If you were looking around for 2013’s Aphex Twin, the electronica guru working closest to the zeitgeist, you need look no further than Daniel Lopatin. Brooklynite, owner of Software Records, soundtracker of Sofia Coppola’s recent hit movie The Bling Ring, and theoretician of some standing, Lopatin’s washy synthesizer drifts have an uncanny way of sounding both retro-nostalgic and very much in touch with the modern condition. But whereas his early kosmische-styled material had a strong emotional undertow, his debut for Warp feels a little more arch. A floaty but mischievous repurposing of dreamy new age electronics and glossy mall muzak, ‘Boring Angel’ and ‘Inside World’ whiz up angelic synth washes, digi pan pipes, saxophones and experimental glitch into a frothy blend of the banal and bizarre. There are a few moments of elegant sensuality – like the tumbling, androgynous voices of ‘He She’ – but by and large it’s like one of Jeff Koons’ uber-kitsch sculptures: gleaming, opulent, but kinda hard to love.
Louis Pattison