Oneohtrix Point Never - "Age Of"

Oneohtrix Point Never is the Electronic based project of Daniel Lopatin.  Now, when it comes to Electronic artists and such, I'm the pickiest of the picky.  But for the entire inception of OPN, I've been obsessed.  In 2007 he made his debut with the project with "Betrayed In The Octagon".  While not nearly as technical or as abrasive as later albums, Dan was off to an above average start.  The atmosphere's were icy and unforgiving, and it was instantly so obvious that Dan was an absolute wizard of sound.  This album was short, but it was the perfect introduction to the base sound of Oneohtrix Point Never.  Daniel returned a few short years later with "Zones Without People".  Now, this album in every way is an improvement.  There are even denser atmospheres and much more wild synths that bring in a whole lot of technicality.  It's a cold album, one that's ruthless for sure.  And while it's not as abrasive as Dan's later work, it's still solid. Dan continued to evolve on the Synth-heavy "Russian Mind".  To date, this was Dan's headiest work, with tracks like "Russian Mind" sort of blowing right past me.  To me here, it seemed to me like Dan had all the pieces in front of him, he was just trying to figure out where to put them.  Which lead to a few dull moments.  But tracks like "Time Decanted" really started to show Dan in the light that we known him now. For me though, it was on 2011's "Replica" that Dan truly got the Oneohtrix Point Never sound down to a T.  This album was a harsh departure from the Synth-driven Ambient and Electronic that Dan had been putting together for years.  And in it's place, was a Psychedelic blend of Drones, Beats, and samples.  More specifically, samples of 90's and 80's commercials.  Which on paper, sounds really bizarre.  And trust me, this is not an easily digestible album.  But OPN for 40 minutes concocted this surreal atmosphere like nothing else happening at the time.  The atmosphere remained suffocating, but Dan's new found love of samples made everything very grim and surreal.  It's an experience, but far from a bad one, and it's Daniel Lopatin's first true masterpiece.  Oneohtrix Point Never returned in 2013 with "R Plus Seven", and returned to his more Synth based sound, at least to an extent.  Dan seemed to take a lot from his "Replica" recording and came out with a very choppy, experimental take on his early sound.  The result is actually pretty flooring in parts.  Sometimes it's dark and twisted, sometimes it's actually beautiful, and more often than not it's fucking twisted man.  But by this point, it was just so clear that OPN had out-lapped a whole lot of his contemporaries.  But Dan was far from finished, because in 2015 he released his most monstrous and most gigantic album to date, "Garden of Delete".  This album is an absolute mind-melter.  It's twisted, it's aggressive, it's noisy, and for the most part completely indescribable.  OPN here took every sound he ever touched, everything he knew about sampling, every disgustingly suffocating atmosphere, every abrasive synth, and plopped them altogether.  To call this album good is an understatement, it's quite frankly untouchable. But being ever the experimentalist, Dan is back with a new album.  And from these opening singles, this seems to be the first time we're getting vocals from Dan.  And I personally don't mind, and actually dig it quite a bit.

This album starts off with “Age Of”.  It’s a very mysterious, twisted intro, which I’ve said time and time again with Dan’s work.  We have layer upon layer of very cold synths, which have just enough melody to make this track come off as man made.  It reminds me actually a LOT of his work on “R Plus 7” album.  It’s just got such a mangled, ugly sound.  It’s Dan’s vision though, and it’s been this way for the last 10 years.  But like many of Dan’s early albums, there’s a very twisted Pop song deep down.  This time, it just happens to be this oddball, sort of euphoric Pop tune.  But between the grizzly production and the cutting sound effects, this is a terrifying opener.   Now, “Babylon” is an absolute jaw-dropper for a lot of reasons.  First off, this one folds back a lot of the very abrasive production for a closer look at what’s going on underneath.  And guess what, there are vocals down there!  Dan’s vocals too!  It’s a very unnerving track, but to be honest Dan doesn’t sound too bad at all.  TO the point where I really have to sit here and wonder why he didn’t go for this sound years ago.  It’s still very chilly, and some of the little details are absolutely chilling.  Like, the screams by guest vocalist Prurient are absolutely vicious, but I can’t turn away.  It’s beautiful, but it also has that suffocating OPN sound.  Then of course, it translates very quickly into a track that sounds like it belonged on OPN’s “Replica” album, “Manifold”.  Between the heavy use of distorted samples which sound a little racy, and this very synth-heavy atmosphere, this track is chilling.  I actually sort of wish this one went on for long than a minute and a half, there are some cool ideas here.  On the other hand, “The Station” brings in some live instrumentation that I wasn’t expecting.  Now, believe it or not Dan has brought lyrics into OPN’s work in the past, but they were never really that easy to hear.  And here, they’re still tough to make out from time to time.  But this is a very interesting turn of events for Dan. It’s a very chilling atmosphere, where Dan brings us into this world where something is obviously very wrong, but you can’t place your finger on it.  Now, so far, this is probably my least favorite track so far, mostly because it’s just so obvious how much Dan has toed down the noise, experimentation, and abrasiveness.  And I do sort of want to hear him freak out.  But we do get a glimpse of that in the last half.  Still though, this is all a very interesting turn of events.  On the other hand, “Toys 2” is an atmosphere to really write home about.  It’s chilly, but it really does take you to a completely different world.  Dan has always been so good at creating these atmospheres without using lyrics or vocals, which is why he’s gone so long without implementing them.  This is easily the most abrasive and adventurous track here.  I love the playful synths and just how they’re completely overshadowed and butchered practically by all of these blasts of everything else.  It’s just so grim, and doesn’t have a glimpse of hope in sight.  There are even some really interesting more chilled out moments here where things slow down and Dan brings in these equally lush atmosphere that get beautiful.  But nothing ever seems truly “Right” in Dan’s world, and it has me on the edge of my seat until the very last second.
On the other hand, I absolutely love “Black Snow”, and is probably my favorite track here featuring vocals.  Little details like that very twisted, heavy breathing of an intro, and the desolate vocals just add so much.  You can argue that Dan is totally going for the style of artists like James Blake (who did production here on this album), and it’s certainly a good argument.  But Dan is such an unreal producer that this track quickly becomes the most twisted thing here.  The production on the later half of this one is absolutely ghoulish, and it picks up nicely into a sort of shimmering Synth-Pop that’s been obscured by Dan’s vision.  It’s not the flashiest track you’ll hear this year, but I can’t seem to get it out of my head.  But Dan’s vision isn’t completely perfect.  “myriad.industries” for a one minute interlude, really doesn’t have anything going on that’s interesting. This one just sounds like Dan had an extra minute to record and just screwed around.  However, “Warning” is stunning.  This one reminds us just how much Dan can do without vocals.  The vocal samples here give this such an inhuman, totally freakish vibe.  This is another short one at only two and a half minutes.  But here, I’m absolutely invested.  I can’t remember the last time Dan produced a track so truly urgent and horrifying.  And then when his vocals DO come in, which leads to the most climactic portion of the album, it’s incredibly exciting.  This is absolutely wild.  And the last 30 seconds or so is adventurous enough to please and OPN of any decade, and almost sounds like his “Good Time” soundtrack.  The very dystopian vibes continue with “We’ll Take It”.  These bizarre vocal snippets that make you want to keep rewinding to see if you can get anything more out of it.  This one slows things down to this grizzly, almost industrial pace.  And there are these beyond freaky samples of someone saying “We’ll take it”, and another answering with “but we don’t even know what the price is”.   Dan just seems perplexed by this entire generation and where we’re going.  And while this made up world we have in front of us seems totally like a Sci-Fi movie, it’s almost a little too real. Then we have “Same” which has a very animalistic vibe to it.  I feel like you can’t not pay attention to anything here, because it can turn on a heartbeat.  This one has this very extended vocal snippet by ANOHNI which comes off really chilling.  But it’s just so freakish and bizarre, it does nothing but add to this very grim world.  Between that, the blood curdling screams, the chilly synths, and more, this does nothing but great things. 
On the other hand, “RayCats” brings in some more live instrumentation.  Which I don’t necessarily hate, but this usually leads to some of my least favorite moments on an OPN album.  This one isn’t nearly as adventurous sounding, even though it’s one of the more vast tunes here.  The pacing is often hard to keep focus on, and because this one is just so less eventful than other tracks I have some reservations. There’s also some interesting, almost World Music influences here that I don’t think are that bad.  But everything else about this one is very VERY awkward.  The vocal snippets Dan samples here are far from his best, this one just seems to be Dan trying too hard.  On the other hand, “Still Stuff That Doesn’t Happen” is the sort of ballsy, bizarre track I needed to hear from this album.  Dan here practically recorded a Pop song or a more straightforward Jazzy tune.  But he obscured it among all sorts of production tricks, to make it sound like this absolute relic that was uncovered in the future.  It’s got some of the album’s best uses of live instrumentation, it has some well put together grooves, and still has enough of that Oneohtrix Point Never flair to keep hardcore fans happy.  It’s chilling, it’s hard to place, and the sort of risk I want to hear Dan Lopatin take.  Then we have “Last Known Image of a Song”, which is exactly what I was hoping for from a finale.  There’s once again a Pop song deep down, but this just comes off so melted and fuzzed out.  Once again, I actually think this is a much more tasteful use of some of the more live instrumentation here.  And that sort of fuzz that flows in and out is actually a whole lot more interesting than a constant onslaught. The title of this one says it all, this is Dan thinks this is the last song ever recorded is going to come off as.  And at the rate music is going, it might very well be true.  This is a horrifying finale, with all sort of experimental instrumentals and far out production.  It’s literally the best way this album could have ended. 

Rating: 8.6/10

Give a Listen To: “Babylon”, “Toys 2”, “Black Snow”, “Still Stuff That Doesn’t Happen”

Least Favorite Track: “RayCats”

Genre: Electronic / Experimental 

Overall Thoughts:  The latest Oneohtrix Point Never album may not be Daniel Lopatin's most abrasive, experimental, or wild release.  But it's easily his most telling and most apocalyptic.  As the cover art depicts, a lot of the tracks on this album from a distance sound like very warped Pop tunes.  But upon further investigation, something always seems very VERY wrong, and it's often near to impossible to figure out what.  There are blasts of noisy production, chilling guest spots, and for the first time ever some actual vocals from Dan himself (even though technically there have been lyrics on his past albums). Like most of OPN's albums, this isn't a fun album, and it's one that requires some very intense listening.  But it ends up being Oneohtrix Point Never's most horrific and dystopian album to date.