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Daniel Lopatin

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Daniel Lopatin was born in 1982 in Massachusetts, the son of Russian-Jewish emigrants with a musical background. He attributes a large part of his taste to his father's record collection and to his father's Roland Juno-60 synthesizer, which he later inherited and used extensively. He studied archival science at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and ended up in the noise scene there. Under the name Oneohtrix Point Never, OPN for short, he made electronic music. The name is a play on words on a radio station in Boston.

Music and breakthrough

His first records drew inspiration from arpeggio synthesizer music of the 1970s and 1980s, new age and noise. The compilation Rifts from 2009 earned him critical praise. In 2010 came, as a side project, Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. 1, which influenced vaporwave. In 2013 he signed with Warp Records. Albums followed such as Age Of in 2018, Magic Oneohtrix Point Never in 2020, Again in 2023 and Tranquilizer in 2025. His music gathers sounds from all kinds of eras and styles, from advertising jingles to minimalism and noise.

Influence

Lopatin also made film music, mainly with the Safdie brothers, for Good Time in 2017, Uncut Gems in 2019 and Marty Supreme in 2025. For Good Time he won the Soundtrack Award at the Cannes film festival. He also produced for, among others, The Weeknd, on After Hours, Dawn FM and Hurry Up Tomorrow, whose film music he also co-composed.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to an excerpt from the music of Uncut Gems and notice the layers of synthesizer. Can you hear how the sound builds tension without there being a clear song?

Discography

Studio albums

Mentioned in other articles

Categories: ArtistsVaporwave