Oneohtrix Point Never – Returnal

I find it to be one of the most essential records from that hypnagogic / new ambient era. My favorit OPN record.

writing about music is like trying to dance to architecture

SEMI LONG INTRO (you can skip down to the review if you'd like):

ok, so i guess if you cant handle the possibility that an electronic album might not have a beat pounding into the back of your skull, this album is not for you, stick to daft punk. If you are into the ambient side of electronica, or you want to listen to some great atmospheric music, or you want something new of some sort, you want an album that you can sink your teeth into, one you have to listen to over and over and peel back the layers of sound over time to truly get the effect of the music, this is it. look no further.

im a fan of all sorts of electronic music, i guess you could say more ambient/idm/chill out styles over drum and bass/ jungle / heavy styles. i also dig alot of Low End Theory stuff and a little dubstep. My one great past time would be Prog Rock. I have listened to a fair share of stuff like tangerine dream and klaus schulze, a couple people that have been equated with this album. though the influence is unmistakable, i dont feel it is such a rip-off that people make it seem. this album seems to touch base on more areas, not drag out forever, so if your not feeling one song another one is coming up. i just feel that this album looks more to the future than it does nod toward the past.

REVIEW:

The album kicks off with some blasting noise that really kicks things off. its a little unnerving at first, and when i first heard it i kinda thought "well, it's either some intense, eneregetic, explosive creative stuff... or random nonsense." fortunately a couple more listens and you start getting the hang of it, not COMPLETELY nonsense :) . really a great first tune.

the next two tunes (Describing Bodies and Stress Waves) seem to blend together with a couple brilliant, laid back, washes of beautiful ambient music. very electronic and making great use of the old anolog equipment. just absolutley rich with that lovely analog sound, god i cant get enough of it!

the title track is some great straight ahead stuff. i guess i can see more tangerine dream influence here for sure. great use of vocoded vocals. really nice wrap up to the first side.

the B side kicks off with Pelham Island Road. absolutely brialliant stuff! this stuff seems almost like the more sentimental side of boards of canada. one of the greatest tracks.

the next two tracks continue in the same vein almost like the middle 2 tracks on side A. the formula is apparent by now, but on the first few listens your still soaking it all in.

the album wraps up with another very abstract rythmic track. like the first song but not nearly as violent. decent enough tune, and just topping off this ridiculously good album!

to be and honest reviewer i would give this a solid 4 stars, but since everyone else abuses the star system, fudge it! 5 stars it is! hahah. If you read all this, thank you very much!

SHORT VERSION:great laid back ambient stuff. not heavy on the beats, but beautiful washes of analog ambience at its best! could be compared a little to the classic 70's electronic acts, but reminds me more of the beatless moments of BoC.

edit: i have no idea who the hell would care, but i am reviewing this from the vinyl version, not the cd , cause you just cant hear it unless its wax!

"WHERE'S THE ICE-CREAM?,WHERE'S THE ICE-CREAM???"!!!!...

I think #2, Describing Bodies, is pretty good. Don't care for the rest.

Why, oh why is this rated so high? This album is one rough and noisy opening track, one ambient-ish "song" titled "Returnal" that would fit perfectly on such Underworld's web-only releases as "Lovely Broken Thing" or "JAL to Tokyo" (both from 5 years ago), the rest is a bunch of incoherent synth noodlings that look completely alike and feel pointless just the same. Key progressions are almost all trivial, and the worst thing about this is that it sounds very New Age-y, think ambient CDs with dolphin sounds that they sell near the counter in large supermarkets. Except that this record does not use dolphin sounds, they are sort of implied. Only in the last track, "Preyouandi", the maestro allows himself to deviate from his chosen simplistic formula and creates a nice collage of woodwind sounds and a pleasant "found" percussion that reminds of some small stones rolling in a creek. But one track does not an album make. This is perhaps one of the weakest albums in the Edition Mego's catalogue, a disappointment!