Altered Zones

By Emilie Friedlander

MP3: Airbird: "Part of the Game"

MP3: Megafortress: "Omega L.I.F.E."

Dan Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never and Games is quite the young enterpriser. Between recording and touring, founding his own Upstairs CD-R imprint and doing A&R consulting for Hippos in Tanks, his track record over the past few years reads like a healthy reminder that success and creative integrity aren't mutually exclusive. Pitchfork reported Wednesday that Games, his ultra-smooth, "futuristic production team" with Tigercity's Joel Ford, has changed its name to Ford & Lopatin-- presumably, to preempt legal issues with a certain rapper on Interscope.

And now, these two Massachusetts natives and lifelong friends have founded their own imprint via Brooklyn's Mexican Summer, itself a subsidiary of Kemado. The label will be called Software and it's presently slated to release F&L's debut LP in early June, a Oneohtrix Point Never album in September, and miscellaneous goodies from Demdike Stare, Autre Ne Veut, Prefuse 73's Guillermo Herren, Megafortress, and Joel's solo project, Airbird. When we phoned Lopatin on Wednesday, he was sitting in the pair's brand new HQ: a state-of-the-art recording studio built by Kemado founder and producer Tom Clapp, which will double as an office and their very own control room.

AZ: So how did you and Joel link up with Mexican Summer?

Dan: Keith Abramson, the founder, wrote us an email inviting us to come over and see what was going on at the label. When we saw the studio, we got really excited. Having that space and the freedom to work without time restrictions or pay dates appeals to us, because it can take a lot longer than two weeks to do a record. Sometimes we want to jam for 12 hours straight. And I didn't want the pressure. Having a studio built into the label is kind of an old school model-- like Stax Records or something. It's just a rarity, like a vertically integrated label studio. It made us really stoked. No amount of money can replace having a home to make music.

AZ: And a built-in office…

Dan: …and a place to feel like home. It just makes you more productive and creative.