Oneohtrix Point Never

Oneohtrix Point Never is the pseudonym of New York based electronic artist Daniel Lopatin. Lopatin has seen his star burn brighter with each release with noticeable backing from musical press heavyweights such as Pitchfork and his latest album 'R Plus Seven' was released on the much lauded Warp Records earlier this week.

He brings with him a specially created AV show in collaboration with visual artist Nate Boyce. The visual element amplifies the experimental sounds emanating from speakers barely able to contain Lopatin's weird landscape which ranges from abrasive to soothing. The crowd in attendance are instantly captivated by what they are seeing with an unflinching focus throughout the entire set.

'Still Life' from the new album perhaps best demonstrates what Lopatin is about. It's a virtual cavalcade of sounds and noises but far from it being a case of throwing everything but the kitchen sink into a piece and hoping it sticks there is a methodology to the music. There is a clear love of vintage synths, flickers of guitar and an abundance of millisecond noises.

The curse imposed upon performances of this type is that essentially people are watching a guy on a laptop and there is a desire or necessity in a live environment to experience something more expansive than this. Lopatin acknowledges this and while at their core these are the tracks he has crafted they are bent and warped even further than originally intended to warm them up in a live setting.

The music is ever changing and there is no room to guess what comes next, which is perhaps the greatest compliment that could be played to the live performance. Gig goers are generally on the edge at all times lulled into a false sense of security before a synth stab comes from nowhere to scare you out of your skin.

There is some more linear driven moments from the new album such as 'Zebra' which is perhaps his most accessible work to date and one which you would imagine might even make the crowd move their feet. As experimental as the music is there are moments to groove too but the crowd is as dormant as I've seen at any gig never mind an electronic one.

The music is undeniably unique, there isn't anything in the stratosphere currently like what Lopatin creates and as fully formed and impressive as both the music and visuals are there is a sense that it doesn't translate as well as it could in a live setting. There are pauses after each track but with live electronica I like if the momentum continues with an interlude or bridge from each track into the other creating one giant piece. Without that it removes the soul of the experience somewhat.

Get the records certainly, but maybe think twice about the live experience.

FUTURE GIGS

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