R Plus Seven
by Oneohtrix Point Never
  • Record Label: Warp
  • Release Date: Sep 30, 2013
Metascore
81

Universal acclaim - based on 30 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 30
  3. Negative: 0 out of 30
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  1. AllMusic
    Sep 30, 2013
    80
    For the most part, the album showcases Oneohtrix Point Never's restlessness and ambition in flattering ways; if it's equal parts mystifying and beautiful, it's also a puzzle well worth trying to figure out.
  2. Pitchfork
    Oct 4, 2013
    84
    R Plus Seven doesn’t have quite the disembodied weirdness of Replica, but it’s no less accomplished, another intriguing chapter from an artist whose work remains alive with possibility.
  3. PopMatters
    Oct 2, 2013
    80
    R Plus Seven is more of a departure than you’d expect, and it’s an excellent one.
  5. Uncut
    Oct 10, 2013
    70
    Dan Lopatin champions sounds that fall between futurological cool and nostalgic resurrection, and here takes them to a new level of melamine gloss. [Nov 2013, p.76]
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  6. Mojo
    Oct 11, 2013
    80
    You'll need to attune yourself to the unique musical argot that Lopatin has created on R Plus Seven, but once achieved an album of intrigue and beauty is revealed. [Nov 2013, p.89]
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  7. Rolling Stone
    Oct 1, 2013
    70
    It's holy music, even if wholly weird.
  8. musicOMH.com
    Sep 26, 2013
    80
    R Plus Seven is as singularly compelling as any of his previous releases, but in his desire to transcend glossy hyper pop and introspective electronica into something new and fascinating, Lopatin has delivered a masterful debut for his new label.
  9. Exclaim
    Sep 27, 2013
    80
    On R Plus Seven, it just sounds like triumph.
  10. Drowned In Sound
    Oct 1, 2013
    70
    R Plus Seven can be confusing, jam packed with samples and contrasting elements, but it's never overbearing. At the same time it is hard to put your finger on exactly what is appealing about it.
  11. Spin
    Oct 2, 2013
    80
    With his first album for Warp, OPN proves his mettle amid labelmates like Aphex Twin and Flying Lotus.
  12. The Line of Best Fit
    Sep 27, 2013
    80
    Revel in the moods and noises, go with the ebb and flow of mood, pace and dynamic, conjure up your own tales to tell around its sounds: this is music with elastic boundaries, that will accommodate the interpretations that you choose to place on it, and bear them with a surprising lightness of touch.
  13. Consequence
    Oct 3, 2013
    90
    R Plus Seven might be the first album to crystallize the simultaneous joy and terror inherent in a life of constant connection and constant surveillance.
  14. Clash Music
    Sep 25, 2013
    80
    Disquieting divinity, duly delivered.
  15. Tiny Mix Tapes
    Sep 30, 2013
    100
    What Lopatin leaves us with is a stunning example in the evolution of an artistic premise and a flawless embodiment of emotive responses to sound, which unite here in their most fractured form: a moving stillness for the digital age.
  16. No Ripcord
    Oct 4, 2013
    80
    Admittedly, R Plus Seven is a challenging album, one that doesn’t quite unravel itself on an immediate listen. Yet for all its complexity (of which I’m still trying to comprehend myself), it never comes off as ham-fisted or impossibly inaccessible.
  17. The Wire
    Dec 10, 2013
    90
    EBM equals R Plus Seven. [Sep 2013, p.49]
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  18. The Quietus
    Sep 25, 2013
    80
    R Plus Seven is music that's more programmed than performed. But behind that programming is a very human kind of agency, pushing the right buttons. Amidst an excess of prosumers, Lopatin proves here to be an actual pro.
  19. Boston Globe
    Oct 1, 2013
    80
    On tracks like “Americans” and “Along,” this reverence for the synthetic is almost indistinguishable from his zeal for the real, and it’s a tension that gives all of R Plus Seven a unique sheen--and some potent fumes.
  20. Austin Chronicle
    May 1, 2014
    89
    With every release he proves his idiosyncrasy. Nobody else in the world knows how to make an Oneohtrix Point Never album.
  21. Filter
    Oct 2, 2013
    82
    R Plus Seven isn’t the masterpiece of technical error that its predecessor was; it’s the dissection of a heart.
  22. Beats Per Minute
    Nov 18, 2013
    90
    Here, Lopatin excels at what he’s been doing since his first release as Oneohtrix Point Never, and what first brought us to him: drawing feeling out of the digital realm, instead of just channeling it.
  23. Resident Advisor
    Nov 14, 2013
    70
    These abrupt transitions are clearly of central concern for Lopatin, and it's these rapid shifts that make R Plus Seven unlike anything he's produced to date.
  24. Absolute Punk (Staff reviews)
    Oct 4, 2013
    90
    If you're willing to take the time and patience required to give this album the attention it really deserves, you'll find the rewards will exist long after you turn off the album.
  25. Pretty Much Amazing
    Oct 2, 2013
    91
    It simultaneously respects and warps electronic machines, making for an ideal entry point into the disparate segments of digital life: the horrifying as well as the beautiful.
  26. Fact Magazine (UK)
    Sep 25, 2013
    70
    R Plus Seven feels isolated and eerily post-human. Musically it may be Oneohtrix Point Never’s most accessible work yet, but the emotional pull it exerts is minimal.
  27. XLR8r
    Sep 30, 2013
    95
    For all of its turbulence and dislocations, R Plus Seven is an astounding thing to behold, a perfectly imperfect and downright breathtaking masterpiece.

Awards & Rankings

95
#95 Best Album of 2013

User Reviews

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User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 52 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 48 out of 52
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 52
  3. Negative: 1 out of 52
  1. seabass77
    Oct 1, 2013
    10
    A masterpiece of plunderphonics and experimental. Intense, disquieting and at times calm and sometimes euphoric. A brain maze of destroyed,A masterpiece of plunderphonics and experimental. Intense, disquieting and at times calm and sometimes euphoric. A brain maze of destroyed, repeated and sliced samples, ambient choruses, and shocked, punchy synthesizers. An album to sit down and really fall into it. Imagination is highly encouraged. A must listen for all lovers of music.… Full Review »
  2. adhamhany
    Oct 21, 2013
    9
    This is a treasure. It offers a wide palette of emotions, from the exciting to the serene. Amazing production, linking all these samples intoThis is a treasure. It offers a wide palette of emotions, from the exciting to the serene. Amazing production, linking all these samples into an entire album of beautiful sounds.

    This can be a very rewarding listening experience, if you're patient enough. I didn't like this album the first time i listened to it. It was only by the third time that i discovered the gems inside and loved it.

    Perhaps that's its only drawback. That it requires some sort of commitment.    … Full Review »
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