Z'EV

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Z'EV^[1] (born Stefan Joel Weisser, at 7:58 a.m. on February 8, 1951 in Los Angeles, California) is an American text-sound artist and mystic who is perhaps best known for his work as a catacoustic (reflected sound-based) percussionist.

Working in "anonymity even within avant-garde and noise circles" according to critic John Bush,^[2] Weisser has performed for over 30 years, and is regarded as a pioneer of industrial music^[3]

Contents 1 Biography 2 References 3 Discography 4 External links

[edit] Biography

After studying at CalArts with poet Emmett Williams, Weisser produced works using the name S. Weisser, primarily concentrating on visual and sound poetries. In 1972, he was included in the "Second Generation" show at the Museum of Conceptual Art in San Francisco.

Beginning in the early 1970s, Weisser began creating his own percussion instruments from materials such as stainless steel, titanium, and PVC plastics. Initially these instruments were assemblages of self-made instruments, used with a movement-based performance style that was a form of marionette (although with the performer visible). Weisser has since^{[citation needed]} come to refer to this performance mode as 'wild-style', a term originally related to graffiti.

Also in the 1970s, Weisser began performing under the name Z'EV, which comes from the Jewish name his parents gave him at birth: Sh'aul Z'ev bn Yakov bn Moshe bn Sha'ul.

Weisser was fairly solely responsible for delivering the ‘tribal’ impulse and esthetic into the Western/European cultural milieu developing between the years 1978-1984.^{[citation needed]}

In November and December 1980, he opened a series of UK concerts in the first headlining tours of the British group Bauhaus.^{[citation needed]}

In 1981, 'Shake Rattle & Roll', a VHS video documenting his first wild-style performance on the East coast (produced by video artist John Childs), was released by Fetish Records in the UK and was the first ‘music’ / art video to be commercially released.

In 1982, Weisser was part of an ensemble for the performance and recording of composer Glenn Branca's Symphony No. 2 (The Peak of the Sacred).^[4]

Since 1984, he has been concentrating on performing in a more traditional mallet-percussion style, albeit with highly idiosyncratic and 'extended' mallet percussion techniques and his 'self-made'/adapted instruments.

Both performance modes, (wild-style and mallet percussion), have been described^{[citation needed]} as cacophonous when considered in Western terms, because of the dense elemental acoustic phenomena his instruments produce. In point of fact, Z'EV doesn't actually consider^{[citation needed]} the results as "music" per se, but more as orchestrations of highly rhythmic acoustic phenomena.

It is also worth noting that Weisser^{[citation needed]} does not consider his performances as solos, but rather as the unique inter-reactions between: (himself + his instruments) + (the particular physical space of the performance), (the particular time and geographic location of the performance) and (the energies of the audience). While the first two will of course remain the same, a change in any of the last three will result in a totally different performance.

In 1990 he began working with Amsterdam House Musician, DJ Dano. Their work, also in conjunction with Austrian media artist Konrad Becker, was instrumental in the emergence of the genres known as Gabber and Hard Core.^{[citation needed]}

His work with both text and sound has been influenced by the Middle Eastern mystical system best known as Kabbalah (although not of the Jewish variety), as well as - but not limited to - African, Afro-Caribbean and Indonesian rhythms, musics and cultures. He has studied Ewe (Ghana) music, Balinese gamelan, and Indian tala.^{[citation needed]}

His recordings have been released by labels such as CIP, Cold Spring, Die Stadt, Soleilmoon, Tzadik Records, Subterranean and Touch Records.

Z'EV lives in London, England with Conceptual Artist Barbara Steveni and is contactable at: rhythmajik {at} yahoo {dot} com.

[edit] References

1. ^ z'ev requests^{[citation needed]} that people note either "Z'EV" or "z'ev" are acceptable typographies for his "brand name" (context depending), but that "Z'ev" most emphatically is not.
2. ^ allmusic ((( Ghost of One Foot in the Grave > Overview )))
3. ^ see Industrial Culture Handbook
4. ^ allmusic ((( Symphony No. 2 (The Peak of the Sacred) > Overview )))

• Zorn, John, ed. (2000). Arcana: Musicians on Music. New York: Granary Books/Hips Road. ISBN 188712327X.

[edit] Discography

• Z'EV Discography

[edit] External links

• Z'EV site
• Audio interview (so with all the uhmms) Chicago 4.19.07
• The definitive (as of 1999) interview with Dmitri Kolesnik
• Interview with Mike Hovancsek
• Interview USA tour 2007
• Interview USA tour 2007
• Interview USA tour 2007
• Interview USA tour 2007
• Collection of interviews with and writings by or about Z'EV
• Video of Z’EV live in Greensboro 5.21.07
• Original Rhythmajik website as of 2004 courtesy of WAYBACK MACHINE