About

Shinichi Atobe is a Saitama-based producer who has been making house and techno music since he was 27 years old. His sound has evolved from abstract, dubby minimal techno to brighter, more melodic deep house. Originally appearing in 2001 with a 12-inch EP titled Ship-Scope (2001), which came out on the cult-favorite dub techno label Chain Reaction. Copies subsequently changed hands for triple-digit U.S. dollar amounts. Atobe disappeared for over a decade and during the early 2010s, Miles Whittaker and Sean Canty of Demdike Stare managed to track down the Japanese producer and convinced him to release Atobe’s first full-length album, Butterfly Effect (2014), on their record label DDS. 

His new album, Yes, arrives with the same sunny disposition of its housey predecessor, 2018’s Heat, and a rare headshot of the Saitama-based producer—included, possibly, as a response to rumors he is actually his sometime Chain Reaction labelmate Vainqueur. Sloughing off the dub techno of Atobe’s first two records, Ship-Scope and Butterfly Effect—between which lay a 13-year gap and not a single word from the artist—his latest LP is closer in style to house aesthetes like DJ Sprinkles or the late Boston producer Callisto. Where Yes stands apart is in its inherent optimism—in a couple cases, the mood comes close to a deep contentment. On “Lake 2,” piano and organ keys skate with the ease of Moon Safari-era Air or Italo house producer Don Carlos. 

However much Atobe’s music has changed, it’s still recognizably his in at least one way: those sharp, throat-tickling trebles that could make a stone cough. They’re an acquired taste. Matt Colton, the mastering engineer for most of Atobe’s records, admitted treating Butterfly Effect’s “bright,” “cold-sounding” pre-masters with warmer mids and fatter lows. Even if we accept that Atobe’s nettling claps and rimshots are a feature rather than a bug, Yes’s hi-fi polish intuitively seems like a less forgiving environment. Somehow, though, it comes together, thanks to some nice contrasts of space and texture. Where Heat introduced warmth to Atobe’s music, Yes has made it smooth. As it opens with an irresistible g-funk bassline, the scene quickly assembles itself: palm trees, Venice Beach, lowriders on an endless boulevard. But there are still so many questions, the most immediate of which might be this: After all those years of inactivity, how is it that Atobe came to be this reliable, this prolific, or this good? — via Pitchfork

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Label: DDS
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Repress
Reissued: 2024 / Original Release: 2020
Genre: Electronic
Style: Minimal, Deep House, Techno

File under: House / Electro / Techno
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