Oneohtrix Point Never
Zones Without People

5
...according to our Brian on 07 July 2010.

What on earth is an analog polysynth? Ah! That's what  Oneohtrix Point Never's Daniel Lopatin employs to constuct his brooding astral landscapes and isolationist new-age pieces. That thing makes a really fabulous unique sound, kind of like an android choral singing but it can switch between what Brett terms "water garden" music to some of the most emotive, woozy, juddering machine sounds & chattering proto techno you could wish to hear. Proper cosmic cyber shit is explored on Side 2 of  'Zones Without People' , like the audio equivalent of a light saber scrap, myriad wonky electroid burbles attack like a wibbly earth invaders soundtrack from another dimension. Then icy ambient Kraut moods are explored, like the travelogue of an arctic explorer re-imagined in sound. Our Anthony will go nuts for some of the thrilling future retro sounds on here, i'm confident! Ltd vinyl only on Arbor, these are GONE when we've sold out so don't fuck around, kapeesh?

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What their label says...

Daniel Lopatin s Oneohtrix Point Never represents a rift in time; an isolationist expedition into the archaeology of sound that utilizes the analog polysynth as a means of organic creation. Zones Without People is the second record in the OPN trilogy; acting as a bridge between the drifting, nebulous landscapes of Betrayed in The Octagon and the finely detailed sound sculpture of Lopatin's present work. An exercise in in between-ness : reconciling noise and melodicism, drone stasis and the transience of concrète, and the amorphous zone between 70s Kraut synth music and 80s techno. Arpeggios and sequencers play a key role in this amalgamation, as these forms of repetition create an attachment to a certain sentiment neither human nor machine. The record reflects this transformation; the A Side has distinct emotional flourishes, while the majority of the B Side seems to be overtaken in cold, mechanized melodies; attempts at teaching a machine to feel. The final track Hyperdawn is a solution to these two disparate modes of interpreting stimuli: a pure union of veins and patch cables. In an edition of 500 copies in proprinted cardboard sleeves with pro printed labels and an insert by Christelle Gualdi.