Oneohtrix Point Never is a 43 year old progressive electronic producer from Wayland, Massachusetts in the late 2000s off Betrayed in the Octagon, Zones Without People & Russian Mind. The latter 2 & Returnal proved in their own rights to be head & shoulders above his debut. Replica alongside the Warp Records debut R+7 & Garden of Delete all came during my time in high school & are still praised today amongst his most important material. Age Of was alright, but Magic Oneohtrix Point Never & Again made great improvements even if I’d rank both of them behind his early Warp output. His 11th album however has been said to be his most groundbreaking in a while & that made me want to hear it for myself to believe it.
The vapor ambient intro “For Residue” begins with a riff reminiscent of the Pink Floyd single “Welcome to the Machine” whereas “Bumpy” feels like a mix of the Replica & R+7 eras. “Lifeworld” masterfully blends utopian virtual, glitch, progressive electronic, plunderphonics, new age, tribal ambient, worldbeat & ambient techno together just before the lead single “Measuring Ruins” takes inspiration from ambient, progressive electronic, glitch, epic collage, space ambient & utopian virtual.
As for “Modern Lust”, we have OPN taking 5 minutes of our time to demonstrate the evolution of his production skills after almost 2 decades of making music leading into “Fear of Symmetry” taking it back to more of an ambient vibe generally & some sound collages. “Vestigel” carries the ambient elements over & throws hints of vapor in the mix along the way while “Cherry Blue” fuses ambient, progressive electronic, space ambient, glitch, post-minimalism & drone for the 2nd single.
“Bell Scanner” could be the only composition here I could do without feeling more like an 85 second interlude if anything while the 3rd single “D.I.S.” pulls from glitch, progressive electronic, IDM, dreampunk, trance, space ambient & epic collage respectively. The title track was an appropriately selected conclusion to the 3rd act dabbling with techno while “Storm Show” kicks off the 4th quarter with a cross between the ambient & new age genres.
To continue Tranquilizer’s final moments, “Petro” expands on the ambient new age direction of “Storm Show” with a bit of a vapor twist to it while “Rodl Glide” saves the best single of the 4 for last because of it’s intricately composed explorations of IDM, vaporwave, downtempo, progressive electronic, acid techno, ambient dub & trip hop. “Waterfalls” epically concludes the LP cooking up an outro presenting itself in the amalgamation of ambient, vapor, new age & sound collage.
Using an archive of 1990s sample libraries found on the Internet Archive prior to being deleted, I can tell you as a fan of Oneohtrix Point Never since my adolescence that Tranquilizer will have most fans walking away calling it his greatest musical statement in a decade. I could additionally debate the real possibility of it taking over R+7’s spot for his magnum opus due to the nostalgic progressive electronic production treading further beyond ambient, sound collage, glitch, vapor, utopian virtual, epic collage, new age, IDM, dreampunk, trance, space ambient, post-minimalism, drone, plunderphonics, tribal ambient, worldbeat, ambient techno, downtempo, acid techno, ambient dub & trip hop.
Score: 4.5/5
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