Aube — Fling

Iris Light's continuing series of digital re-releases of Aube's catalog brings us Fling. This release pulls together all of 1995's C46 Entangle Spirant, as well as the track from 1996 seven inch Monochordattune, and a live track from 1996.  Although Akifumi Nakajima has sadly passed, his music still lives on and Iris Light is doing their best to bring some lesser heard releases to the public. Presenting these files digitally ensures that limited releases reach a wider, much deserved audience.

Always one to use interesting and non-traditional source material, Aube's Entangle Spirant makes use of steel wire in impressive fashion. Originally the first side of the c46, "Entangle Spirant I & II" slowly throbs with energy, building up a buzzing, thickening layer that increases with intensity. Noisily growing into an undulating, industrial swarm, "Entangle" leaves the subtle throb behind and moves into writhing, metallic screams. Accented with extraterrestrial highs, this track does well to capture a full, sonic breadth. Branching forth, "Branch Forth" (<<<< see what I did there?) reiterates the scathing wire sounds from the beginning of the first side. Subtle flanging helps the higher pitched buzz to move along before hitting a lower, slower guitar-like chug. Buzzing and swirling, "Branch Forth" grows thicker and denser with each passing second. Increasing the noise quotient, "Full Stretch" builds on the amplified steel wire seeds from the previous tracks while still keeping a generally similar composition. Deep lows play against crunching, metallic highs and serve as a thick baseline from which noisy outburst are born. Released a year later, but still using steel wire as source material, "Monochord" takes a more staccato approach with its build. Sparser and a bit more "natural" sounding, "Monochord" allows more of the wire and its effects to be heard. An almost erratic heartbeat of a pulse pushes this one along before it ends in a noisy, industrial crunch. "Wired Live 1996" sees Aube taking the steel wire to the stage. The recording isn't the best, but it's a great addition to this re-release. Capturing all the elements from the previous sessions, this live wire shows patience and commitment to the craft.

Although well known and very prolific, Aube almost seems like an unsung hero of the noise genre. Inventive and daring, Nakajima made interesting sounds from mundane materials. In a time when every other noiser seems content to run a white noise generator through four death metal pedals, Aube's creativity and intrepid approach is sorely missed. Head over to the labels bandcamp here  for this release, and many more Aube releases