FIBER Podcast 035 Ena FIBER Podcast

The 35th FIBER podcast is a haunting trip through abstract layers of sound and atmospheres. The non-categorizable style of Tokyo based artist Ena embodies the practice of the transmutation of musical genres. In this visceral exploration of sounds he takes the listener through sonic dimensions; from the macrocosmos of space to the microcosmos of machines.

Yu Asaeda is an all round producer doing production of pop music, commercials and documentary films. Under his moniker Ena, he is known for his craftsmanship in developing an idiosyncratic form of bass music. He has released this type of music on labels such as F Music, Samurai Horo and more recently on Niløs. Drawing on ‘dubplate culture’, which has been an important element in the development of jungle and drum&bass in the nineties, Ena made a mix for FIBER containing many unreleased tracks (dubs). We asked him what the most important influences are for the development of his experimental brand of music.

“Sound System culture obviously!”says Ena who has been involved since 2006 in the monthly Back to Chill parties started by producer Goth-Trad. “Playing music on this system slightly changed my way of production. I’ve also played with hi-end audio speakers. This was a fresh experience that gave a completely different feeling from playing with PA speakers”. Attention for the technical is an important element for Ena in the creation of abstract minimal sounds. This also came forward in a recent article about cables on RA.

Musically he played a variety of instruments which shaped his skills. Pivotal artists in his musical development are Joni Mitchell’s Shadow and Light, Jimi Hendrix’ Axis: Bold as Love,and more recently First Avenue’s – First Avenue and Ellen Arkbro’s for Organ and Brass. “Apart from this, I’m really happy to have very talented musical friends, such as, Felix K, ASC, Sam KDC, FIS, Rashad Becker among others, that influence me a lot”.

As Ena is touring all over the world he’s confronted with various traditions of architecture. “I wasn’t really into architecture, but since I’ve been working on some documentary films made by architects I started getting into it”. This interest accumulated into the live show he did in 2016 with Felix K at Berlin’s Atonal festival. The performance was visually supported by a film made by Tokyo based filmmaker DBKN. “Seeing building in building was really interesting to see” therefore the accompanying artwork for this podcast is an image taken from that film. The way of traversing scales, from macro to micro, is also how you can experience Ena’s mix. A haunting trip constantly zooming in and exposing new densities and processes embedded in a dark industrial world.