shinichi atobe: world

Demdike Stare prise another absolute gem from Japan's Shinichi Atobe; presenting six tracks of original, previously unreleased material recorded some time in the last 20 years in Saitama, Japan, perfectly complementing the sublime ambient house zen of his Butterfly Effect album . The reclusive artist has seen a lot of justified, and somewhat overdue, praise surrounding the reissue of his sole early release, the Ship Scope 12" by Demdike Stare, originally issued by Berlin's Chain Reaction label in 2001, whilst the dispatch of his distinguished and subtly diverse Butterfly Effect album arguably came as a surprise for many heads who had him pegged out solely as a dub house producer. His new World will expand those preconceptions again, coursing a beautifully louche and debonair vibe from the most minimal loops and motifs - the kind that one could play all day and would hardly ever tire of hearing them. The supple, floating DX7 bass contours and vaporous jazz chords of "Intro" start up like some Chicago or NYC deep house classic lost in its own reverie, and could go on for as long as it wants, before the rainy day piano house melancholy of "World 1" promptly inverts that supple aesthetic with a fizzing, hazy sort of depth perception and "World 2" switches again to a sort of trim dub momentum in stepping, swinging equilibrium, riding the groove like no other. Turn over and the lingering, slowed-down stroke of "World 3" sounds like it got waylaid from a session with Wolfgang Voigt, whilst "World 4" jettisons the bass altogether to whiz and skip away in the highest registers with an intoxicatingly heady, mesmerizing appeal which also makes the uniquely brittle but spacious breakbeat trip of "World 5" so narcotically seductive. This is highly idiosyncratic, exceptional material, with the highest recommendations to anyone with a taste for house and ambient's refined, soulful and experimental echelons. Mastered and cut by Matt Colton.