Butterfly Effect

Shinichi Atobe has managed to stay off grid since he made an appearance on Basic Channel’s Chain Reaction imprint back in 2001. He delivered the second-to-last 12” on the label and then disappeared without a trace, leaving behind a solitary 12” that’s been selling for crazy money and a trail of speculation that has led some people to wonder whether the project was in fact the work of someone on the Basic Channel payroll.

That killer Chain Reaction 12” has also been a longtime favourite of Demdike Stare, who have been trying to follow the trail and make contact with Atobe for some time, whomever he turned out to be. A lead from the Basic Channel office turned up an address in japan and - unbelievably - an album full of archival and new material that after a lot of hard work has been assembled and compiled by Demdike for this debut album.

And what a weird and brilliant album it is - deployed with a slow-churn opener that sounds like a syruppy Actress track, before working through a brilliantly sharp and tactile 9 minute Piano House roller that sounds like DJ Sprinkles at his most bittersweet, before diving headlong into a heady, Vainqueur inspired droneworld. It’s a confounding album, full of odd little signatures that give the whole thing a timeless feel that’s completely detached from the zeitgeist - like a sound bubble from another era.

This is only the second album release on Demdike Stare’s DDS imprint following on from Nate Young’s ’Regression Vol.3’ last year, who knows what they might turn up next?!