Oneohtrix Point Never
Today we’re listening to Oneohtrix Point Never, an American electronic producer from Massachusetts. Born Daniel Lopatin (previously recommended in 2020), he was raised by Soviet refuseniks, including a classically trained mother who produced radio programs in the Soviet republic.1 He dabbled in bands in high school, eventually finding his footing in the experimental electronic music scene in Brooklyn in the mid-2000s. His latest album, Tranquilizer, is a kind of return to form, favoring ambient-ish, loop-based compositions reminiscent of his earliest works such as Replica and Returnal. We’re also playing one of those earliest works, the 2011 LP Replica, because it’s very well worth revisiting.
Tranquilizer - Oneohtrix Point Never (59m, some vocal samples)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal
Replica - Oneohtrix Point Never (41m, basically no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal
Have a splendid Thursday.
Nice pairing of Tranquilizer and Replica here. The return to loop-based ambient stuff on the new album makes sense when you look at how much he's wandered into more cinematic and chaotic territories over the years. I remember first hearing Replica back in college and it felt like discovering a completly new language for electronic music, all those chopped up samples and atmosferic loops. The way OPN can pivot between dense soundscapess and these more meditative modes is pretty rare tbh. That soviet refusenik background adds such an interesting layer to understanding his work too.