Albums

In September 2021, Iboga Records released OOOD’s 6th album “Deep Flight”. With this album, OOOD have taken everything they have learned in 27 years of writing and producing together and distilled it into 11 deeply groovy, trance-inducing tracks.

“Deep Flight” is slower and deeper than their earlier albums but is still unmistakeably OOOD, with each track standing as a unique and distinctive waypoint on the progressive leg of their journey through the mostly unexplored landscape of psychedelic dance music. Every location we visit on this less-trodden path has its own identity – its own geography, language, flora and fauna. The views are vibrant and crystal clear and although each environment is different, the band’s characteristic voice and perspective links them all. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts and listening to the album from start to finish is intensely rewarding, reminding us that – in life as in music – the journey is the destination.

OOOD’s fifth album You Think You Are was released on Vertigo Records in November 2012. Here’s a review:

You know the movie “Crank” with Jason Statham? Remember when Chev Chelios, the lead character, gets juiced by a hit from a defibrillator, speeding his heart rate to the extreme and sending him into an adrenaline daredevil frenzy? If you do, “You Think You Are” is the musical equivalent of that experience.

O.O.O.D. have been around and doing their thing for twenty years now, and while they were always heralded as a highly creative and talented collective, they were always a sword’s edge away from delivering a full blown masterpiece. From “ALive” through to “Free Range”, all of their albums unleash more quality than you could squeeze out of a kitchen sponge. Yet, somehow, when most representative albums within the realms of psychedelic trance are brought up, O.O.O.D. are frequently left out. Regularly praised upon initial release, with time their full lengths manage to get overshadowed by releases which at the time had more mass appeal, or for various reasons, struck a chord better with the audience.

That said, “You Think You Are” is that album we all knew knew (hoped) that O.O.O.D. could always deliver, and here it is. Building upon two full decades of active music making and globe touring, this album simply absorbs the finest aspect of modern psy trance and combines it with meticulous production vaults, genuine melody work and a plethora of far out effects that put most to shame. It is pointless to do a detailed track by track review, as in my ears this album does not have a stand out tune. No lead singles here. This entire album is one gargantuan lead single, and that is its greatest achievement. No pigeonholing and style trainspotting here. These four lads dig deeply and expertly combine old schoolish reckless attitude with modern sound design and intricacy. Best of all, is that this album doesn’t lose its dance floor friendly purpose for a single second. Where most sacrifice complexity and craftsmanship in order to succumb to current dance podiums, or dive so far deep into contemplative sound structures that they lose track of fun & funk, O.O.O.D. take no prisoners and unload both densely twisted psychedelia and dance-away-like-nobody’s watching beefed-up beats. It has seriously been a while since a psy trance album worked so easily on so many levels.

Where many veterans got lost in the shuffle, either (un)successfully trying keep up with the ever changing trends and hold their own against a new breed of producers, or worse yet, are completely lost trying to regain former glory, O.O.O.D. keep growing from album to album. Don forget that, after all, this is dance music. When it is this good, and when it transcends styles and trends, coming across this fun despite the fact it’s not a goofy full-on album intended to last half of a festival season, you slowly start to appreciate it for the sheer beauty it is.

If the last few efforts of their were close but no cigar, then this is that masterpiece we’ve been waiting for. It took a while to get there, but who’s complaining? Most artists can only wish to craft ten tracks this good in their entire recording career, and here you ave them laid out across a single plastic surface. You really don’t have to be a psy trance nutter to appreciate an album of this caliber. Recommended to all who are into uplifting, powerful and challenging electronic music. What a pleasant ride “You Think You Are” is. The cover art is eye candy as well.
In my opinion, this is a future classic, and undoubtedly the finest O.O.O.D. album to date. A tour de force of modern psychedelic trance, a celebration of blasting beats and spine tingling audio trickery. A psychedelic joie de vivre .

Hop on for the ride or you’re missing out on something truly special and unique. Yes, I said it, unique.

maroko, 9 Feb 2015

Phar Psyde Records released OOOD’s fourth album Fourthough in September 2008. Here’s the conclusion of one review, which included a track by track breakdown (link at the end):

If you liked Free Range, you’ll most certainly like Fourthought. Both albums are strong, dynamic, and fun, and it will be interesting to see which one people favor more. Production is excellent. And the package is just as, if not even more dynamic and fun than ever before. There was one song that stood out to me so much on Free Range, that being Eye Of The Beholder (With OTT). With Fourthought, the greatness of their best work seems to have infected the entire album, as I have difficulty selecting top favorites. I’m really pleased with the album. OOOD’s melody/sound work appears to have matured, improved in some ways since previous releases, but it hasn’t lost its edge or sense of wit and humor… That said, both Free Range and Fourthought compliment each other. But I like this one more; I find more great, excellent tracks. In short, not one song here comes close to average. Fourthought is one of the best Psytrance albums of 2008. I don’t quite know how OOOD managed to produce and release an album this strong within a year from their previous album that was praised by so many people as a best album of 2007 but they managed to pull it off.

Jon Cocco, 10 Jan 2009

Free Range, OOOD’s third album, was released on Organic Records in 2006 to wide acclaim. It marked a step-change in the quality of OOOD’s production, and saw the band further dissolve the boundaries between genres. Here’s what Bill Halsey aka Cosmosis had to say on its release:

OOODs Free Range is the best “Psy-Trance” album that I’ve heard in years.

It’s excellent.

It’s inventive, bold and fun and with top quality production.

There’s clearly been a huge amount of time, work and love put into this album.

It’s a proper album rather than a collection of generic dance floor tracks for DJs therefore is great to listen to anywhere.

10/10

Breathing Space, OOOD’s second album, was an independent release that eventually found direct distribution via MRL, a BMG-owned company, in 1999. Here’s what one reviewer had to say:

Man! Is this a bomb or what?! All tracks ooze with quality, lots of thought must have gone into arrangement and sound creation. At the same time it’s fun & serious, psychedelic & musical, dance floor friendly & home-listener friendly… It’s the perfect example, that psy-trance can be intelligent, without resorting to experimental sound & structures (nothing bad in it, too – vide Process “One Drop or Two?”). This is still dance music, but it has that something which positively distinguishes it from the other releases of that time. It is very musical – most psy-trance are just reoccurring patterns of short loops. This on the other hand is a complete musical piece; it doesn’t sound as linear as most other CDs. This is just good music, made the psychedelic way 

I love it to bits. No bad track here, though I have to especially mention ‘Heliopause’, ‘Spangled’ and ‘Jot Bodom’ as they seem to be a notch above the rest.

antic, 28 Nov 2006

OOOD’s debut album aLIVE was a collection of live recordings of the band performing at Goa Trance parties around the UK, and was released on Cabbaged Records in 1997. Now considered a classic of the genre, it included live versions of many of OOOD’s EP tracks and the CD release has since become a collectors item. in 2008 It was reissued as a free download on Ektoplazm.com, and was reviewed thus:

This is their crowning achievement in goa trance and one of the absolute classics of the genre. The only template you’ll find here is no template. You couldn’t find a full-on bass line with a CSI team. It’s organic and evolving wielding 303 madness all along the way. From Cthulu to Two Dawns over Baleshwar it is a flowing morass of oscillating synths and stacked melodies that build tension and threaten to explode. I used to dislike Kundalini, but in the early morning darkness as dawn was approaching I finally got it and let it wash over me. Not the best track (that goes to the psychedelic monster Cosmic Ripple), but it fits right into the theme of this album. My least favorite is Rifa which requires speed, ecstasy, and a dancefloor that slopes downward just to keep up. But even that one and its blazing pace demand respect.

Mdk, 12 Dec 2012