Ololiuqui - The Other Side of Odra

[Trance2MoveU]

 

 

Artist: Ololiuqui

Title: The Other Side of Odra

Label: Ricochet Dream

Format: CD Limited Edition

Release: December 2006

 

Track Listing:

 

01. 8�30� Strefa 50

02. 5�18� Try To Find

03. 6�18� Backline

04. 6�57� Beautiful

05. 4�11� Flightchekker

06. 6�36� Djara

07. 5�28� Supply

08. 9�40� Fire

09. 6�13� Rising

 

This is the duo Volker K�nig & Oliver Elschenbroich, and I admit, I have never heard of them. I picked up this CD because of the beautiful cover art. Such vibrant blues and greens! Very planet Earth. Discogs says this is a mixture of psytrance and downtempo so let�s see if they are right.

 

Strefa 50- Spacey pads dominate the beginning of this track with just a subtle percussive element. This evolves into a funky hip-hop beat as the pads drop out. They are replaced by soft leads, as the cymbals make their presence felt and before you know it, we are in the break. What do you call this? Techno-electro? Downtempo? Ambient trance? Well, whatever it is, I think it has elements of all three. Not a bad track to open up.

 

Try To Find- Someone is trying to find the funky beat and the peace in the world. Normally I don�t like lyrics in my psy, but this is mellow and works well. Happy vibes all around! This track reminds me of something I would�ve heard in the 80�s. The atmospherics give this a worldly feel. Decent track!

 

Backline- Apparently this is an older track (one of several they have included on this album), but it�s new to me! This is a slower tempo and has a house feel to it. But, damn, it sure is funky! Rich pads weave amidst a smoky guitar as spidery synths dance along this track. And then it slowly fades away. Excellent track!

 

Beautiful- This is also an older track that sounds electro to me. With a vocoded sample that comes and goes, the break arrives and it is pure magic. All the elements of an ethereal trip! Soft humming pad and delicate to the touch tones floating high above. This is late afternoon, sun-setting beach music. Very nice!

 

Flightchekker- This is a very short track coming in at just over 4 minutes. Interludey? Wow, a real drum kit and guitar! How rare. This track really didn�t have any elements that stood out, and was soon forgotten. I think it really was an interlude.

 

Djara- Also an older track. The first break in this one is very tranquil, as a bass line slides across. More guitar tones drop over the funky vibe as the tempo picks up. This track gets progressively more complex until the breakdown. Nice track!

 

Supply- Yep you guessed it, another old track. People are going to be pissed if they blind buy this. This also has a housey-feel to it as it churns along. Very nice groove with running synth lines and that reverberated guitar carrying the tune. Nice track!

 

Fire- Oh yeah, this is the last old track they put on here. This starts off very docile, with pads and scrambling synth leads that are just so soft. I like the breaks with their weird orchestration. I could�ve done without the angry God of Hellfire sample. It seems misplaced. This is a pretty good track, but there are not enough sounds to keep my mind from wandering. The motorcycle bit is a prime example.

 

Rising- Soft wispy pad over a gentle percussion and below a string of melodic bells. This is definitely Downtempo. Pretty cool big-beat at the break and then we are treated to a marvelous pad section. I can feel the waves ticking my feet! The big beat comes back and gets funky with a synth string as the full pads bring us back to the melodic bells. Awesome track!

 

In Summary- Having never heard of Ololiuqui, I was pleasantly surprised. This disc combines elements from a lot of genres and blends them together very well. There is something here for everyone (sorry no Darkpsy). And now for the bad part. I cannot in good conscience recommend this CD to fans of this project. For me it was great, I have none of their earlier work. However, if someone has their other albums they might be upset that the new album that you have been waiting for has only 4 new tracks. If you can abide by that, then get it. This is a nice gentle Oasis in an aggressive psytrance world. Put this on, head out to the beach and watch the waves. 7/10

 

Favorites: 8(!), 3(!), 4

 

MDK

[Oopie]

Ololiuqui is back, that's great news since they were quiet for some time.

 

What have they cooked for us this time around? Well I noticed there's handful of old tracks here (3,4,6,7,8) so I'm sort of dissapointed. After all this wait you get the old same tracks again.

 

But as I said, "sort of", since I really enjoy the old funky tongue in cheek Ololiuqui so I already knew half of the cd would be "worthy". Plus the track "Fire" never was released on their own album so I'm more than happy to have it here! It's what I would call a chameleon track: changes it skin all the time... you get great synth melodies (and I mean great! and lots of em), motorcycle's motor rattling, humorous little quirks and the bassline is so wonderful too... get this limited digipak only for this tune, it's gold.

 

So the 4 new tunes, are they anything to get excited about??

Well... Two of em are more chill out (1,9) and even tho they're nice I think Ololiuqui does groovy ass shaking floorfiller trax better. The track "Flightchekker" is only over 4 minutes and honestly a bit too repetitive, a track I don't remember after I listen to it.

 

There's one gem to be find tho, "Try To Find". Brilliant distorted male voice singing over a melody that makes me smile like an american. Very sunny summer tune, if you're a chill out dj make sure to hear this track.

 

All in all, good album to buy if you're new to Ololiuqui. If you own the previous stuff by them, think twice.

[Zirox]

Ololiuqui - heh, i remember one track from them, it was hmmm Voltage..