Z'EV industrial legend 5/28 @ Frick Fine Arts, Oakland

[Manny]

Mon May 28  8 pm all ages
Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, University of Pittsburgh, Oakland

the 'Ex-Patriot' Tour
legendary metal percussionist from the original generation of
industrial music. one of the prime subjects of the 'Industrial Culture 
Handbook'. it's his first live appearance here since 1992!

Z'EV
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Z'EV
http://www.rhythmajik.com

with his tourmates SIKHARA
("a disturbed enviroment of ritualistic sound. Manipulated sources of 
primitive voices are collaged into a hypnotic new language, which melds 
instinctively with animalistic tribal percussion.")

and local performers Michael Johnsen
and Margaret Cox/Steve Boyle (all 3 have tracks featured on Circuits of 
Steel II)

tickets $15 at door.
$10 in advance, available starting Mon May 14, from:
Paul's CDs, Caliban Books, Brave New World, Eide's Entertainment,
The Exchange Sq Hill, Dave's Music Mine, Slacker, & Garfield Artworks

Z'EV (born Stefan Weisser, at 7:58 a.m. on February 8, 1951 in Los 
Angeles) is a text-sound artist who is perhaps best known for his work 
as a catacoustic (reflected sound-based) percussionist. After studying 
at CalArts with Concrete poet Emmett Williams, he produced works using 
the name S. Weisser, primarily concentrating on visual and sound 
poetries. In 1969, he was included in the "Second Generation" show at 
the Museum of Conceptual Art in San Francisco. Beginning in the early 
1970s, he developed a personal technique utilizing self-developed 
instruments formed from industrial materials such as stainless steel, 
titanium, and PVC plastics. Initially these instruments were 
assemblages of these materials with a movement-based performance style 
that was a form of marionette (although with the performer visible). It 
was at this time that he began performing using the name Z'EV. Between 
1980-81, he toured the East Coast of the US and Europe, playing with 
Johanna Went, DNA, Non, Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA and Throbbing 
Gristle. Later on he collaborated with Hafler Trio, Psychic TV and 
Glenn Branca. In 1981, 'Shake Rattle & Roll', a VHS video documenting 
his first 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. Since 1984, he has 
been concentrating on performing in a more traditional 
mallet-percussion style. Both performance modes have been described as 
cacophonous when considered in Western terms, because of the dense 
elemental acoustic phenomena these instruments produce. In point of 
fact, Z'EV doesn't actually consider the results as "music" per se, but 
more as orchestrations of highly rhythmic acoustic phenomena. 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 and Balinese gamelan, and Indian tala. His recordings have been 
released by labels such as Lust/Unlust, CIP, Cold Spring, Die Stadt, 
Soleilmoon, Tzadik Records, Subterranean, Touch Records, and Blossoming 
Noise. A continuing collaboration with David Jackman (of Organum) has 
produced an EP, and Z'EV is also contributing to 'Spire', a double CD 
comp of new works for organ including creations by Chris Watson 
(ex-Cabaret Voltaire), Philip Jeck, and Fennesz. Recent live 
appearances at MIMI festival in Marseilles and Occulture in Brighton, 
plus a new Italian translation of his book 'Rhythmajik', a written 
treatise on the practical uses of number, rhythm and sound, available 
from the Small Voices label with an accompanying CD.