Daniel Lopatin—Oneohtrix Point Never's principle—wrote in the "Influences" on his MySpace page, "E2-E4 before the guitar solo." To those of you lucky enough to have gotten through life without falling down the rabbit hole of caring way too much about stuff regular, decent people probably shouldn't spend time caring about, E2-E4 is Manuel Göttsching of Ash Ra Tempel's 1984 release that helped kickstart house music. The first side of the album is all consistent, quiet pulse, not dissimilar to Oneohtrix's music, with the second half being similar to the first, except for that Göttsching plays a jazzy soft rock guitar solo over the entire thing. It is amazing. We understand Lopatin's purist's point of view, but he's missing out on a flamboyant little treat. But enough about other music—Oneohtrix Point Never's 11-minute "Physical Memory," from his upcoming double CD Rifts, is the sound of the the sea digitized, waterfalls digitized, air vapor digitized, seals digitized, fire digitized, caves digitized, baths digitized—the sound of natural power harnessed by technical man and molded into to thick atmospheric relaxation. It's worth noting that Rifts is mastered by James Plotkin, member of heavy groups O.L.D. and Khanate. Plotkin's groups have always focused on the immensity of sound, often letting feeling sit in for literal weight, like metal by proxy. Oneohtrix Point Never's songs are similarly connoting, able to signify mood and pliable matter without being abundant in consistency, something like a topographical map for sound and feeling. OPN plays Halloween at the Smell in LA and a Brooklyn release show for Rifts at Glasslands November 13th, see the flyer for that after the jump.
Download: Oneohtrix Point Never, "Physical Memory"
