Z'ev (born Stefan Weiser) straddles the nearly unbridgeable and highly volatile gulf between the art world and the music industry. Acclaimed as one of the world's best and most original percussionists, Weiser began recording in the late '60s in a handful of psych-out projects. By the late '70s, he took on the Z'ev moniker to explore the "spatial poetics" of the polyrhythmic clamor he had established with his hand-built percussive instruments. His dozens of collaborative projects expanded to include work with John Cage, Glenn Branca, The Hafler Trio, Psychic TV, and Rhythm & Noise.

Live in Frankfurt, 1988:

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.

z'ev has been doing this for decades and has influenced everything from industrial music to stomp. His work does not translate well to YouTube video, but this clip gives a general sense of what he does.

• free z'ev mp3s @ epitonic
• z'ev at wikipedia
• rhythmajic
• z'ev: one foot in the grave

previously on wtg:

• is there such a thing as too much throbbing gristle?
• language is a virus
• beck, al, interactivity and the spirit of fluxus
• looking back on the downward spiral
• daydream nation deluxe edition

Filed in: music video art