Timeless collection of house and techno from Japan’s Shinichi Atobe. Most of us were turned on to Atobe’s minimalist productions with 2014’s Butterfly Effect via Demdike Stare’s DDS label. Although he’d released the Ship-Scope 12″ on Chain Reaction back in 2001, Atobe’s idiosyncratic brand of electronic music did not gain much of an audience until recently. The six tracks that make up World are more loop based than the electronic experimentation of Butterfly Effect, but they still reach the high bar that Atobe set with that album. His sense and use of texture is really what sets his music apart. Whether it’s the subtle use of noise, fragmented percussive sounds, or the fabric of his synth patches, there is always something there to please your ears. Apparently, the material on World was recorded “some time in the last 20 years” but it sounds like it could have been put to tape as recently as yesterday. Recommended.

• music label: DDS 2016

reviewed by lost master 08/2016