Last Updated on 2025-12-09 by a-indie
Have you ever experienced emotions spreading through your heart while listening to music that you couldn’t put into words?
Oneohtrix Point Never’s latest work 『Tranquilizer』 is a piece that resonates with such difficult-to-articulate sensations.
Composed of cold electronic sounds yet somehow possessing a warm breath, the soundscape invites listeners on a journey traveling between the outer world and one’s inner self.
When you surrender to unpredictable developments, what do you feel?
In this article, reviewer Wakiki carefully unravels the charm of each track so that even those encountering experimental music for the first time can enjoy it.
If you’re interested, we would be grateful if you could read to the end.
Oneohtrix Point Never 『Tranquilizer』 Review
Text: Wakiki Introduction: BELONG Media, A-indie
Oneohtrix Point Never’s latest work 『Tranquilizer』 is a sonic journey spun from lost sound memories.
This project by Daniel Lopatin has continued to run at the forefront of experimental music since its 2007 debut.
This work rescues sample CDs from the 90s to 2000s that suddenly disappeared from internet archives several years ago, reconstructing through sound the experience of cultural disconnection, of the circuits connecting era memories being mercilessly severed.
About Daniel Lopatin
Massachusetts-born Lopatin grew up in a musical Russian immigrant household, influenced by his father’s record collection and game music.
He has earned high acclaim as a film composer, working on projects by the Safdie Brothers and Sofia Coppola, and is known for collaborations with The Weeknd, Iggy Pop, and David Byrne.
About Tranquilizer
In the latest work 『Tranquilizer』, a world possessing warm breath is spun from cold electronic sounds.
Sound fragments that stimulate imagination are scattered throughout the entire work, and we as listeners advance forward amid the flickering of scattered fragments that shine and dim repeatedly.
The experience of being called into various worlds by Oneohtrix Point Never’s music, at times wandering the external world, at times diving deep into the inner self.
It is a journey without regularity or predetermined harmony, where one cannot predict what will happen next.
In 「For Residue」, it feels like gazing at stars flowing beyond a transparent wall and the presence of birds taking flight, where the outside world is somehow distant like someone else’s affair, purely beautiful yet even evoking a touch of melancholy.
In 「Lifeworld」, various heartbeats surge as waves of sound. One becomes elated by the vibrant rhythm that makes life bounce. Just when a gentle and magnificent panorama appears to whisper its mysticism, countless lives with bolder outlines and more vivid colors pass before your eyes.
In 「Measuring Ruins」, amid resonating flute-like pale and soft synth tones, the city’s bustle, the saturated people and objects and buildings, all fade into the distance. Is this loss or tranquility? From this track and the next, 「Modern lust」, with its lament of being swallowed by desire, the world sinks inward.
In 「Fear of Symmetry」, the phrase repeated amid drizzling noise in the opening is eventually swallowed by intense sound rain. This resembles a moment of fusion with fear, or perhaps acceptance.
The title track 「Tranquilizer」, while named after a sedative, has psychedelic sounds wrapped in elusive glitch art with a peculiar quality, a kind of trip state, and within it lies a kind of tranquility.
The album races again toward the outer world from 「Storm Show」, trailing overflowing sound fragments in 「Rodl Glide」.
Then in 「Waterfalls」, it arrives at a waterfall that shatters the boundary between daily and non-daily, outer world and inner world. What was caught in the chest disappears all too easily into the spray, losing form, and the state of mind gazing endlessly at the clear curtain reflecting that light is empty yet certainly fulfilled.
The electronic music produced by Oneohtrix Point Never at times invites listeners into extraordinary sensations,
at times evokes a sense of awe due to being too precise and beautiful,
at times triggers that quiet exaltation like right after touring an art museum, an illusion that one’s sensibility has dived one level deeper.
Oneohtrix Point Never’s music, which can even become a trigger leading to dialogue with oneself, could truly be said to be a great 『Tranquilizer』 for us listeners.
Oneohtrix Point Never Album Release
11th Album 『Tranquilizer』
Release Date: November 21, 2025
*Import CD, Domestic CD, Domestic CD plus T-shirt (S to XL) set, vinyl available
Tracklist:
1. For Residue
2. Bumpy
3. Lifeworld
4. Measuring Ruins
5. Modern Lust
6. Fear of Symmetry
7. Vestigel
8. Cherry Blue
9. Bell Scanner
10. D.I.S.
11. Tranquilizer
12. Storm Show
13. Petro
14. Rodl Glide
15. Waterfalls
16. For Residue (Extended) *Bonus Track
View on Amazon
Oneohtrix Point Never Japan Tour Details
Event: Oneohtrix Point Never
live visuals by Freeka Tet
Osaka Performance
Date: Wednesday, April 1, 2026
Doors, Show: 18:00, 19:00
Venue: Osaka, Gorilla Hall
Tokyo Performance
Date: Thursday, April 2, 2026
Doors, Show: 18:00, 19:00
Venue: Tokyo, Zepp DiverCity
Tickets:
Advance: 8,800 yen (tax included, plus drink fee) *No entry for preschool children
Tokyo: 1F Standing, 2F Reserved Seating
Osaka: All Standing
General Sale:
e+ https://eplus.jp/OPN2026/
LAWSON TICKET https://l-tike.com/OPN2026/
Ticket Pia (Osaka only) https://w.pia.jp/t/opn2026/
BEATINK https://beatink.zaiko.io/e/OPN2026
Inquiries:
[Tokyo] BEATINK 03-5768-1277 www.beatink.com
[Osaka] SMASH WEST 06-6535-5569 https://smash-jpn.com/
Performance Details: https://www.beatink.com/products/detail.php?product_id=15467
Oneohtrix Point Never Profile
Oneohtrix Point Never is a project by experimental musician Daniel Lopatin, known for retro synth reveries and complex compositions exploring the intersection of history, memory, and music. The flowing electronics found in early albums eventually evolved into music balancing interest in high art and pop culture artifacts, including video games and advertising. The 2011 『Replica』 skillfully employed sampling, while the 2015 『Garden of Delete』 produced adventurous and moving work fusing metal, trance, R&B, and pop. Lopatin became an award-winning film composer with 2017’s 『Uncut Gems』 and is known for collaborations with Iggy Pop, Anohni, and The Weeknd, working particularly closely on The Weeknd’s 『After Hours』 and 『Dawn FM』. Oneohtrix Point Never’s questioning and reinvention of the past reached new heights with the introspective collage 『Again』 in 2023 and the poignant work excavating internet history, 『Tranquilizer』, in 2025.
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Writer: Wakiki
A BayStars fan who loves coffee, tobacco, and music. Lives in Mie Prefecture. Previously written articles are available here
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