His second mass-market Oneohtrix Point Never record is called Replica. His face has proven indomitably straight, even through the molasses-thick synth pop album he made with his sinusoidal friend Ford earlier this year. The people willing to wade through Returnal's smog of melodic keyboards handled it just fine. There was no break of a smile, no follow-through. It was sort of funny that he began his first mass-market Oneohtrix Point Never album-after scores of tapes and limited vinyl runs-with a blast of noise, but I don't think it was a joke. But if he is, his irony is thick enough to pass as anything but. That would be unusual enough in a high-ish profile drone artist, and unusual enough to explain some of his appeal. It's always hard to say if, or when, Dan Lopatin is trying to be funny.
