oneohtrix point never - garden of delete 2 x lp

Having spent the run up to Garden Of Delete regaling us with an array of clues as to the album's content from various points online that ranged from a PDF letter of cryptic quality addressed to his fans and an interview with an unidentified "alien collaborator named Ezra" and a website we now know as ( ;- ) for fictional 90's "hypergrunge" band Kaoss Edge the lead up to Garden Of Delete was in many ways a PR campaign that matches the music found within the LP, complex, mischievous and cutting edge in all the right places. Wearing the album's influences of cybermetal and rock music on his sleeve, it's on Garden Of Delete that Oneohtrix has crafted out what is no doubt a sure stand out and possibly the most certified vision of his music to date.



Opening with the aptly titled Intro we are treated to a soundbite of complexly spannered YouTube compression field recordings before swiftly cutting into Ezra which sparkles with electronic beauty on a stop/start motion before the rock influence breaks out and he goes for an R Plus 7 recalling piece of lush electronica that most producers would take a life time to produce but feels to be executed with ease. This gives way to a full on burst of hypercolour lazer swords and female vocals that has the fingerprints and DNA influence of sometime collaborator Hudson Mohawke running through its veins. The sounds spin between 80's referencing huge prog-tronica and a more RNB style flex. Next up is the interlude led ECCOJAMC1 before we are thrown back into the psychedelic airy pads that dive straight into an avant-pop number Sticky Drama that's so sweet you can taste it. The rest of the LP treads the same path from the melancholic reversed pianos of SDFK (which could almost be lifted from the recent Helm LP) while Mutant Standard starts off with a militant industrial techno skeleton throwing the everyday sci-fi samples in to break up the track to disorientating effect before the whole thing flips and twists itself through various motions of pop and trance like a break-dancing Rubik's cube edition of Gescom's mini disc stuck on repeat shuffle. Child of Rage starts up the second half with more movement between floating pads and new age calmness while Animals revisits the big room technological pop with extra helpings of inside out electro-oddness. Recent fan fav I Bite Through It goes a way to sum up the chaotic feel of the recordings in a way that makes total sense, it could be seen as a comment on our internet-dominated existence with the nonstop flashing of screens and information switching between different sights sounds and swagger at an alarming rate - a social commentary that is neither negative or positive but just observes the world around it. The last three tracks are possibly the best example of the album's sound yet, they expertly walk the line between the classic OPN sound of tight electronic structures perfectly executed with a level of futurism outweighing others in his league. Blending the everyday inner-city amazement of James Ferraro and drawing lines between contemporary underground experimental producers reaching for bigger things such as the PC Music collective to the underground throw in all your influences instrumental grime scene. Fellow internet futurist William Gibson said the future is already here it's just not evenly distributed but hearing Garden Of Delete with its almost EDM approach to more traditional dancefloor and mainstream pop sounds it digests so many different styles and returns them in a complex but highly rewarding body of work sculpted to include sounds distributed from a vast array of worlds. Sure to stand the test of time as one of the absolute highlights of Warp's catalogue of records such as Windowlicker Garden Of Delete is a textbook example of a true pioneer of a hypnotic groove flirting with troubled pop structures and giving results so far ahead of everything else in the game it will stay fresh for years to come while the rest of the world catches up.