Rifts (Oneohtrix Point Never album)

Rifts
Compilation album by Oneohtrix Point Never
Released	October 20, 2009
Recorded	2003–2009
Genre	Electronic, drone, ambient, hypnagogic
Length	2:25:08 (2009 release) 3:08:05 (2012 reissue)
Label	No Fun, Software
Oneohtrix Point Never chronology
Russian Mind (2009) Rifts (2009) Returnal (2010) Reissue cover

Rifts is a compilation album by Oneohtrix Point Never, the project of electronic musician Daniel Lopatin. It was originally released on No Fun Productions in 2009 as a 2-CD set. The album collects three of Lopatin's early limited-run LPs under the OPN alias. Its release brought him early critical recognition, with UK magazine The Wire naming Rifts the No. 2 album of 2009.^[1]

In 2012, the album was reissued as an expanded 3-CD set on Lopatin's own Software label.

Recording and composition

The album collects OPN's synthesizer-based electronic recordings dating back to 2003, primarily drawing from Lopatin's trilogy of limited-run LPs Betrayed in the Octagon (2007), Zones Without People (2009), and Russian Mind (2009). The Roland Juno-60 synthesizer served as Lopatin's primary instrument. Critic Simon Reynolds described the musical template set by these releases as involving "rippling arpeggiations, sweet melodies offset by sour dissonance, grid-like structures struggling with cloudy amorphousness."^[2] The compilation showcases Lopatin's distinctive approach to synthesizers, employing "ornate electronic arpeggios, often run through echo pedals, which spiral off into infinity with breathtaking effect."^[3]

According to Lopatin, following the recording of Russian Mind he noticed a "clear arc" between his three studio albums which suggested the records could come together to create a trilogy.^[4] He described Octagon as being about "surrendering to the raw sounds of the synthesizer", while Zones Without People serves as an engagement with different forms of psychedelic music, such as new-age and noise music, and Russian Mind consolidates the computer-edit music Lopatin completed before beginning his OPN project.^[4] The track "Emil Cioran" is a reference to French philosopher and pessimist Emil Cioran, who Lopatin described as "one of my top dogs."^[5]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[6]
The Line of Best Fit	8/10[7]
Pitchfork Media	8/10 (original release)[8] 8.7/10 (reissue)[9]
PopMatters	9/10[10]
Prefix Mag	9/10[11]
The Quietus	Very favourable[12]
Rolling Stone	[13]
Sputnikmusic	4.7/5[14]
Tiny Mix Tapes	[15]

Rifts received critical acclaim upon its release. The Quietus located the album in a tradition of "chromed modernity and pulp futurism" rooted in the cultural milieu of the 1980s, describing the music as "not so much forging into the future in ignorance of what came before, but acting like a cracked mirror refracting the sounds of the past."^[16] The Line of Best Fit described Lopatin's aesthetic as retro-futurist.^[17] Tiny Mix Tapes wrote that "some will hear 80s soundtrack music, cosmic ambiance, or minimalist repetition, while others might pick up on the mishmash of noise and plastic, mystical new age music."^[18] PopMatters located a feeling of "dyschronia" in the music, suggesting an affinity with the contemporaneous "hypnagogic" music scene. The publication described the music as "strangely familiar and familiarly strange" and suggested that "much of Rifts indeed feels like communication technologies carrying on without the influence of anything but themselves and their own mechanical history, surrogate from human involvement."^[19] Tiny Mix Tapes wrote that "the sounds on Rifts look to past versions of unrealized futures for inspiration," stating that "hearing the record in one sitting is like being in two times and places at once, like watching someone from another decade daydreaming."^[20]

Release

The 2009 edition of Rifts sold out its initial 2,000-unit pressing, selling far beyond expectations and "propell[ing] Lopatin to underground-star status."^[21] In 2012, it was reissued in an expanded 3-CD/5-LP edition on Mexican Summer and Lopatin's own Software label, including additional tracks and alternate sequencing.

Track listing

2009 edition

All tracks written by Daniel Lopatin. 

Disc One
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Behind the Bank"	2:22
2.	"Eyeballs"	3:00
3.	"Betrayed in the Octagon"	3:33
4.	"Woe Is the Transgression I"	8:45
5.	"Parallel Minds"	3:22
6.	"Laser to Laser"	3:20
7.	"Woe Is the Transgression II"	10:56
8.	"Computer Vision"	2:24
9.	"Format & Journey North"	9:46
10.	"Zones Without People"	4:02
11.	"Learning to Control Myself"	5:36
12.	"Disconnecting Entirely"	1:33
13.	"Emil Cioran"	3:35
14.	"Hyperdawn"	4:33

Disc Two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Months"	3:08
2.	"Physical Memory"	10:53
3.	"Grief and Repetition"	2:40
4.	"Russian Mind"	5:03
5.	"Actual Air"	3:11
6.	"Immanence"	7:18
7.	"Lovegirls Precinct"	1:37
8.	"Ships Without Meaning"	9:39
9.	"Terminator Lake"	5:42
10.	"Transmat Memories"	5:35
11.	"A Pact Between Strangers"	4:18
12.	"When I Get Back from New York"	16:47
13.	"I Know It's Taking Pictures from Another Plane (Inside Your Sun)"	2:30
Total length:		2:25:08

2012 reissue

Tracks with an * are tracks not included in the original edition

All tracks written by Daniel Lopatin. 

Disc One
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Woe Is the Transgression I"	8:45
2.	"Behind The Bank"	2:22
3.	"Eyeballs"	2:59
4.	"Betrayed in the Octagon"	3:32
5.	"Woe Is the Transgression II"	10:54
6.	"Parallel Minds"	3:21
7.	"Laser to Laser"	3:20
8.	"Ships Without Meaning"	9:37
9.	"Terminator Lake"	5:41
10.	"Transmat Memories"	5:33
11.	"A Pact Between Strangers"	4:18
12.	"When I Get Back From New York"	16:46

Disc Two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Computer Vision"	2:23
2.	"Format & Journey North"	9:46
3.	"Zones Without People"	4:00
4.	"Learning to Control Myself"	5:36
5.	"Disconnecting Entirely"	1:33
6.	"Emil Cioran"	3:34
7.	"Hyperdawn"	4:33
8.	"Lovergirls Precint"	1:36
9.	"I Know It's Taking Pictures From Another Plane (Inside Your Sun)"	2:31
10.	"Blue Drive*"	9:56
11.	"The Trouble With Being Born*"	4:31
12.	"Sand Partina*"	7:02

Disc Three
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Months"	3:05
2.	"Physical Memory"	10:53
3.	"Grief and Repetition"	2:39
4.	"Russian Mind"	5:03
5.	"Time Decanted"	3:10
6.	"Immanence"	7:18
7.	"Melancholy Descriptions Of Simple 3D Environments*"	10:53
8.	"Memory Vague*"	4:47
9.	"KGB Nights*"	6:08
Total length:		3:08:05

References

1. The Village Voice
2. The Village Voice
3. The Quietus
4. Kawaii, Keith (November 24, 2009). "Oneohtrix Point Never". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
5. Krinsley, Jeremy. "Bothering DANIEL LOPATIN of ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER". Impose Magazine. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
6. AllMusic
7. The Line of Best Fit
8. Colly, Joe (February 2, 2010). "Oneothrix Point Never: Rifts". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
9. Pitchork
10. PopMatters
11. Prefix
12. The Quietus
13. Rolling Stone
14. hyperion (July 19, 2015). "Review: Oneohtrix Point Never – Rifts". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
15. Tiny Mix Tapes
16. The Quietus
17. The Line of Best Fit
18. Tiny Mix Tapes
19. PopMatters
20. Tiny Mix Tapes
21. The Village Voice