It’s unlikely that I will ever listen to Garden Of Delete again. Most of the sounds are annoying to my ears, and the feelings of anxiety the songs produce aren’t particularly enjoyable. Nevertheless, Daniel Lopatin’s newest Oneohtrix Point Never album is one of the more unique, powerful recordings to come out this year. It’s uncomfortable but distinctly compelling.
The aggressive, abrasive aspects came out of Lopatin’s experiences touring with Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails, which inspired him to try to capture the feelings their music gave him when he was an angsty teen. So he’s combined the experimental ambient sounds he’s known for with less fashionable influences like top 40, metal, trance, power ballads and industrial, as well as an elaborate conceptual backstory involving a fictional “hypergrunge” band called Kaoss Edge and a teenage alien named Ezra.
It almost approaches the garish day-glo excess of contemporary EDM, but the drop never comes, leaving you with an unresolved feeling that’s both frustrating and oddly appropriate.
Top track: Sticky Drama
Oneohtrix Point Never plays the Hoxton March 11.
