Aube is the name used by Japanese musician Akifumi Nakajima (中嶋昭文 Nakajima Akifumi) for his experimental noise records. He has released many CDs, LPs and cassettes since 1991, and is regarded as one of the most important noise musicians working today. He himself does not like to term his work "music," preferring the term "design": "I don't think of myself as a musician or an artist. I'm a designer. I therefore consider my sound works to be designs as well".[1] The essential element of his Aube project is that each record is composed with only a single material source, manipulated and processed using various types of electronic equipment. Examples of sources he has manipulated include water, fluorescent lamps, voltage-controlled oscillators, voices, pulmonary sounds, Holy Bible's pages and sounds made from steel wire.
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Akifumi Nakajima was born in 1959 in Japan. He was interested in sound work since the 80s, but had not released anything until he was asked to create music for an art installation in the early 90s. Since then, he has created an enormous amount of work - most of which is based on one sound source. Anything is used - from glass to oscillators and even pages from the Bible. His early work is noisier, while his new direction leans toward ambient.
As stated previously, each recording in Aube's catalogue is synthesized from one source sound. Many of his earliest recordings use water as a source, in either a still form or a gush, as from a faucet or a stream. Among the most well-known are Hydrophobia (1991, Vanilla, Japan), Luminous (1993, G.R.O.S.S., Japan), Métal De Métal (1996, Manifold, USA), Cardiac Strain (1997, Alien8 Recordings, Canada), Set On (2001, Manifold, USA) and many more.
Several compilation CDs are of note in Aube's History. Most notable, perhaps, is the Come Again compilation, released in 1991 on Vanilla Records, which contains one of the first tracks recorded under the Aube moniker. Later compilations of note include Come Again II (1993, Vanilla/Furnace, Japan/USA), The Japanese/American Noise Treaty (1995, Relapse, USA), and Ant-Hology (1998, Ant-Zen, Germany).
Akifumi Nakajima also formed many collaboration projects with other Japanoise artists. They are as follows; Club Skull with Hiroshi Hasegawa of C.C.C.C. & Fumio Kosakai of Incapacitants. SIAN with Shohei Iwasaki of Monde Bruits. Kinkakuji with Maso Yamazaki of Masonna. Ginkakuji with Hiroshi Hasegawa of C.C.C.C.. Gokurakuji' with Maso Yamazaki of Masonna & Hiroshi Hasegawa of C.C.C.C.. Loop Circuit with Dub Murashita of Dubwise. Hyper Ventilation with Dub Murashita of Dubwise. Meiji Jingu with Kohei Gomi of Pain Jerk. Ise Jingu with Masahiko Ohno of Solmania. Heian Jingu with Toshiji Mikawa of Incapacitants, and Atsuta Jingu with Kohei Gomi of Pain Jerk, Masahiko Ohno of Solmania & Toshiji Mikawa of Incapacitants. Recently he cooperated with the Italian experimental artist Maurizio Bianchi for two projects titled "Junkyo" (Noctovision) and "Mectpyo Saisei" (Para Disc).