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Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic Oneohtrix Point Never
Legend has it that Daniel Lopatin drew inspiration for his musical alias while lying in a dentist’s chair, coming down from a dose of novocaine, when he misheard the Boston rock station Magic 106.7 as “oneohtrix point never.” It fits, then, that Magic Oneohtrix Point Never is a nearly-self-titled album. The album opens up with a sample of a radio station, marking a sort of homage to Lopatin’s beginnings with OPN. Sampling has been a staple of Lopatin’s career. In fact, some credit Lopatin with inventing the sample-dependent internet genre “vaporwave” on his now-famous mixtape Eccojams.Magic Oneohtrix Point Never works as a sort of greatest hits of OPN’s career. The album’s single, “Long Road Home” contains all the classic OPN elements: squirmy electronic samples, hypnotic pulsing rhythms, and heady pop nuggets. Other tracks on the album, like “The Whether Channel” and “Lost But Never Alone,” slew together messy sci-fi samples and classic synth-rock elements, all with a thick and noticeable layer of chrome spray paint on top.
If I had to name qualms with the album, it would be the uninspired vocal performances by Lopatin and guests The Weekend, Caroline Polachek, and NOLANBEROLLIN. As a OPN diehard, I would have liked to see the rock-heavy neo-psychedelia tracks eschewed for the glitchy progressive electronica from R Plus Seven-era OPN. That being said, but the record is still an awesome, career-spanning achievement. Daniel Lopatin is one of the most important artists of this generation, an Magic Oneohtrix Point Never gives listeners a taste of everything that makes Oneohtrix Point Never one of a kind.