Music production
fromThe New Yorker
1 week agoOneohtrix Point Never's Sense of the Uncanny
Daniel Lopatin, as Oneohtrix Point Never, showcases his diverse musical talents in 2025 through collaborations and innovative solo projects.
He didn't know the power of this thing. He just wanted it for its accordion sounds. Still, the instrument fascinated the burgeoning musician, and by the time he was five, he had stumbled on an old VHS concert doc that showed him the real power of analog machinery. I was completely consumed by the mystery of how these things were being made.
A decade and a half ago, Daniel Lopatin shelled out what might be the best hundred bucks he ever spent. On the internet, he'd come across a guy selling bootleg DVD compilations of decades-old TV commercials culled from Saturday-morning cartoons, daytime soaps, and late-night cable: Wrigley's spearmint gum, Hershey's chocolate bars, Heinz Alphagetti. Dated, kitschy stuff, thick with chintzy synths and VHS buzz.