science

Magic Oneohtrix Point Never

Magic Oneohtrix Point Never is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Magic Oneohtrix Point Never rather than just read about it. In short: Magic Oneohtrix Point Never is the ninth studio album by American electronic producer Daniel Lopatin, under his alias Oneohtrix Point Never, released on October 30, 2020, via Warp. The album draws on a psychedelic radio aesthetic strongly inspired by Magic 106.7, the mondegreen namesake of Lopatin's project, and was recorded during COVID-19 lockdowns, between March and July 2020.

Key takeaways

Magic Oneohtrix Point Never belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Magic Oneohtrix Point Never to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Magic Oneohtrix Point Never from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Magic Oneohtrix Point Never is the ninth studio album by American electronic producer Daniel Lopatin, under his alias Oneohtrix Point Never, released on October 30, 2020, via Warp. The album draws on a psychedelic radio aesthetic strongly inspired by Magic 106.7, the mondegreen namesake of Lopatin's project, and was recorded during COVID-19 lockdowns, between March and July 2020. It is the second album to heavily feature Lopatin's own vocals after Age Of, with a higher focus on songwriting. It features collaborations with The Weeknd (who also served as an executive producer for the album), Caroline Polachek, Arca and Nolanberollin. American artist Robert Beatty provided the album cover art. Both Lopatin and Beatty cooperated on art direction. Upon release, Magic Oneohtrix Point Never was met with critical acclaim and was featured on several publications' year-end lists.

Background and composition Magic Oneohtrix Point Never was conceived as an album in early 2020 after Lopatin created eclectically varied mixtapes for the Safdie brothers' radio site Elara Radio; overall, he found that "on a therapeutic scale", he "always enjoyed the comfort of listening to the radio, and of listening to people have inane discussions on podcasts". Lopatin remarked to GQ that "there's so much of me on this—even the collaborations are appropriate [to when I started out]". In comparison, the album is themed around a psychedelic radio aesthetic and features four "Cross Talk" interludes, collages of "archival recordings of various American FM stations' "format flips", in which detourned DJ sign-offs collide with advertisements and self-help mantras", marking each periodic stage of the album. Lopatin said of his intent with creating Magic Oneohtrix Point Never that:

I wanted to make a cohesive, punchy, 50-minute record that was very personal, but pulled from FM palettes that I was personally interested in [...] I think it works really well as a metaphor for how I've changed. The things that I try to understand about my own life and being an avid musical listener and how much that's influenced me as a musician is kind of apparent on this record. That metaphor of transformation is something that I came to by thinking about the radio. The press release issued by Warp upon the album's announcement, especially concerning the album's concept, tone and use of textures, stated that it "loosely summons the broadcasting logic of radio dayparts, switching on in the morning and closing very late at night, while seamlessly latticed together with kaleidoscopic, twitchy transformations of sound between the dials to form a darkly humorous reflection on American music culture", concluding by referring to the album's style as "maximalist baroque-pop within atmospheric glitter".

Release Lopatin began teasing the album on September 22, 2020, posting a video teaser stating the album title to social media platforms. He announced the album and its tracklist on September 25; the announcement also came with the release of the "Drive Time Suite", a single release consisting of the first three songs off of the album: "Cross Talk I", "Auto & Allo" and "Long Road Home". On October 14, Lopatin released the music video for "Long Road Home", co-directed by Charlie Fox and Emily Schubert. The stopmotion animated video pays homage to the 1982 short film Le Ravissement de Frank N. Stein, which was also adapted on Lopatin's 2013 Oneohtrix Point Never album, R Plus Seven. The song would later be reworked and rereleased as the B-side to Caroline Polachek's 2022 single "Billions". On October 27, Lopatin released the "Midday Suite", another single release containing the next five tracks of the album, "Cross Talk II", "I Don't Love Me Anymore", "Bow Ecco", "The Whether Channel" and "No Nightmares". Lopatin also shared the personnel for the album on the same day to social media.

Critical reception

Magic Oneohtrix Point Never was met with acclaim from music critics upon its release. At Metacritic, the album received a score of 81 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". In the review for AllMusic, Heather Phares writes that, "Lopatin builds on radio's power to connect people through music even from a distance, and the way he combines all the facets of his music feels like going up and down the dial. The flowing synth instrumentals of his earliest work sit next to Garden of Delete and Age Of's subverted pop songs, and they're all surrounded by collages of DJ chatter that hark back to Replica's nimble plunderphonics." Another positive review by Philip Sherburne states that "Whether sampled, synthesized, or acoustic, they are rich with implicit physicality, evocative of stretching and striking; processed voices are carved into curved, glistening shapes, uncanny as ice sculptures. It's a ridiculously opulent palette."

Track listing All tracks written by Daniel Lopatin, except where noted; all tracks produced by Daniel Lopatin.

Sample credits

"Cross Talk II" contains a sample from "Wasn't the Summer Short", written by Ruth Newman and performed by Peter Nero. "Shifting" contains a sample from "Reconquering Our Kingdom" by Mournlord.

Personnel

Musicians Daniel Lopatin – vocals, production, engineering (all tracks), executive production Caroline Polachek – vocals ("Long Road Home"), additional vocals ("No Nightmares"), additional engineering ("No Nightmares"), additional vocal engineering ("Long Road Home") Nolanberollin – vocals ("The Whether Channel"), additional vocal engineering ("The Whether Channel") The Weeknd – vocals ("No Nightmares"), executive production Shin Kamiyama – additional engineering ("No Nightmares") Matt Cohn – additional engineering ("No Nightmares") Nate Boyce – additional guitar synth ("Lost But Never Alone") Arca – vocals ("Shifting")

Technical Matt Cohn – mixing (all tracks, except "Lost But Never Alone") Daniel Lopatin – mixing ("Lost But Never Alone") Ryan Schwabe – mastering (all tracks)

Charts

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Magic Oneohtrix Point Never

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Magic Oneohtrix Point Never claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Magic Oneohtrix Point Never before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Magic Oneohtrix Point Never ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Magic Oneohtrix Point Never

In research: Magic Oneohtrix Point Never appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Magic Oneohtrix Point Never in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Magic Oneohtrix Point Never is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2020 albums, Albums produced by the Weeknd, Albums with cover art by Robert Beatty (artist), so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Magic Oneohtrix Point Never outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Magic Oneohtrix Point Never in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Magic Oneohtrix Point Never means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Magic Oneohtrix Point Never out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Magic Oneohtrix Point Never in simple terms?

Why does Magic Oneohtrix Point Never matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Magic Oneohtrix Point Never?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Magic Oneohtrix Point Never.