SHINICHI ATOBE - Discipline

With the 2001 EP “Ship-Scope” for Chain Reaction, Japanese producer Shinichi Atobe had already left a deep mark: standing out among its tracks is the fragile emotional universe of “The Red Line”, nine minutes of lo-fi hiss and intimate melancholy immersed in urban, nocturnal scenery. After thirteen years of silence, during which he studied music, and a first interview granted only in 2024, what emerges is the portrait of an artist who did not cultivate mystery by choice: simply, no one had ever written to him.

“Discipline” is the latest stage of a constant evolution: from the hazy loops of "Butterfly Effect" in 2014 to the crystalline house of "Love Of Plastic" in 2022, up to this album that blends vintage dub, Detroit techno and introspective ambient. Of his discography, this is certainly the album closest to the club dimension, and yet it retains that ability to evoke nostalgia for things never lived, which is his most recognizable trademark. Detonated and metallic, closer to English techno than to chillout music.

His is a fusion of the laid-back warmth of dub techno with flashes of Yamaha DX-7, where funky melodies marry an elevator-music sterility. Melancholic lyricism gives way to a calmer energy, and synthetic drums soar over barely perceptible kicks, as tradition dictates. Bordering on the conventional, “Discipline” follows the canons of techno and deep house tradition in a sequence of tracks that, without inventing anything new, exude the class of someone fully aware of his own idiom.

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05/02/2025