Genre: experimental, emoji-soul, electronic, alt-rock, MIDI-core

Every once in a while, I wonder to myself what Dan Lopatin (the human behind Oneohtrix Point Never) dreams about. An internet forum that comes to life and runs for political office? A graphic novel written by R2D2? Anyway, this Boston-born artist is one of the most exciting figures in modern electronic music, and his most recent album does not disappoint. While his previous release "R Plus Seven" will always be near and dear to my heart (go fish it out of the library), this new one sees OPN trekking into exciting territory. Garden of Delete is an honest, detailed, and ugly meditation on adolescence.

Favorites: 2, 6, 4, 9. No FCCs (lyrics are generally unintelligible when present).

1. (0:28) Intro - Garbled voices. Spooky scary. Works as a lead in to track 2.
2. (4:27) **** Ezra - Synth motif that then swivels into a brief, but great, bass guitar melody. Vocaloids, snippets of syllables, MIDI escapades—this track has it all. Maybe my favorite on the album.
3. (0:32) ECCOJAMC1 - vaporwave bb…syrupy and slowed down aural molasses
4. (4:18) *** Sticky Drama - Syncopated MIDI guitar and piano followed by an awesome vocaloid riff. Emoji-soul? Just when you feel like you have a handle on the track, it swerves into pounding blastbeats and distorted guitar. Really creative—and strangely emotionally affecting—track.
5. (1:27) ** SDFK - Dark dirgey interlude…very cool drum bit at the end. Honestly wish this was just longer.
6. (8:07) **** Mutant Standard - High distant tones. A propulsive beat carries the song. Field recordings of human voices and bird calls try to break the surface. A labyrinthine journey.
7. (4:52) Child of Rage - Begins with a brief documentary sample. Gurgling synthesizer makes for a vaguely tropical mood. A melodic, spacious track. Moves into a tense ambient middle passage before returning to the initial theme.
8. (3:55) Animals - Synth ballad with some delicious, distorted vocaloid crooning. Sentimental, and slow moving. Nice descending synth line.
9. (3:17) *** I Bite Through It - AWESOME opening moments. Like arena rock funneled through the mind of an android. Moves into a slightly glitchy recurring melody. In line with the more aggressive tracks from the first half of the album, offset by short MIDI acoustic guitar interludes.
10. (6:31) Freaky Eyes - Dreamy ambience. Church organ melody takes over 1:30 into the track. Midway through shifts into a bizarro radio robo-folk song before bleeding back into synthland. Dark, abstract finish.
11. (4:10) Lift - Hyperactive synthwork with a bright, clean melody. More wordless vocaloid singing….pop music with the hard drive of your computer as lead singer.
12. (3:19) No Good - Lonesome auto-tuned vocals accompanied by synthesizer sounds reminiscent of Dan Lopatin’s earlier work. Becomes more impassioned and distorted. Gradually winds down into a calm ending.