Z'EV

Z'EV (born Stefan Joel Weisser, February 8, 1951 – December 16, 2017) was an American poet, percussionist, and sound artist. After studying various world music traditions at CalArts, he began creating his own percussion sounds out of industrial materials for a variety of independent and underground record labels. He is regarded as a pioneer of industrial music.

In 1983, critic Roy Sablosky wrote: "Z'EV doesn't just break the rules, he changes them." Journalist Louis Morra wrote in 1983: "Z'EV is a consummate example of contemporary performance art, as well as modern composition and theater." and, "Z'EV realizes many of modernist art's ultimate goals: primitivism, improvisation, multi-media/conjunction of art forms, the artist as direct creator."

His work with text and sound was influenced by Kabbalah, as well as African, Afro-Caribbean and Indonesian music and culture. He studied Ewe music, Balinese gamelan, and Indian tala.

Career

From 1959 to 1965, he studied drumming with Arnie Frank, then Chuck Flores and then Art Anton at Drum City in Van Nuys, California.

In 1963, he abandoned Judaism and began his lifelong relationship with world religions and esoteric systems.

After studying at CalArts from 1969 to 1970, he began producing works using the name S. Weisser, primarily concentrating on visual and sound poetries. In 1974, he also became a member of Cellar-M, a musical project of Naut Humon, Will E. Jackson, and Rex Probe. He would continue to work with Humon on various projects until 1988, appearing on the Rhythm & Noise album Chasms Accord, released on The Residents' Ralph Records in 1985.

In 1976 he moved from Los Angeles to the Bay Area. A primary reason for this move was his association with the San Francisco alternative exhibition space La Mamelle, run by Carl Loeffler.

In 1977, he presented his first solo percussion performance at La Mamelle under the project title 'Sound of Wind and Limb'.

In 1981, 'Shake Rattle & Roll', a VHS video documenting his first wild-style performance on the East coast (produced by video artist Jon Child), was released by Fetish Records in the UK and was the first 'music' / art video to be commercially released. In 1982 he worked with Glenn Branca for Branca's Symphony No. 2 in which Z'EV had a solo segment swinging with metal can overhead, and rattling chains and sheets of steel. After 1984, he concentrated on performing in a more traditional mallet-percussion style, albeit with highly idiosyncratic and "extended" mallet percussion techniques and his self-made or adapted instruments. In point of fact, Z'EV doesn't actually consider

In the mid-1990s, he began working with Amsterdam house musician, DJ Dano. Their work, also in conjunction with Austrian media artist Konrad Becker, was influential within the gabber, hardcore and Thunderdome music scenes. Throughout the decade he also collaborated with Lydia Lunch, Psychic TV, and Genesis P-Orridge.

In the 2000s and 2010s, Z'EV worked and recorded with a wide range of musicians and composers, including Faust, Stephen O'Malley, The Hafler Trio, Organum, Chris Watson, Francisco López, B. J. Nilsen, Peter Rehberg, Oren Ambarchi, Merzbow, Marc Hurtado, John Duncan, Charlemagne Palestine, Illusion of Safety, Sudden Infant, Edward Ka-Spel, and many others.

His recordings have been released by C.I.P., Cold Spring, Die Stadt, Soleilmoon, Tzadik Records, Subterranean, Sub Rosa, Important Records, Atavistic, Editions Mego, and Touch.

Later life and death

Z'EV was severely injured in the 2016 Cimarron train derailment which took place near Dodge City, Kansas on March 14, 2016. Afterwards, Z'EV traveled to Europe and was an artist in residence at the Porto-based sound lab Sonoscopia, where he built a number of percussion instruments. One of his last performances took place in an Amsterdam Synagogue.

Z'EV suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and died on December 16, 2017, in Chicago from pulmonary failure.

Career

Later life and death

Published works

References

Further reading

External links