As he prepares to release Again – his tenth record as Oneohtrix Point Never – Daniel Lopatin tells Sophie L Walker about reconciling false memories of the past with uncomfortable prophecies of the future for this week’s digital cover feature.
Lopatin is in the pursuit of a “potential then”. His tenure as electronic disruptor Oneohtrix Point Never has been a decade-spanning excavation of the subconscious; an uncomfortable provocation of the ghost in the machine. He is less a musician and more a builder of worlds, on an endless pilgrimage to the past while being an emissary of a far-flung future we can’t hope to fathom.
Time, for Lopatin, is just a plaything. With a sample or a calculated reference, you can evoke a memory – but it’s how he corrupts the familiar by forcing it to breathe in a new, volatile atmosphere that his particular magic makes itself known. What ought to be a benign suggestion of the past is maimed to such an extent that it awakens a kind of existential horror in your gut, the feeling that something is decidedly off. For that reason, Lopatin’s music doesn’t lend itself to words. He has built a language that has moved beyond them.
Not unlike time itself, Lopatin has no easily defined beginning. What we can be certain of is that somewhere around 2003, Oneohtrix Point Never emerged from the ether with a series of corruptible CD-R and cassette projects which culminated in 2009’s Rifts: a lifetime’s worth of musical wandering. Even in this early incarnation, Lopatin created what would be acclaimed as a masterpiece in hauntology, taking the outmoded bombast of 80s synth-pop and reshaping it into something unsettling and absent. Before, or after – or, perhaps at an undeterminable point between the two – came the anonymous account sunsetcorp. The track “nobody here” is canonical in the realm of vaporwave, perhaps the first genre to be born and abandoned by the internet. It’s a hollow outline of a dream doomed to repetition. Falling asleep in the car as a child; the muzak that echoes through the PA system while you’re lost in a shopping mall; MTV glaring on the screen: the comments are offerings at what has become a shrine to abstract, Proustian memories.
No longer a hermetic producer confined to a vaporous existence on the internet, Lopatin, intriguingly, has become a highly sought-after collaborator. Drawn to artists with a shared anarchic streak, Lopatin has lent his vision to the likes of Caroline Polachek, Arca, Charli XCX, FKA Twigs – and, most recently, Yung Lean for the Swedish rapper’s forthcoming album. “It was never at the forefront of my mind because I was so fixated on my own music and developing a musical language,” he tells me. “But you get to a certain point in your career where you feel like it’s time to maybe pass on some tricks.”
Even at the age of forty-one, he is still in an arms race with his own ambition. The release of the tenth Oneohtrix Point Never record, Again, marks a cosmic return and I wonder what compels him, even after all this time, to create so relentlessly. “A really good question…” he muses from the studio’s gardens, measuring his thoughts with almost academic care. “I’ve been thinking about that recently. I feel like I’ve lived a kind of interesting life, and so it makes it possible to make interesting things. Sometimes, when I’m in a trough of enchantment things get a little dangerous when I lose interest in myself or something like that – when I don’t feel any inclination to make my own music. But over the years, it has just been really great. That said,” he pauses, “there will be a time where I want to focus on something else for a long while, and I wouldn’t say that time is far away anymore. I’m starting to see the entirety of the OPN discography as a kind of interesting statement.”
Again is released on 29 September. Read the full interview now over on Best Fit.
How Sugarbabes remain a testament to eternal friendship
For Sugababes – now two years into their return in their original, most feted incarnation of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy – their biggest headline show ever at London’s O2 Arena must have felt like a homecoming. Sharing one of London’s most hallowed stages with bandmates that have formed the gravitational pull of their own creative orbit since the age of eleven through highly publicised trials and tribulations would have proven to be nothing short of an emotional apex for a group who are considered to be one of the UK’s all time best. For the roughly 19,000 filling up tonight’s venue, it would have felt the same. For a certain subset of fans, Sugababes have existed in some guise or another for the majority of their own lives; growing up, falling away from each other, and eventually returning, in real time – acting as a monument to the enduring power of friendship and collaboration, while providing a seminal soundtrack for all of life’s ups and downs throughout.
With six number one singles, two number one albums and 18 tracks that have reached the UK top 10, Sugababes are one of the UK’s most successful pop entities, and although only one of those top tens has come from the band’s original line up, tonight acts as a celebration of the trio’s continuing legacy, with hits from various personnel setups performed better than they ever have been. "Push The Button", "Red Dress" and "Hole In The Head" open the show with renewed joy; bringing an energy to the table that hasn’t existed without original member Siobhan Donaghy, who finds her own singular perspective on tracks that may not have been recorded with her, but feel completely natural within this current line up.
That’s not to say that the evening is filled with nostalgia however; tracks like the Dev Hynes-produced ‘Flatline’, that was released originally in 2013 before forming the lead single on last year’s The Lost Tapes EP gets one of the most rapturous responses of the night, while brand new single ‘When The Rain Comes’ is platformed by a troupe of dancers and an opportunity to further showcase the group’s still astounding vocal range. Their chemistry onstage is still palpable too; not just in their movement or the way that they lovingly talk between songs, but in their second nature for harmonies - not one note sounds out of place when the trio are locked in together - each member knows their own place within the vocal tapestries they weave.
The O2 show was far from a simple victory lap, or a nostalgia trip - it was a celebration of individual growth and the power of enduring friendship, one of the most potent, life affirming emotions that myself or any of the 19,000 people within the O2 that night could encounter.
Something Old, Something New
Every week, one of Best Fit's writers or editors share their recommendations of two records they love - one from the past, one from the present. This week, Best Fit writer Ims Taylor on girli’s Odd One Out (2019) and Lane Lines’ Lucid Dreaming (2023).
It’s not quite the season for it. Obviously, the correct time would be late spring, sprawling into a carefree summer – specifically the long chaotic one between years of university when it feels like nothing matters, but at the same time, everything matters. That’s where I always go back to when I listen to GIRLI’s Odd One Out – a vision in hot pink and dripping in sparkle, capturing the essence of what it is to be young in a jutting, defiant, honest way.
I remember Odd One Out the most for what it boasts in droves: the cathartic, roll your windows down and scream along with your best mates, pop song supreme. It’s a distinct sort of joy you get, belting out “I get up! I get down! You should like it if you want me around!” or “How much it hurts to be young” or any of the rowdy anecdotes from “Deal With It”. It’s because it’s distinctly youthful – it would be easy to look back, having grown up a little, and not find the same comfort and happiness you found back upon its release in 2018. But because GIRLI has written it so accurately, it doesn’t feel dated. It takes you back in time.
As well as the upbeat bangers, there’s also the dreamy, woozy-eyed ballad of “Friday Night Big Screen”, which captures the essence of idealistic teen-movie love, “Stick Out” which sees GIRLI boldly claim her energy and revelling in her oddness, “Day Month Second” about the universal experience of obsessing over a situationship, Odd One Out feels like your late teens, in a microcosm. It’s loaded with the good and the bad, and in your late twenties there’s plenty of bad amongst the angst and stress – but even with all that, I love to listen to Odd One Out and revisit.
Dua Lipa’s coinage of the phrase “Future Nostalgia” is one that once you start using it, you can’t stop seeing it everywhere. It’s one that applies to Seattle songwriter Lane Lines’s latest offering, Lucid Dreaming – the atmospheres she creates in her forward-looking alt-pop are vivid and hazy, and even as I listen now, I can visualise being transported back to the current moment by hearing them again in the future.
Lucid Dreaming is a very fitting title, in that regard – it refers to a moment of awakening, or becoming aware, while you’re floating through your dream space, and Lines’s flickering synth waves and softly catchy melody lines do seem to pierce through the noise despite their wooziness. The romanticise-your-life trends, the mood boards, the main-character-syndrome pretences - when I stick Lucid Dreaming on, I feel like I’m soundtracking my life in real-time, even when all I’m doing is just typing emails (a lot of the time).
“Sparkling Cider” is a particularly, well, sparkling moment fit for a moment of healing and realisation and the ensuing change montage; “Time and Space” is a pivotal moment of darker, dancier sounds; “Raised In A Diner” is soft post-credits reflection. Lucid Dreaming is Lane Lines's moment of spelling out her own life, but it’s so gorgeously put together I’m going to co-opt it and use it to set the scene for mine.
Three things to get excited about this week
The EP: Align with Nature’s Intelligence is the debut EP from Davina Adeosun-Bright – better known as muva of Earth. The London-born singer with Yoruba roots fuses contemporary sounds and traditional African rhythms, inspired by Alice Coltraine, Sun Ra, Sade and Fela Kuti.
The EP is led by “no one else has your magik!”, a song inspired by all the “powerful humans” Adeosun-Bright has encountered in her life. “The song is a powerful affirmative song, describing a powerful and unapologetic essence who is unafraid to shine and be themselves,” she explains. “The message within is to channel your unique essence as that will always be your greatest strength.”
The tech: We’ve always had a thing Bowers & Wilkins headphones and not just because they’re built by the same people who make speakers for the studios at Abbey Road. For those of us who can’t bear the high price tag on Apple’s Airpods Max or the utter clunky design and colour of those hideous Sony noise-cancelling headphones everyone wears, B&W have got you.
This week their new Px7 S2e headphones drop. They’re in three sexy colours Ocean Blue, Cloud Grey, and Anthracite Black. They’re light, they’re built well to withstand knocks, and most of all they look good and don’t make you feel like you’re wearing a big plastic helmet. Reviews for their predecessor, the Px7 S2, were positive across the board, and the new headphones retain the same nuanced noise cancelling - perfect for flights, tubes and high streets. Battery life outshines most other headphone we’ve tried too. Priced at £379 / €429 / $399 from the Bowers & Wilkins website and select retailers, they’re an investment bit of kit worth getting that will last you a long time and make your ears very, very happy.
The podcast: Heading for its 300th episode, Giles Bidder’s 101 Part Time Jobs is a fascinating look at the other lives of artists, big and small, examining their forays into careers that supported them on their rise. The latest episode from Bidder sees rapper, performance artist, poet and activist Mykki Blanco recalling stories of tumblr era, DIY punk, how social media gave rise to queer artists and her dream job as a rare book dealer.
Listen to the week in new music by following our Discovery playlist
Dropping at midnight every Thursday, follow our 20-track playlist for a taste of the best new music from the most exciting breaking artists.
These are the songs our editors and writers have on repeat right now, taken from the hundreds of tracks released in the last seven days. Leading the selection this week are amazing cuts from Frost Children, DAMDAME*, Elmiene, BIG WETT and coverstar Dua Saleh.