Channel Pressure

Channel Pressure
Studio album by Ford & Lopatin
Released June 7, 2011 (2011-06-07)
Genre
Length 37:23
Label Software
Producer
Ford & Lopatin chronology
That We Can Play
(2010)		 Channel Pressure
(2011)

Channel Pressure is the debut studio album of electronic music duo Ford & Lopatin, consisting of producers Daniel Lopatin, aka Oneohtrix Point Never, and Joel Ford. It follows the story of a kid named Joey Rogers. It was released on June 7, 2011 on Lopatin's own label Software.

Production

Channel Pressure was produced with the software Pro Tools, which Lopatin said his use of the program for making the record increased his comfortability and familiarity with the program. He described the development process as, "kind of a White Album thing going on where some songs were more driven by Joel, some by me. But whatever ideas were on the table, both of us were kind of throwing a lot of stuff together."[1] The Gaia synth by Roland was used to achieve what he called "the weird scat dad sounds": "It’s definitely like we wanted to do almost this J-pop, cartoony thing and to have this overload of interesting synth moments, Thomas Dolby style, where he’s showing you all these little strange [...] but in a fun way that’s not wanky, being a zoo of little synth emotions and shapes."[1]

Composition

Channel Pressure is a post-pop record, with elements of post-disco, electropop, ambient music and prog-fusion.[2] Writers for the magazine Alarm said Channel Pressure sounded like what would happen "if you toned down the funk and the length of the poppier songs from Daft Punk's Discovery, and made them a bit more spastic". One of the magazine's writers, Scott Morrow, described the sound as "Prefuse 73 twisting around the Miami Vice theme."[3] Lyrically, the album revolves around an adolescent named Joey Rogers who is brainwashed by a large TV into breaking into a music equipment store.[2] Conrad Tao, a former staff reviewer from Sputnikmusic, summarized the album as "If GLaDOS made electropop..."[4]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic78/100[5]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[6]
Beats per Minute73%[7]
DIY8/10[8]
Pitchfork Media7.5/10[9]
Popmatters[10]
Spin8/10[11]
Tiny Mix Tapes[12]
Uncut8/10[13]
Under the Radar[14]
XLR8R6/10[15]

Channel Pressure earned moderately positive reviews upon its release. Popmatters critic Richard Elliot wrote a highly favorable review of the record, scoring it a nine out of ten and calling it, "a work of heroic heritage—reorganizing an era that is too often dismissed as sterile and empty."[10] K. Ross Hoffman, a journalist for Allmusic, rating it four stars out of five, compared it to Neon Neon's album Stainless Style, writing that Channel Pressure, "is equally enjoyable as a painstaking period re-creation drenched in neon nostalgia and nylon nausea, and as a piece of sterling (if decidedly warped) electronic pop music in its own right."[6] Josh Becker of Beats per Minute called it, "an undeniably fun ride through EPCOT-themed dreams and technological mysticism." However, he also compared it to Lopatin's album Returnal which was released a year before, and in that regard, "much of Channel Pressure plays disappointingly safe."[7] In a 7.5-out-of-ten review from Pitchfork Media, Larry Fitzmaurice called Channel Pressure "overstuffed and ridiculous, but also an enticing invitation to plug in and drop out." He praised the vocals and "merely functional" instrumentals, opining that they help "keep the balance right", as well as the old-era-style songwriting.[9]

Accolades

Publication/Author Country Accolade Year Rank
Exclaim! Canada 20 Best Dance & Electronic Albums of 2011[16] 2011 16
Gorilla vs. Bear United States Albums of 2011[17] 18

References

  1. 1 2 "Session transcript Madrid 2011: Oneohtrix Point Never". Red Bull Music Academy. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Ford & Lopatin – Channel Pressure". Mexican Summer. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
  3. ↑ Morrow, Scott; Hajduch, Patrick (June 29, 2011). "Morrow vs. Hajduch: Ford & Lopatin's Channel Pressure". Alarm. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  4. ↑ Tao, Conrad (June 8, 2011). "Ford & Lopatin – Channel Pressure (album review 2)". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Channel Pressure – Ford & Lopatin". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Ross Hoffman, K. "Channel Pressure – Ford & Lopatin". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  7. 1 2 Becker, Josh (June 6, 2011). "Album Review: Ford & Lopatin – Channel Pressure". Beats per Minute. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  8. ↑ Bodenham, Digby (June 6, 2011). "Ford & Lopatin – Channel Pressure". DIY. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  9. 1 2 Fitzmaurice, Larry (June 3, 2011). "Ford & Lopatin: Channel Pressure". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  10. 1 2 Elliott, Richard (June 16, 2011). "Ford & Lopatin: Channel Pressure". Popmatters. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Ford & Lopatin, 'Channel Pressure' (Mexican Summer)". Spin. SpinMedia. June 7, 2011. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  12. ↑ Frowny, Guy. "Ford & Lopatin – Channel Pressure". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  13. ↑ Uncut. July 2011 p. 82.
  14. ↑ Schumer, Ben (June 22, 2011). "Channel Pressure: Ford & Lopatin". Under the Radar. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  15. ↑ Taylor, Ken (June 8, 2011). "Ford & Lopatin Channel Pressure". XLR8R. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Dance & Electronic 2011: 20 Best Albums". Exclaim!. December 1, 2011. p. 16. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  17. ↑ "gorilla vs. bear's albums of 2011". Gorilla vs. Bear. December 5, 2011. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
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