Tread – Tread 4

Tread was an early ’00s deep house project by prolific Japanese electronic musician Hiroshi Watanabe, who studied at Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music, and has released music on Kompakt, Crue-L, Transmat, Optima Trax, Moodmusic, Mule Musiq. The son of a composer father and a jazz pianist mother, Watanabe seems to draw from both parents in his smooth electronic compositions which often feature jazz-infused chord progressions and creative arrangement choices. His Tread project, in particular, has shades of Detroit house and even ambient (comparisons can be made to the late-night ambient of Detroit Escalator Co.), but presented with a pure, crystalline digital sound that’s quite charming, and elicits nostalgia for this early computer music era. C2 “Drizzle” is an especially calming downtempo house track that does a lot with just a few elements.

Recommended – Full Listen