07/10/2026
In the early 2000s, Shinichi Atobe was one of the most enigmatic figures in electronic music to find international acclaim. Following the release of his revered debut 12”, Ship Scope (2001), on Basic Channel’s Chain Reaction label, he lived in total obscurity until the release of his full length follow up, Butterfly Effect, 13 years later.
BE did not disappoint.. it was a bold expansion on the rich textural dub house / techno sound he was revered for. Steady propulsive beats, deep washy ambience, and piano melodies circled by staticy insect-like sounds.. this lavish palette forms the basis of the first half of the album.. then it implodes.
Free Access Zone 7 begins the descent into ‘no f***s given’ territory. It breaks away from the steady, beat driven tracks of the first half of the album, and initiates the plunge into obscurity. All elements fragment asymmetrically, and recede into an echoey chamber.. Such as with his lack of interest in the pursuit of music as a ‘career’, this too is reflected in his convention defying approach to his releases.
Waste Land 1 follows with a shimmering, discordant sci-fi /horror melody, which sustains for a 6 minute anxiety-inducing nightmare.
Waste Land 2 continues with a slow, pulsating thud of a beat, augmented with alien textures that spring out in abrupt bursts, then decay back into the ether.
Then the reprieve.. the title track concludes the album with a return to comfortable terrain.. a 12 minute padded synth loop, accompanied by dubby bells ringing out in broken intervals. A gently hypnotic and deceptively simple track - one of the highlights in an album full of them. Excellent from start to finish.. 5x stars - Jon
(Short snippets don’t do it justice, but there’s a sample in the 2nd slide)
