Oneohtrix Point Never, also known as Daniel Lopatin, is an experimental sound artist hailing from the United States. He has earned a name for himself by pushing the boundaries of sound, exploring the darker sides of the human condition and our relationship with technology.
Lopatin displayed these strengths at his visceral and arresting show at Max Watts. As soon as he took to the stage, the gates were opened and we were invited into his twisted, crawling, cavernous world. His sound swung between prehistoric thundering waves and low end chaotic white noise. Disjointed, glitchy visuals showed us a futuristic dystopia in which strange creatures performed surgical procedures and angels cried on barren landscapes.
These visuals, created by Lopatin himself, felt as much a part of the live experience as the music –very different from listening to it at home on Spotify. The two worked hand in hand, creating a confronting sensory experience. At times it felt like walking through the backstage of a David Lynch movie, full of bizarre and unexplainable imagery. It felt as though we were in the mind of Oneohtrix Point Never, as though the very floor might drop away for us to fall into his consciousness.
Much to the excitement of my plus one – who arguably was more familiar with his music beforehand – Oneohtrix Point Never delivered a number of songs from his latest album ‘Garden of Delete’, including the two singles ‘Sticky Drama’, and ‘Ezra’. Performed live in such an environment, it felt as though the music was given the space it deserved.
Without sounding clichéd and obvious, we were taken on a journey, a dark one. Through sonic onslaughts and carefully pieced together webs of intricate sounds and terrifying imagery, we were entirely engulfed – which is exactly what we hoped for. You don’t end up at a Oneohtrix Point Never show by mistake.
He finished the show by wailing some alien statement through a heavily distorted vocoder before turning around and disappearing into darkness. I assumed the statement was something like, ‘thanks, see you next time’, but I like to think it was something more like ‘farewell earthlings, I’ve brainwashed you and you will soon combust and devolve into mutants,’ or something like that.
– Harriet
Harriet Campbell is an English arts management graduate. She is currently hanging out in Melbourne, interning at a magazine and trying to decide what she wants to be when she grows up.
Oneohtrix Point Never’s album Garden of Delete is available to stream now on Spotify, or you can download it on iTunes.
