RA.1009 Shinichi Atobe

The first-ever live recording from an elusive icon of dubby electronic music. Lore is an underrated quality in music. Neuroscientists have mapped that music elicits similar feelings in the brain to when we satiate cravings, but what exactly is the psychological impulse that drives listeners of a certain disposition toward everything they don’t know? It’s tricky to put your finger on, but when wielded correctly, artists able to conjure intrigue without overhawking the backstory can go the distance—just ask SAULT, [ar:pi:ar] or Gerald Donald, to name but three. Then there are those who don’t try whatsoever. These are the ones who stay in mind the most. In 2001, a striking 12″ called Ship-Scope emerged through Chain Reaction, credited to one Shinichi Atobe, with no other info available. Okay, mulled fans, this is probably a cat-and-mouse game dreamed up by someone on a label with a fine line in foggy obfuscation. Vainqueur on a wind-up? Another Moritz ‘n Mark alias? But no: Atobe was real, and really had posted a demo to Hard Wax from his home of Saitama, just to the north of Tokyo. It was that simple. Then he went back to his day job—until, after 13 years of silence, an even better follow-up emerged. From the near-perfect Butterfly Effect onwards, Atobe has built up one of the most revered catalogues in underground circles. A steady clip of elegant, transportive dub techno and deep electronics has arrived on Demdike Stare’s DDS, complimented by the launch of his own label, plastic & sounds, earlier this summer. Yet the sense of distance was never tactical. Atobe has also made strides into the public domain, DJing intermittently, as well as performing live for the first time in 2023, gracing WWW at the tender age of 52. It’s that 2023 show heard on RA.1009: a hypnotic yet comparatively pumping set full of unreleased Atobe material you won’t find anywhere else. Contact with Atobe, as you might anticipate, is glacial: since we first reached out, the RA Mix has changed name, look and rolled over into its second millennium. Still, patience is a virtue. This is a one-off we’re truly pumped to run. @shinichiatobe Find the interview at https://ra.co/podcast/1028​Read More

Written by The DJ Sessions