Oneohtrix Point Never

The double-disc Rifts (No Fun Productions, 2009) is a compilation of three albums: Betrayed in the Octagon, Russian Mind and Zones Without People.

Betrayed in the Octagon (Deception Island, 2007) contained much cerimonial music, some of it inspired by new-age melodies (Behind The Bank and Betrayed In The Octagon), and some of it by Brian Eno's electronic vignettes (the ghostly interference of Eyeballs, the modest adagio of Parallel Minds). The real treat, however, was the 20-minute evolution of an otherworldly choir via Woe Is The Transgression and Woe Is The Transgression II, that, especially in the second half, climbed metaphysical heights.

Russian Mind (No Fun Productions, 2008) focused on the more austere elements of the previous album to deliver Months, in the vein of the crystalline ambient music of Harold Budd, the eleven-minute Physical Memory, harking back to the majestic cosmic music of the 1970s, and the seven-minute Immanence, a polyphony of ecstatic new-age drones. The mournful Grief And Repetition and the bouncing minimalism of Russian Mind were elegant distractions.

Zones Without People (Arbor, 2009) did not quite capitalize on that achievement. The aggressive minimalism of Computer Vision, the baroque hoe-down of Hyperdawn and the lazy minimalism of Learning To Control Myself (despite its coda of war-like videogame sounds) are not particularly original. The ten-minute ballet for natural sounds and synthesizer Format & Journey North ends in apocalyptic drones, a welcome change of pace.

The EP A Pact Between Strangers (2008) contains The Pretender and the 17-minute When I Get Back From New York of slowly evolving minimalist patterns. Other significant compositions include the meandering nine-minute Ships Without Meaning, the longest piece on the EP Ruined Lives (2008), and the minimalist fugue for videogame timbres Transmat Memories on the EP Transmat Memories (2008).

The EP Young Beidnahga (2009) added two lengthy suites that rank among his most creative contributions to electronic soundpainting: Continous Smooth Jazz Trepanation, a relentless pattern slowly metabolized by a pastoral flute, and the fluttering stream of consciousness of Young Beidnahga that shifts timbre halfway and turns into a carillon of sorts.

Returnal (Editions Mego, 2010) is a more psychological work. It begins with a traumatic shock: the wall of squalls of Nil Admirari in the vein of Japanese noisecore. The angst-filled drone of Describing Bodies, the gothic turbulence of Stress Waves, the transcendent tidal sunrise of Pelham Island Road, the minimalist black home of Where Does Time Go, sound like stages of life, leading up to the ancestral subconscious of Preyouandi for found percussion.

Ford & Lopatin is the duo of electronic musician Daniel Lopatin and Joel Ford of Tigercity. The single Emergency Room (2011) introduced a project steeped into synth-pop of the 1980s, a path continued on Channel Pressure (Software, 2011).

The shorter songs of Oneohtrix Point Never's Replica (Mexican Summer, 2011), that sample old television commercials, felt warmer and more elegiac, particularly Remember and Sleep Dealer. Several pieces such as Andro border on bland collage of sonic tricks, but the melodramatic Child Soldier shows how humane they can sound. Lopatin's craft here is more sophisticated than on the previous albums but it is employed for less ambitious compositions. If nothing else, he got rid of the Brian Eno reference: his music is too glitchy and neurotic to be compared with the inventor of static, soothing ambience.

The single Everything Is Working (Hippos In Tanks) and the EP That We Can Play (Hippos In Tanks) introduced Games, the duo of Daniel Lopatin and Joel Ford, purveyors of industrial dance music (Strawberry Sky).

Daniel Lopatin was also active as Infinity Window, a collaboration with Taylor Richardson, that recorded Artificial Midnight (Arbor, 2009) in the vein of Emeralds-style new-age revival.

Se sei interessato a tradurre questo testo, contattami