Hoopy Frood

Hoopy Frood




                                                             Hoopy Frood - Sequence





                                                Hoopy Frood - Suspended in the brightness

                                                    Hoopy Frood - Indigo Child

Musically, Frood is the result of a range of influences. The makers struggle to decide on the style and the genre it fits into but little time is spent debating this largely irrelevant question. We simply serve the music and it makes itself, so we can only quote a few critics opinions, such as "Floyd crossed with Sphongle", "kind of like trippy folk music", "a unique multidimensional blend of psychedelic-folk and groovy-electro" and our favourite quote "we suspect the work of hippies".
The original ideas and concepts start with Rich (bass) and Steve (guitar/afri-can) who have been working on Floyd/Zep style projects since 2001 before discovering the versatilities of electronic recording and its masters such as Ott and Shpongle. Deep and mystical ideas provide the theme then, once the story has been set, it is unleashed upon fellow Froodsters – Chris (vox, guitar), Myshell (vox/percussion) and Ruari (percussion, turntables) who help to give it life.
Our first offering, ’Psychonaut’, was released in 2004 with the help of our friends at Amboworld and it has sold, albeit in a modest capacity, all over our fragile earth. Notable performances to date have been supporting Ozric Tentacles in Brighton in March 2005 (see a video and pictures here) and the Synergy Project at London's SeOne club, among other memorable occasions particularly in the summer of 2005.
So, it’s taken forever it seems but at last Frood's second album is complete and ready for release. It was recorded in a make-do studio in Berkshire throughout 2007. Having thought it was about ready for release in Feb 2008 we sent it to the band's favourite producer, Ott (ottsonic.com). We didn’t expect a response (an opinion at best) but a very complimentary email was received that culminated in a commission to remix and help produce the work.
...and then the sun came out! Ott took the pieces, pulled them apart and re-created the tracks to sound, well you’ll hear for yourselves. He managed to squeeze 110% more energy, crispness and depth into the mixes while retaining the artists original tunes, vibe and meaning. Then he took the individual tracks and built the album, again managing to portray the mood of the piece better than we ever could. The word “genius” comes to mind, easily.
When receiving a disc in the post that sounds like this, after all of the time and effort invested, you don’t want to then scrimp and save at the final hurdle. Ott was flown over from Spain, we hired him a car and he then spent a day at The Soundmasters, London to sit in on a mastering session by Kevin Metcalfe. We could list those Kevin has worked for but its far easier to say “everyone you’ve heard of”. Just when we thought the mix couldn’t get any better...