WIRED TRAP

The liner notes proudly announce: 'Wired Trap uses only the sounds of the steel wire'. Therefore I understandably had serious reservations before listening to this in '95. I've always bought anything and everything that was off-the-wall and unusual. Back then I was more scatter-gun in approach and ended up with this...

Each of the four tracks display a screeching, wailing cacophony of metallic wire, fed through various oscillators, effect units and analogue processors. It's surely one of the least tuneful recordings ever admitted to the Archives. I'm sure Akifumi Nakajima would be proud of this incongruity . 'Wired Trap' is similar in sound to to 'Merzbow', 'Incapacitants', 'Hanatarash', 'Hijokaidan' and 'KK Null'.

It's strange that such a civilised and well off nation as Japan should produce so many of these types of artists. In a way you can see the initial germ in the form of 'Les Rallizes Denudes' from the early 70's - with their monstrously tuneless and highly treated electric guitars.

The lengthy opener grows more intense as it continues - a bit like the sound of a dentist's drill piercing ever deeper and harder into the patients by now, broken teeth. I honestly can't see this appealing to anyone in the Prog Archives who is of a musical persuasion, but in a way I'm glad it's listed here. Just as an annoyance and irritant. Today is the first time in ten years that I've actually dusted the disc down and played it in full - just to remind myself that I've really bought a lot of garbage through the years.

'Siege' has a looped scrape that sounds like someone rubbing two metal drill-bits together as quiet droning fumble around in the background. The loops become thicker and denser towards it's 10 minute finale and an angry 'Evil Dead' sound in the form of a Formula One racing car revving it's engine.

By God, this is heavy going! One good use of 'Wired Trap' would be as fight-back music to annoying neighbours. Play this at high volume and they'd think they have a serial killer in their vicinity. It's hard to believe there's actually a market for this, despite mugs like me helping the cause.

To give them their due, 'Aube' at least have an original approach. Most of their albums are studio manipulations of a particular sound, be it steel wires, book pages, stones, bulbs, brain waves and heartbeats. At least give them the effort for trying. As for me, I think I'd rather hammer my tongue wafer thin with a wooden mallet than listen to this again.

Japanese noise is in a genre of its own and is most definitely NOT recommended to any 'Prog Archive' adventurer.