Single Review: Stephen Obana, Aka ØBANA, Shares Sumptuous New Tech House Single ‘Self Check Me Out’

EDM Producer and DJ ØBANA

Stephen Obana, aka ØBANA, has shared his latest single, ‘Self Check Me Out,’ one of his most confident releases.  

ØBANA is a distinguished DJ and EDM music producer who has been an industry name for several years. Best known for his scaling mixes ranging from mellow beats to high-energy mashups, ØBANA has brought his music-making services to dozens of prestigious clubs, venues, stages, and dance floors throughout his career.

As an artist, ØBANA is respected not only for his music inventory but also for his sensational live performances. He is modest about his achievements, but ØBANA has played at A-list locations such as Insomniac’s Academy LA, Catch One, Los Globos, and Space Taco over the years – to name a notable few.  

Recently, he has begun making inroads internationally; he is set to perform in Ibiza at the acclaimed Destino Pacha, following in the footsteps of dance music legends like Pete Tong and Carl Cox. 

This recent success culminated earlier this year when ØBANA accepted a nomination as one of 2024’s Future Talent Award Winners, presented to him at the International Music Summit’s annual conference.

ØBANA dabbled with numerous music styles before finding his niche as a DJ and producer. Calling himself an “industry chameleon,” ØBANA spent nine years in various punk/metal bands before he finally switched his focus firmly to EDM – specifically the subgenres of Tech House, Big Room, and EDM Trap. His seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of dance music genres and subgenres has perhaps allowed him to ensure his music transcended simple genre classifications. An excellent example is the entertaining fact that ØBANA trademarked a subgenre, ‘Trapical’,  which were his earlier releases that quietly experimented in its style. 

ØBANA has recently released a significant body of work, helping him become a more exciting name in the dance music industry. For his latest single, ‘Self Check Me Out,’ he intended to please his fanbase and receive music label recognition, Thankfully, the labels were receptive. For this track, ØBANA signed to the highly reputable house label Addicted Room Records, based out of Ibiza and Austria. It was a good move, cemented his status as an exciting artist, and allowed him to make further inroads into the European dance scene. 

Regarding the track itself, ‘Self Check Me Out’ is an ingenious tech house single. Coming in at just under three minutes, the track takes all the bleeps, bloops, zips, scanning sounds, and auto-voice announcements that you might hear in a supermarket and reshapes them into a dance track that would be well-suited for an industrial warehouse rave. The song’s foundations are based around a deceptively simple drum and bass line that snakes into your ear throughout the song’s duration and refuses to leave when the track ends. 

‘Self Check Me Out’ is out now.