Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic Oneohtrix Point Never

Agree that the trap argument is dumb. It's perhaps a shame that trap is so closely associated with autotune and processed vocals, but it's kind of OPNs shtick to repurpose tired and expired musical conventions. Ever heard of vaporwave? Dude basically invented it. I for one love the vocals. Feel like I'm listening to the modern equivalent of Kraftwerk or something (philosophically speaking). 

  On 10/19/2020 at 6:36 AM, oldenjon said:

Agree that the trap argument is dumb. It's perhaps a shame that trap is so closely associated with autotune and processed vocals, but it's kind of OPNs shtick to repurpose tired and expired musical conventions. Ever heard of vaporwave? Dude basically invented it. I for one love the vocals. Feel like I'm listening to the modern equivalent of Kraftwerk or something (philosophically speaking). 

Philosophically speaking, Kraftwerk is the modern equivalent of Kraftwerk, IMO.

As an intellectual I agree.

Not really trying to be intllectual. Just saying that if kraftwerk was contemporary they would most definitely be using auto-tune, and any other modern processing tools available to them. I do get a vibe from stuff that is channeling early electronic pop music and imagining what it might sound like if there weren’t limitations like hardware, pre-midi sequencing, etc. and also mixng in some recent influences like producing for weeknd, theatrical composition for uncut gems etc. IDK but it sounds really good to my ears, and I can’t fathom why any of you are complaining about trap vocals. Y’all a bunch of amateur critics. 

  On 10/20/2020 at 4:19 AM, oldenjon said:

Cos it sounds bad. Simple.

Well...because trap vocals sound bad.

  On 10/20/2020 at 4:28 AM, Extralife said:

Cos it sounds bad. Simple.

Well...because trap vocals sound bad.

Trap? Vocals?

Sounds like a personal problem/bias. Long road home is probably my favorite track of the year so far.

I heard Long road home but I’m too amateur a critic to provide my thoughts on it.

It has earworm'd the hell out of me but I'm avoiding caning it until the 30th. I have so many fave 0pn moments but this video/track combo is way way up there. 

  On 10/20/2020 at 4:42 AM, oldenjon said:

Long road home is probably my favorite track of the year so far.

Yeah, definitive top 3 TOTY for me.

  On 10/20/2020 at 9:44 AM, psn said:

Yeah, definitive top 3 TOTY for me.

So was Black Snow a couple of years ago. OPN knows how to write great songs, too.

what are trap vocals?

  On 10/20/2020 at 4:14 PM, species8472 said:

what are trap vocals?

  On 10/20/2020 at 4:19 AM, oldenjon said:

Just saying that if kraftwerk was contemporary they would most definitely be using auto-tune

I highly doubt that, lol.

  On 10/20/2020 at 6:05 PM, IDEM said:

I highly doubt that, lol.

OK why, lol? 

  On 10/20/2020 at 6:40 PM, oldenjon said:

OK why, lol? 

Hmm, shouldn't you be the one explaining what has made you subscribe to this notion? It just seems a bit ridiculous to me. I mean, just because they had today's technologies at their disposal doesn't mean they'd have to make use of every single one of them ... Kraftwerk are not officially retired and are still touring btw, even if the current shows have been postponed. So they would have every opportunity to incorporate this sort of technology into their music. I have been to a couple of their gigs, but no autotune so far. Lol.

Lastly, their latest studio record, Tour de France Soundtracks, was released in 2003. Autotune was well established by that time. However, no traces of it either on that record or on Expo 2000 (1999). I think it's just a question of style.

it blows me away that you guys love this shit so much. this new track is pure cringe, i can't believe on a message board devoted to electronic music any one would accept that insanely bad beat and crap, generic drum sounds with no character whatsoever (lmao @ those little fills too). really mediocre and unremarkable melody and then some "weird" sounds at the end. the hype on this is simply wild.

I it

  On 10/21/2020 at 9:00 PM, Alcofribas said:

it blows me away that you guys love this shit so much. this new track is pure cringe, i can't believe on a message board devoted to electronic music any one would accept that insanely bad beat and crap, generic drum sounds with no character whatsoever (lmao @ those little fills too). really mediocre and unremarkable melody and then some "weird" sounds at the end. the hype on this is simply wild.

Totally agree. Lots of WATMM just mirrors the web in general. It's all just endless echo chambers.

Case in point, the Autechre SIGN thread. There's just no objectivity whatsoever. Autechre have been around since what, 1990, 1991? (probably even earlier) and it stands to reason that during that time many, many other acts would have released stuff that's similar (or even better) but people in the SIGN thread will deny that's even possible. In their minds, there can be only one.

I'm not signalling out AE in isolation, think about that Twoism forum. Crazy.

There are just too many fanboys everywhere you look.

  On 10/21/2020 at 10:26 PM, fumi said:

Totally agree. Lots of WATMM just mirrors the web in general. It's all just endless echo chambers.

Case in point, the Autechre SIGN thread. There's just no objectivity whatsoever. Autechre have been around since what, 1990, 1991? (probably even earlier) and it stands to reason that during that time many, many other acts would have released stuff that's similar (or even better) but people in the SIGN thread will deny that's even possible. In their minds, there can be only one.

I'm not signalling out AE in isolation, think about that Twoism forum. Crazy.

There are just too many fanboys everywhere you look.

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No, while OPN might indeed be mediocre, Autechre are in fact sacrosanct.

  On 10/21/2020 at 10:26 PM, fumi said:

Totally agree. Lots of WATMM just mirrors the web in general. It's all just endless echo chambers.

Case in point, the Autechre SIGN thread. There's just no objectivity whatsoever. Autechre have been around since what, 1990, 1991? (probably even earlier) and it stands to reason that during that time many, many other acts would have released stuff that's similar (or even better) but people in the SIGN thread will deny that's even possible. In their minds, there can be only one.

I'm not signalling out AE in isolation, think about that Twoism forum. Crazy.

There are just too many fanboys everywhere you look.

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It’s absolutely true that there is fanboyism to the extreme on here and in music discussion online and irl which generally has this kind of possessive, conservative aura - like you must accept a certain approval of anything artist x does or you’re just a hater and so on. It’s difficult to go against the current or look at things critically in that context. OTOH every ae album release thread has people complaining about the new stuff, wishing it was like the old stuff, revising their opinions on the last thing, etc. 

I don’t agree about other artists releasing similar/better stuff than ae - I’ve always regarded ae as being very singular artists who have consistently put out highly unique and very well done records. Not liking them is completely cool obviously but I think it would be hard to make the case they’re putting out records of low quality or poor craftsmanship or they they are not up to snuff in terms of the caliber of their work in the electronic music world broadly speaking.   

Say what you will about any ae album you don’t like but they’ve never put out anything as dull as this opn shit and their quality across the board is just on a completely different level. The little melodic flourishes on this opn track, the fills, the drum sounds, the half-baked I guess I’ll put this weirdo shit randomly at the end of this track which is like so deep and it’s bc of important reasons - sure ok I can see one can enjoy listening to it (I guess lol) but it’s extremely unimpressive for an artist of his stature. 
 

  On 10/21/2020 at 11:24 PM, Alcofribas said:

It’s absolutely true that there is fanboyism to the extreme on here and in music discussion online and irl which generally has this kind of possessive, conservative aura - like you must accept a certain approval of anything artist x does or you’re just a hater and so on. It’s difficult to go against the current or look at things critically in that context. OTOH every ae album release thread has people complaining about the new stuff, wishing it was like the old stuff, revising their opinions on the last thing, etc. 

I don’t agree about other artists releasing similar/better stuff than ae - I’ve always regarded ae as being very singular artists who have consistently put out highly unique and very well done records. Not liking them is completely cool obviously but I think it would be hard to make the case they’re putting out records of low quality or poor craftsmanship or they they are not up to snuff in terms of the caliber of their work in the electronic music world broadly speaking.   

Say what you will about any ae album you don’t like but they’ve never put out anything as dull as this opn shit and their quality across the board is just on a completely different level. The little melodic flourishes on this opn track, the fills, the drum sounds, the half-baked I guess I’ll put this weirdo shit randomly at the end of this track which is like so deep and it’s bc of important reasons - sure ok I can see one can enjoy listening to it (I guess lol) but it’s extremely unimpressive for an artist of his stature. 
 

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Yeah, I understand what you're saying. I've never liked everything that AE have put out (even though I've still bought it all), but it never feels phoned in - I always get the impression that what they release is the best they could create at any given time. For me, SIGN was okay but nothing exceptional. Every artist/band has a career of peaks, troughs and everything in between.

I dunno so much with OPN. 'Age Of' and 'GOD' felt like an artist throwing everything at the wall to see what would stick. I also feel that (even now) he's yet to find what he's really looking for. Lots of his stuff has long sections of meh vibes and then for ten or fifteen seconds he throws in some tiny shining gem that's gone before you even had chance to appreciate it.

I don't claim to know if that's deliberate or that maybe he's just not as super talented as some might claim. I guess it's all subjective in the end.

  On 10/21/2020 at 11:36 PM, fumi said:

Yeah, I understand what you're saying. I've never liked everything that AE have put out (even though I've still bought it all), but it never feels phoned in - I always get the impression that what they release is the best they could create at any given time. For me, SIGN was okay but nothing exceptional. Every artist/band has a career of peaks, troughs and everything in between.

I dunno so much with OPN. 'Age Of' and 'GOD' felt like an artist throwing everything at the wall to see what would stick. I also feel that (even now) he's yet to find what he's really looking for. Lots of his stuff has long sections of meh vibes and then for ten or fifteen seconds he throws in some tiny shining gem that's gone before you even had chance to appreciate it.

I don't claim to know if that's deliberate or that maybe he's just not as super talented as some might claim. I guess it's all subjective in the end.

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yeah right on, i totally agree here. well said.

tbh i wish lopatin could somehow turn off his ideas and just use his abilities to make tracks with the innocence of the rifts era. each album has seen an intrusion of his ideas and concepts into the music which, for me, has really held it back and made it so on the nose and it feels like the music is in service of some kind of neat idea(s). i get that this is precisely the kind of stuff people love about his music but to me all his stuff has progressively seemed more convoluted than the last. 

this is kind of a thing with small electronic artists that get big. tim hecker is another one like this. he for sure peaked with harmony in ultraviolet and then his work became more progressively "concepty" and "arty" and imo just way more meh. i think it's extremely hard to produce music that comes out of some kind of conceptual apparatus, being inspired by ideas and concepts in a direct way, maintaining those ideas throughout its creation and resulting in some kind of music/idea synthesis. it's this weird postmodern thing where serious art has to be about stuff and cannot be naive and just "good tunes" or whatever. 

i wonder if he isn't perhaps stretched thin by trying to be a more total artist in a way - like his career finds him putting out records on a prestigious label, playing massive concerts with acts like nin, soundgarden, sigur ross, djing with bjork, doing soundtracks for highly praised independent films, showing his art works in fancy galleries, etc etc. i feel like that's a lot of shoe to fill.

  On 10/21/2020 at 11:36 PM, fumi said:

I've never liked everything that AE have put out (even though I've still bought it all)

Now that is a bit of a headscratcher ...

IDEM, i appreciate your dedication to the cause. the 'chre cause.

  On 10/21/2020 at 11:51 PM, IDEM said:

Now that is a bit of a headscratcher ...

No it's not.

Because even though I've not liked (for instance) Exai as such as I like Chiastic Slide, I've still liked it enough to buy it. What I'm trying to say in my previous post is that their output has been consistently good, some better than others

  On 10/21/2020 at 11:44 PM, Alcofribas said:

became more progressively "concepty" and "arty" 

This. This is why the word “pretentious” shows up sometimes in reference to his music. 

Imo.