oneohtrix point never

jfc this thread

Is there an OPN thread for ppl who didn't go to grad school.

I liked the Weeknd song on first listen

has lopatin acknowledged biden as president-elect

lmao

when asked for comment, mr. lopatin responded: "synth goes whoosh"

while def too dumb to participate I would like to say that I'm finding this discussion pretty interesting

Lopatin is a Russian surname. It loosely translates to 'spade-wielding guy', a reference to his status as the gravedigger of Western civilisation.

I mean, tbph Whiney and others, I am kind of like 'synth goes whoosh' but find the idea of OPN's sound being connected to a neo-fascist movement so absurd that I had to push back.

I think he’s cute.

I mentioned above he's lost weight and looking quite spry lately. Good on him!

Photo from 2013 for reference:
https://consequenceofsound.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/oneohtrix.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iKPkxfljBY

safdie bros video

yeah dude looks real healthy these days which is great

video kinda fucked me up. part where the mom discovers the smart phone is weird.

ummm what is playing on the phone exactly

I think maybe it’s shown briefly in another part of the video? Somebody being buried?

Ah will have to watch again it kinda looks like someone getting their arm hacked off

I want an opo/safdie bros video album now

Opn is v funny on the twitter

Lol I guess he was on-site working in some capacity on the Super Bowl half-time show according to Instagram. Interesting career.

Musical director for the weeknd's half-time show

lol, of course

his latest album is probably the first one I've actively liked, as opposed to "it has some cool moments but I'm not quite sure what he's doing"

the song "I Don't Love Me Anymore" is great, maybe an anthem for my dumb generation

actually makes me want to revisit all his prior albums, see if I missed something

please check out Returnal for some gorgeous synthwork that doesn't sound too retro, eg Stress Waves

i've typed and then forgotten my love of the earlier stuff, but i believe it's just something like
- love everything through R Plus 7
- his first recordings through Returnal are very much of a piece and beautiful and still, somehow, underrated i think. what i love about this period is hard for me to find in his newer albums. i think he's moved on, and that's ok. he left many hours of great recordings to document this period
-Replica is brilliant. it is different than what came for, pointed toward what came next. I wish he would have stayed in this mode for juuuuuust a bit longer.
- R Plus 7 is also different than what came before, or after. It took me a while to love it, but I do now.
- everything afterward has been a struggle for me, and something where i return to specific tracks or sequences of tracks rather than just putting the album on

Agree with Karl on pretty much everything (except I loved R+7 right away)

I'm with Karl too, but I really love most of GoD. Everything after that has been lukewarm at best. Took me a while to get into R+7 as well. Replica was an instant classic and wish there was more of that era.

Everything up to Returnal has luscious retro-futurist component perfected that he's now trying to force into a pop framework. I feel that music would make an interesting soundtrack to a hypothetical production of Neuromancer or something. Very cinematic (which predicts his move into scoring films)

I get lost in the Rifts stuff too, but it's kind of like 2008-2009 James Ferraro...yeah, it would be cool if he returned to that sound for a while, but on the other hand there's so much of it there, I'm not sure what else he's getting out of his Juno at this point

can definitely understand why people don't like his last two, but I don't really get the criticism that they're "too pop"...maybe I'm way behind on my pop music but I don't know what else sounds like this exactly

I don't like the new one at all— think it's the most bland of his entire output.

xp definitely not "too pop" (although i may criticized the vocals above, so i can see how it would seem that way). i definitely do not hate what he's doing now, it's in the zone of "i appreciate it a lot but it's not for me". don't want him to return to Returnal either, because yeah, he Returnaled the crap out of the Returnal/Rifts vibe in ways that I can Returnal to again and again. Just kind of waiting for him to go out of fashion and then change again

pretty much how I feel too, karl. Replica is so awesome. I kinda had a feeling he would be going in some weird directions when that one came out. haven’t enjoyed it all but it’s at least been interesting.

I don't really get the criticism that they're "too pop"

It's a relative term for me. Harmonic, lyrical vocals structured in a chorus/verse form feel pop, regardless of timbrel experimentalism (see Radiohead's Kid A, the track for example). In that way, to me there's been a gradual push in that direction starting with GoD, when vocals were introduced with pop elements, though purely abstractly and with no lyrics. Age Of added lyrics. Now with Magic, you have at least one outright pop song! How is No Nightmares not outright pop? It's catchy, has a standard structure, and an autotuned Weeknd singing on it... I mean what else do you need to point to contemporary pop as a reference point? Yes the sonics are still tied back to elements of the OPN sound, but listen to any song on Replica, and then revisit No Nightmares.

Subjectively, I will say Age Of was poorly executed, and Magic is much better at integrating pop components into the sound, but what I loved about OPN and how I got into Lopatin's work was not because of pop at all, and I now seek out different artists to scratch the itch his work used to. Lopatin's still talented, but I do feel there's an identity crisis going on with the recent work.

btw, in case anyone goes back to Returnal, the first track "Nil Admirari" is kind of a fake out. it's hellish. I just listened to it at top volume on headphones, and it's maybe the ONLY time it has made sense to me, and that's because of my personal situation. it sounds like living hell, but you get used to it. then it morphs into something else. it's great, but maybe puts off people who don't OPN. if you're a person that starts on track 1 (like me), it gives the exact opposite impression of what the rest of it is

xp brimstead

have you tried R+7 much? it was the last one that seemed to follow up on some of those editing/found sound/repetitive/musique concrete stuff in Returnal

I agree and I think a lot of that crop of vaporwave/progressive electronic musicians are finding themselves in that spot right now. James Ferraro's new stuff gives me that same feeling, I just don't quite get what he's trying to do anymore. I don't really know where OPN is right now, the album is kind of schizophrenic and I've noticed it seems to reference pieces of everything he's done in the past, which doesn't make much sense as a whole. But I'm still enjoying it.

in Returnal

in Replica, i meant!

sorry, listening to Returnal now and had it in my head

His whole catalog is p good to great. 'Garden of Delete' and 'Age Of' are the best tho

wow

I know I've banged on about this before, but y'all need to hunker down with the Good Time soundtrack

my subjective opinion is that anyone who thinks the new one is better than Age of has no idea what they're talking about, "Babylon" alone is better than anything on "Magic"

facts

my dumb opinion is that he really hasn't put out anything I dislike

btw, in case anyone goes back to Returnal, the first track "Nil Admirari" is kind of a fake out. it's hellish.

aw, I've always liked this one! he's pretty good at harsh noise! not that it's particularly difficult to be "pretty good at harsh noise"...

remember interpreting it as some kinda "I'm on mego now, so here's some digital noise" thing at the time

I mean that track is exhilarating. The ascending tones starting around 2:45? The contrast with the next couple tracks is delicious, also.

it is VERY good. i won't repeat my depresso shit on yet another thread, but life fucking sucks, basically. and last night i was listening to returnal on headphones and listened to at full blast, and it is very, VERY good. it resonated with me more than just about anything could in that moment. but yes, it is hellish

xp

all i meant is that it's a hard album to recommend to someone because for 99% listeners you have to tell them to skip that track

and the remaining noize people already know 0pn duh

I love that track. I also heartily endorse listening to GoD on a good system— my first experience with it was driving down the 5 from Redding to the Bay, and it was...psychedelic, I almost drove off the road a few times lol.

remember interpreting it as some kinda "I'm on mego now, so here's some digital noise" thing at the time

This is a good insight. It was exciting to hear he was going to be on Mego, the (great) cover art get me even more hyped, and track 1 delivered.

I almost drove off the road a few times lol.

sounds awesome! and what a way to go!

gaaaaaardeeen oooof deleeeeeeeeee_phWOOOOOOSH

https://i.imgur.com/oudELOC.png