don't think I can respect this man, and I'm shocked cuz I like Indian music.
The album title is apt because it sure exemplified the idea of OK. The eastern influence is ok. The drum and bass is ok. The overall design of this album is ok. It just sounds like the reason all video game soundtracks in the 2000s tried to combine eastern musical themes with drum machines for certain levels. Overall pretty forgettable and I don’t think I really needed to hear this.
Electronic music is very hard for me to rate. I do not have much experience with this genre and have never heard an album that was what I would consider great.
This album is definitely interesting and I enjoy the "softer" parts but like other electronic music it sounds very formulaic to me and sort of blends together.
First of all, this is THE MOST late-90s looking album cover. This album cover might most embody a certain time period better than any other cover on this list.
I see this won the Mercury Prize in 1999 but I found it pretty boring. All the worldly sounds were interesting and I can see why music critics ate it up, but it was just too ambient for me.
Never heard of this or him. Not really my genre, but it is hard to describe how refreshing this sounds after 3 hours and 14 minutes of Ella Fitzgerald singing the Gershwin song book. That wore off fairly quickly, though.
I like the idea of this, but the mellow bits are too mellow, and it becomes too background. The louder parts lean too much into the DnB stylings of the time to still sound fresh now.
Maybe thisnwouldmworknas the soundtrack to some late 90s/early 2000s movie about globetrotting hackers trying to thwart an evil mastermind. But on its own, it feels like background music.
Rating: 3.5/10
As close to a one-star without being one, what a slog to get through this. It just gets progressively worse and the Indian/electronic mix wears thin very quickly.
It’s not devoid of any good stuff, but there’s a nauseating fusion of genres which doesn’t do much for me, as well as an infuriating take on spirituality. When Singh settles on a particular idea you might get a passage or two that’s quite pleasant but then something silly will be dropped in the mix that throws me off. All spoken word passages on this LP are without exception terrible.
I really struggled with this - don't mind Electronica, don't mind Indian music, but turns out I don't like them mixed together. The whole album felt egregious - like it did neither thing particularly well. It wasn't dire, but it was something immediately forgettable.
# 575 : OK
OK – But Mostly Not OK
This album starts off like it might be something—cool textures, intriguing fusion, a sense of promise. Then five minutes pass. Then boredom sets in. Then you start wondering if your speakers are broken or if the album is just gaslighting you into thinking it's still interesting.
It’s challenging, sure. But so is assembling IKEA furniture, and at least that comes with instructions and a sense of accomplishment. OK is long, meandering, and progressively worse with each track. It’s like watching a beautiful sunset slowly turn into a PowerPoint presentation on ambient noise.
No standout tracks. No desire to revisit. No idea how this got past quality control.
Verdict: 1 Star for initial curiosity. File under “albums that should’ve ended after the intro.”
Best Track (if you must): [None stood out.]
Listened: 24/09/2025
OK is anything but okay. This album throws Eastern spirituality, tablas, electronica, ambient, drum & bass, and a splash of self-help mysticism at the listener in one big chaotic sonic stew. It wants to be deep, urban, global, and transcendent all at once, but to me, it feels more like being trapped at a spiritual world music festival with a broken sound system.
“The World is Sound”? Sure!, and everything is playing at once. It’s overwhelming. There’s no room to breathe, and the music tries to say so much that it ends up saying nothing at all.
1/5
I went into OK by Talvin Singh with no idea what to expect. I vaguely remembered it winning the Mercury Prize years ago, so I was curious to hear what made it stand out at the time.
Unfortunately, this album just didn’t work for me. The fusion of tabla, Indian classical elements, and electronic production felt overly polished and, at times, disjointed. It was a challenging listen, and I found myself struggling to get through it within a day.
This one’s not for me, and I don’t see myself revisiting it.
Favourite track: “Traveller” – one of the more listenable songs on the album
Least favourite: Honestly, most of the rest – it just didn’t land
Album artwork: Surprisingly decent – probably my favourite part of the experience
I really loved this album. The mix between drum and bass (a genre I really like) and the cultural instruments and vocals and the whole atmosphere was great. The only thing Im wondering is how I haven't heard of Talvin Singh sooner. Butterfly, OK, and the end of Decca had my favorite moments. Would def listen to again. 9.4/10
No me lo esperaba. Las trompetas con los Violines generan una sensación que nunca habia sentido. Tiene muchas influencias de Jazz. Lo que destaca en este disco son las percusiones que presentan las canciones a lo largo del disco. Tiene muchas influencias, a mi parecer, al Drum and Bass y/o al Drill and Bass. Como juega con los sonidos electrónicos lo hace un disco unico.
Eine glatte Stunde voller Genuss mit diesem Meisterwerk. Die asiatischen Einflüsse sind prägnant und zugleich elegant in die Atmosphäre des Albums eingewoben. Das hat Spaß gemacht!
Damn this album hit me hard out of nowhere. The combination of traditional Indian and Japanese instruments with 90s drum and bass is so unique and cool.
If an album deserved the title "this is an album you should listen to before you die" this would be my top pick so far. Absolutely incredible. The song OK is such a banger.