AUBE & ELSIE & JACK, "REWRITING THE BOOK"

A disc with the potential to infuriate idiots before they've even heardit is a rare thing, and Lord Almighty, Father of Toads, here are two ofthe damn things! Having already made a recording of noises sourced fromthat famous old book full of bloodbaths and boils, the bible, prolificJapanese sound artist Aube has allowed the Elsie and Jack label toassemble a cast of thousands to hack and chop digital crosses on whichto hang the pages of the book.
A relatively low key track from Brume opens the unholy proceedings withthe kind of bleak soundscape that reminds me that it is written that noman should look upon his uncle naked! This is followed by relativelylow key tracks from polite beat merchants the Remote Viewer andSirconical. The first track to actually sound like it was made frombook noises is the page shuffling 'Papyrus' from Super Massive.
The big noise erupts eventually on the seventh track when PrincessDragonmom says let there be digital cement mixers. And lo! There weredigital cement mixers! Merzbow ups the stakes with some real tweaterfucking nastiness that would have jolly ol' Jehovah reaching for theear plugs if he heard it on the eighth day. Damn, cursed the one truegod, forgot to create ear plugs! Now if only evolution actuallyhappened the likes of Flutter and V/Vm might actually have us allmutating closable earflaps or eardrum off switches, but as it is we'lljust have to settle for the somewhat asinine observation that these areall the kind of satanic gobblers that would disobey the commandments ofthe mad old god of retribution himself and feast upon the flesh ofbirds such as the bat and the pelican.
Some folk just can't get enough of the good book and Super Massive,Wheaton Research and Disco Operating System all drop multiplemetaphorical turds in the font. Wheaton Research, aka Brent Gutzeit,whose drone collaboration on Kranky with James Plotkin was quite good,throws up a suite of ear fucking minimal high glitch-pop crackles thatmake the likes of Hood and Volcano the Bear, who actually attempt towork Aube's bible bashing into weird songs, sound like clean cut kidsthat went to Sunday school and trembled at the mere mention of buringbushes. The Volcano the Bear song works better, as it displays morehumour in the way the Aube noise is deployed. Disco Operating Systemoffers three tracks entitled 'Jimmy', 'Page' and 'Hamilton', presumablyin some kind of punning tribute to Led Zeppelin and Helmet; after allAnton LaVey did call heavy metal 'the last burp of Christianity'. Andthe 'Jimmy' track is quite a burping quick loop cut affair, whilst'Page' does a bass throb and 'Hamilton' combines the two approachespresumably using different samples.
Some references are made to the themes of the book, and Phosphene getsa mention for using the word 'Nebuchadnezzar', a king we don't hearenough of with a name like that. However, I was saddened that no onementioned or attempted to emulate the parting of the red sea or theplague of frogs. And it must be said V/Vm missed a golden opportunityin not trying to simulate the cacophanous menagerie of Noah's ark. Thenagain, they'd probably only have let the pigs on board!

 

samples:

• Aube - And More
• Disco Operating System - Page
• Volcano the Bear - The Woman Who Weighs Out The Wool