territories : ww minus UK & Benelux & France

LP (Red Opaque Vinyl)

Tracklist LP:

01_Silent Cloud (Beat Version - iF edit)
02_Call From the Ground (iF edit)
03_Summer Mood (iF edit)
04_Summer Ocean (iF edit)
05_Silent Sky (iF edit)
06_A Life That Can Only Be Dream Now (iF edit)
07_Birds of Passage (iF edit)
08_Summer Sketch (Floating Through Space In A Dream - iF edit)
09_Nexus 2 (Beatless Version - iF edit)


Hiroshi Watanabe, a musician, photographer, and DJ from the Japanese electronic scene, based in Saitama near Tokyo, has been a prolific figure for twenty-five years. He has explored most major genres of electronic music through more than twenty albums. He proudly becomes the very first Japanese artist of InFiné.

After Ryuichi Sakamoto, he is one of the very few Japanese artists who have gained the favor of Western audiences, alongside notable names such as Cornelius, Towa Tei, DJ Krush, Ken Ishii, Susumu Yokota, and more recently Hiroshi Yoshimura. In Europe, he is best known for his project Kaito, which began in 2001 under the prestigious Kompakt label. The name Kaito, in addition to being the name of his son born the same year, carries a double meaning in Japanese, signifying both "universe" and "secret." These references hint at a spirituality visible in his photographic work and contribute to the elements that make Japanese artists masters of the ambient genre.

The collaboration between Kaito and the InFiné label began with his participation in the compilation "Music Activists 2020 (From Home)," which supported artists affected by the Covid crisis, followed by a remix for the single "Motion" by Rone and Vanessa Wagner in 2023. These initial contributions led to a new album featuring nine tracks of ambient music.
Kaito's new album ‘Collection’ comprises nine ambient and melodic tracks composed during the Covid-19 pandemic. These compositions present a majestic minimal and harmonious therapy in response to the world’s adversities, showcasing the producer’s return to the peak of his art. ‘Collection’ was remastered by another genre legend, the German Rashad Becker, and released on vinyl and CD by InFiné in 2024.


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No Returns!

500 limited copies, hand numbered, vinyl only, mastered by DJ Steaw, Made in Europe

A1: L.O.V.E.
A2: The House Sound
B1: XTC
B2: Koba La Drum
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Tracklist
A1. île Flottante
A2. Central Park
A3. Crystal Snowflakes
A4. Katamaran
B1. Low Tide
B2. Cedar Sunset
B3. Ocean Spray
B4. Dance Of The Dolphin

Île Flottante is Mr. Beatnick´s 5th album, following 2023’s Joy In Variation (including the notorious cover of Love on a Real Train) and his well-received off-beat collaboration with London-based avant-garde agitator Richard Greenan – Coasty – this is his first contribution to the International Feel trademark. Probably best known for some big deep house revivalist tunes circa 2013 on the now dormant Don’t Be Afraid record label, Beatnick now converts that aural quality and dimensionality into the Balearic system.
Île Flottante takes its name from the tastiest French pudding of Mr. Beatnick’s childhood holidays. The name, also a jeux de mots - floating island - hinting at the album’s inspirations and sense of identity, as a danceable soundtrack to a fictional island. Explored with high intensity and over a yearlong process, the sounds of the well-worn, but never failing Balearic universes were a mind expanding influence. Think of genre staples like Software, Manuel Goettsching, Mark Barrott, Len Leise, Don Carlos, Gaussian Curve, Joan Bibiloni or Yasuaki Shimuzu.
„I spent a year listening to a lot of synthesized island music, and marveling at the many twinkling wonders of the Balearic musical universe. Struck by a sense of belonging that had often eluded me on my musical journey thus far, as the weirdo at the back of the club who had orbited many scenes for 20 years, but never felt like I fitted in, I found music that made me feel like I had come home. The songs that came out of this process are presented in the order that they were written - an open book of ocean hymns, honest and spoken from the heart.“
Île Flottante tries its very hardest to avoid being any one thing in particular. At one point, it is a gentle beach walk accompanied by polyrhythmic drum plod and flourishes of Guzheng. At another, the infamous James Yancey septuplet swing is repurposed against a marimba melody that wouldn’t be out of place in one of Link’s forest adventures.
Elsewhere, there are the bellows of distant whales, touches of Italian dream house and a splash of vintage madchester, all working to create a space that feels both familiar and loaded with well worn tropes, but with its own quirky sense of personality, facets which are often attributed to Mr. Beatnick’s holistic b-boy approach. This is his understanding of a Balearic (b-boy) stance. Just with a float instead of a freeze.


Short:
Île Flottante is Mr. Beatnick´s 5th album and first contribution the Balearic system of International Feel. Full of ocean hymns and forest adventures, it includes marimba melodies, the bellows of distant whales, touches of Italian dream house and a splash of vintage madchester, all working to create a space that feels both familiar and loaded with well worn tropes, but with its own quirky sense of personality. This is his understanding of a Balearic (b-boy) stance. Just with a float instead of a freeze. For fans of: Software, Manuel Goettsching, Mark Barrott, Len Leise, Don Carlos, Gaussian Curve, Joan Bibiloni or Yasuaki Shimuzu.






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