Oneohtrix Point Never

Oneohtrix Point Never
Oneohtrix Point Never performing in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Daniel Lopatin
Also known as	Chuck Person[1]
Origin	Wayland, Massachusetts, United States
Genres	Ambient, electronic, drone, experimental, plunderphonics, vaporwave, noise
Occupations	Musician, composer, record producer
Instruments	Synthesizer, sampler
Years active	2007–present
Labels	No Fun, Editions Mego, Software Recording Co., Warp
Website	pointnever.com

Oneohtrix Point Never is the recording name of American experimental musician, composer, and producer Daniel Lopatin. He has been active under the alias since 2007.

Early years

Lopatin is the son of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, both with musical backgrounds. Some of his first experiments with electronic music were inspired by his father’s collection of dubbed jazz-fusion tapes^[2] and his Roland Juno-60, an instrument that has since been used extensively by Lopatin in the studio and on-stage.^[3]

The pseudonym Oneohtrix Point Never is a verbal play on the frequency of Boston radio station WMJX, 106.7.^[4] Lopatin has been active under the pseudonym since 2007 with the release of ‘Betrayed in the Octagon’, prior to that releasing music as Dania Shapes,^[5] and Boston-based drone duo Infinity Window (with Taylor Richardson of Sunburned Hand of The Man).^[6] Early incarnations of OPN drew heavily on kosmische musik, combined with the structure and abrasiveness of noise music. A series of cassette and CDR releases interspersed with a number of full-length albums surfaced around 2007, and by 2009, these were compiled on the 5-LP box set Rifts which brought him into international acclaim.^[7] In 2010, Lopatin formed the electronic duo Ford & Lopatin with friend and collaborator Joel Ford.

Lopatin followed Rifts with Returnal, released by Editions Mego in June 2010,^[8] which placed at number 20 on Pitchfork's ‘The Top 50 Albums of 2010’ list.^[9] Also released by Lopatin in 2010 was the pseudonymous album Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. 1, often credited for pioneering in the genre known as vaporwave.^[10][11] Replica was released in in 2011 to further critical praise.^[12] In the same year, Lopatin was chosen by Animal Collective to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival that it curated in May 2011.^[13]

Commissioned work, collaborations, and Warp Records

Oneohtrix Point Never has received commissions for numerous artwork, performance and film pieces. One of the most notable is his score for Sofia Coppola’s movie ‘The Bling Ring’ together with Brian Reitzell. Additionally, two of his songs appear on the movie's soundtrack: "Ouroboros" (credited as Oneohtrix Point Never, previously released on Returnal), and ‘Bling Ring Suite’ (credited as Brian Reitzell and Daniel Lopatin).^[14]

In early 2014, an EP titled Commissions I was released for Record Store Day through Warp Records. The collection contained an interpretation of Lutoslawski’s "Preludes" under the title "Music For Steamed Rocks" for Polish Icons at Sacrum Profanum, "Meet Your Creator" originally from the Saatchi & Saatchi viral Quadrotor performance video for their New Director's Showcase in 2012, and a version of "I Only Have Eyes For You".^[15]

During the summer of 2014, HBO premiered a documentary about video game addiction called Love Child which heavily featured Oneohtrix Point Never music from both Rifts and R Plus Seven.

On October 4, 2014, Lopatin presented a world premiere live soundtrack for Koji Morimoto’s 1995 anime film Magnetic Rose. The event took place at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics in Manchester, England.

Other works have included collaborations with Tim Hecker on the 2012 album Instrumental Tourist.^[16] Antony Hegarty on a rendition of the Oneohtrix Point Never song Returnal, and audio-visual works alongside Nate Boyce which have been hosted by The Barbican in London, The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and MoMA PS1 in Long Island City.^[17]

In 2013, Lopatin signed with Warp Records. His label debut, R Plus Seven, was released September 30, 2013, and was placed at number 24 on Pitchfork’s Top 50 Albums of 2013.^[18]

Between announcement and the eventual release of the record, Oneohtrix collaborated with a number of artists on visual accompaniments to tracks and updates on his Web site pointnever.com. The first being an excerpt of "Still Life," released with a video by Nate Boyce, a frequent collaborator on the Oneohtrix Point Never live show.^[19] A video for "Problem Areas," by the animator and digital artist Takeshi Murata,^[20] followed at the beginning of August alongside an interactive version at pointnever.com.^[21]

The second update to the site came from Jacob Ciocci alongside the song "Zebra" at the beginning of September^[22] with a final video prior to the release directed by Jon Rafman. Pitchfork described the video in an article dated September 25, 2013 as follows:

“

The piece collects bizarre and disturbing low-grade internet footage—images of decrepit computer systems, strange anime art and characters posing for webcams, a few Furries, and more, bookended by clips of a man who looks like he's about to blast his own brains out.

”

Upon release, R Plus Seven was highly praised, described as “singularly compelling” by musicOMH,^[23] with a final video for the track "Boring Angel," which was directed by John Michael Boling appearing in December.^[24]

Before the end of 2013, Oneohtrix Point Never also participated in the Warp x Tate event and was commissioned to create a piece around "Melancholy," one of the words that make up Jeremy Deller’s The History of The World, which formed a basis for the event.^[25]

In 2014, Oneohtrix Point Never released Commissions I for Record Store Day,^[26] contributed "Need" to the Bleep:10 compilation in celebration of the online retailer’s 10th anniversary,^[27] and supported Nine Inch Nails on their tour with Soundgarden as a replacement for Death Grips.^[28]

Discography

Albums

• Betrayed in the Octagon (2007, Deception Island)
• Transmat Memories (2008, Taped Sounds)
• Zones Without People (2009, Arbor)
• Russian Mind (2009, No Fun Productions)
• Returnal (2010, Editions Mego)
• Replica (2011, Software)
• Instrumental Tourist (with Tim Hecker) (2012, Software)
• R Plus Seven (2013, Warp Records)

EPs

• A Pact Between Strangers (2008)
• Hollyr (2008)
• Ruined Lives (2008)
• Young Beidnahga (2009)
• Scenes With Curved Objects (2009)
• Dog in the Fog (2012)
• Commissions I (2014)
• Commissions II (2015)

Compilations

• Rifts (2009/2012)
• Drawn and Quartered (2013)
• The Fall Into Time (2013)

Scoring work

• The Bling Ring (2013)
• Partisan (2015)

Production and mixing work

• Nine Inch Nails - 'Find My Way', 2013 (Remix)
• Autre Ne Veut - ‘Anxiety’, 2013 (Additional Production, Keyboards - as Daniel Lopatin)^[29]
• Ducktails - ‘The Flower Lane’, 2013 (Synthesizer - as Daniel Lopatin)^[30]
• Okkyung Lee, Lasse Marhaug, C. Spencer Yeh - ‘Wake Up Awesome’, 2013 (Executive Producer - as Daniel Lopatin)^[31]
• ‘Free Reign’, 2012 (Mixing - as Daniel Lopatin)^[32]
• Antony and The Johnsons - ‘Swanlights EP’(Producer on Swanlights Opn Edit)^[33]
• Harold Grosskopf - ‘Re-Synthesist’, 2011 (feature on ‘Trauma 2010)^[34]
• Real Estate - ‘Out of Tune’, 2010 (credited with playing synthesizer)^[35]

Miscellaneous

• Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. 1 (2010) (As Chuck Person) limited release, mixed cassette ^[36]

References

External links

• Official website
• Discography at Discogs