Altered Zones

"My shit wasn't popping off at all," he laughs. This was 2003 through 2005, when Wolf Eyes defined the scene with their rock-and-roll attitude. But Lopatin and a handful of kindred spirits such as Emeralds felt a growing "boredom with noise, a sense we'd done it: We get this emotion." Around 2006, the scene began to shift slowly in their direction. "We were all talking about Klaus Schulze," he recalls of the gig where he first bonded with Emeralds, noting also the huge clouds of pot smoke pouring from vans outside the venue, Cambridge, Massachusetts' Twisted Village. "Drugs!" is his answer, when asked how the noise scene reached its current ethereal 'n' tranquil state. "Noise, at the end of the day, is headspace music. Drugs are a big part of getting into that experience, from a playing side, and from a fan/listener perspective, too." [Interview with Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never; Village Voice, July 6, 2010]

MP3: Oneohtrix Point Never: "Pelham Island Road"

from Returnal, out now on Editions Mego