Zev Asher

Zev Asher (May 9, 1963 – August 7, 2013) was a Canadian experimental musician and documentary film maker.[1]

Zev Asher
Born(1963-05-09)May 9, 1963
Montreal, Canada
DiedAugust 7, 2013(2013-08-07) (aged 50)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Known forDocumentary film, noise music
Elected≠
Websiteweb.archive.org/web/20130815074236/http://roughage.org:80/

Biography

Born in Montreal, Quebec, to a Jewish family. His father Stanley was an compulsive collector of popular cultural artefacts. A mountain of it occupied the basement of the family home. Zev would mine the ephemera; from the pile he found a frame of reference for the media critique implicit in his pioneering noise and multimedia performance group Roughage. He attended M.I.N.D. high school and in 1986 entered the film studies program at Concordia University. He dropped out after being given his first assignment; an essay on Les Unes et Les Autres by Claude Lelouch. Fronting several bands in the city's no wave/punk scene of the early 1980s that he, along with Tim Olive, later revisited in the early 1990s as Nimrod.

Living in Japan with Leah Singer from 1985 to 1987 he became acquainted with the denizens of Tokyo's burgeoning noise scene. Through friendships and collaborations with the artist John Duncan and the noise musician Masami Akita he performed in several noise super groups that were spin offs from Akita's Merzbow project – these included Bustmonsters and Flying Testicle. His Roughage project began here, using a four-track tape recorder he developed techniques for collaging sound recordings. He produced micro editions of these audio cassette collages that were distributed through friends and specialty record stores in Tokyo, a hand made collage was included with each cassette copy. Working with the experimental filmmaker, Mark Nugent, Zev enlarged the scope of Roughage into the multimedia performance unit that included contributions and collaborations with other artists, including Willy Le Maitre, Eric Vasseur. Roughage performances took place throughout Canada, Japan and Europe from the late 1980s to the late 1990s

During one Roughage tour of the newly minted state of Croatia in 1995 he documented and interviewed artists that he met. These interviews provided the basis for his first documentary 'Rat Art: Croatian Independents'. The video looked at artists making art in the context of a society at war.

His second feature was called 'What About Me: The Rise of The Nihilist Spasm Band'. The documentary premièred at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2000. Drawing from the inspiration of finding a copy of the Nihilist Spasm Band's first L.P. No Canada in the pile of 1970s ephemera in his family's basement; the documentary explores the legacy of the Canadian noise music pioneers.

The controversy surrounding an art student, Jesse Powers and his infamous act of killing a cat as an art project formed the basis of his third feature documentary Casuistry: The Art of Killing a Cat. The 2004 work, made in collaboration with experimental filmmaker Linda Feesey, explored the limits of what can constitute an artwork. The video also had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2004. The first screening was almost shut down by street protesters alleging that the video condoned cruelty to animals.

His sound collaboration with Norway's Lasse Marhaug materialized as a CD release entitled 'The Romance is Over' by The Sleazy Listeners'.

After receiving a diagnosis of CLL in 2003 (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) and going through an ordeal of chemotherapy in Montreal, Zev relocated to Shanghai to work on his documentary on the noise band Torturing Nurse. The work became Subcultural Revolution: Shanghai. Using the social context of the day-to-day lives of the band members; their collective underground project was revealed to be decidedly contrary to the prevailing notions of progress and success that the country was enjoying at the time.

After a relapse of CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia), Zev was obliged to return to Montreal for more treatment. Eventually undergoing a stem cell transplant there at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont . For his final five years Zev struggled with Graft-versus-host disease. His constant ordeal and medical treatments were the subject of his final and incomplete documentary video work Zev Asher:GVH.

Discography

As Nimrod

with Tim Olive and Sam Lohman

YearTitleLabelNotes
1991CuntrrollBron Recordssingle-sided Flexi disc
1991Grandson of HamCD
1992Grandson of HamScratch RecordsCD reissue
1993Getting Rained On7" split with Roughage & Masonna
1994The Mighty HunterCD / Picture LP
1996NimrodCD

As Roughage
YearTitleLabelNotes
Mystery Dickself-releasedcassette
1991SameVanilla RecordsVHS
1991Shitsure IVanilla Recordssingle-sided cassette
1992Travel the GlobeG.R.O.S.S.cassette
1993FuckaraokeCoquettedouble 7" acetate split with Masonna
1993Calendar GirlScratch Records7" split Nimrod
1993Soft Pore CornG.R.O.S.S.cassette
1995Benny's Audio Pt. 2 & 9 / Live at "Edison Electric Gallery" Earwing Recordscassette
1995¥en for NoiseScratch RecordsCD
YearTrackCompilationLabelNotes
1989"Roughage in Paradise (Excerpt #1)", "Roughage in Paradise (Excerpt #2)"CanadaHarsh Reality Musiccassette
1990"Last Paradise"IdentificationSee///.Saw Tapescassette
1991"16 RPM"Death of VinylDOVeCD
1994"Hex Marks the Spot"Optional Ingredients from a Vile RecipeTrackshun Industries7"
1995"Pseudo-Rapist"Kiling Ha Muerto...Cuantas Veces?Climax RecordsLP
1996"Vacas"Sidereal Rest "The Sleep Vehicle"Scratch RecordsCD
1996"Aerobics Pt 1–3"Tinker CompilationTinker RecordingsCD
2002"Brumbrum au Tashkent"Дичь АвангардаInsofar Vapor BulkCD
2003"United Nations"No Tribute: Music of the Nihilist Spasm BandCarbon / Sunship / Breathmint / Little MafiaCD
2003"Don't Stop Bleedin' (Glitch mix)"Hurts So Good: The Cock E.S.P. Remix CDV/Vm Test RecordsCD
2006untitled'Noisemass 2005 Topheth Prophet / T'an! Kaven!! Ash!!!CDr

As Zev Asher
YearRoleTrackAlbumArtistLabelNotes
1995Featuring"Urasia Circ (excerpt)"Hafted MaulDead Voices on AirInvisible RecordsCD
1996Production"Hafted Maul"ShapDead Voices on AirInvisible RecordsCD

As Bustmonster

with Masami Akita, Shohei Iwasaki, Fumio Kosakai, Masahiko Ohno, Tetsuo Sakaibara, Yamazaki Maso

YearTitleLabelNotes
1992Weedhead E.P.Wild West Records7"
1993WhitehouseRRRecords7" split with Xper Xr
YearTrackCompilationLabelNotes
1992"Live at Donzokohouse, Kyoto, 14. Dec, 1991"Oh! Moro Volume 5Maru ka Batsu (○か×)VHS

As Flying Testicle

with Masami Akita and Yamazaki Maso

YearTitleLabelNotes
1992Lamerican SextomZSF Produkt7" acetate
1993Space DesiaCharnel MusicCD
YearTrackCompilationLabelNotes
1993"Testicle Rider"Come Again IISilent RecordsCD

As The Sleazy Listeners

with Lasse Marhaug

YearTitleLabelNotes
2004"The Romance is Over"Squirrelgirl RecordsCD

As Starlet Fever

with Sanja Živković

YearTitleLabelNotes
1996Stars on 33Earwing Records7" split with Trailing Arm

Filmography
TitleYearDuration
RAT ART: Croatian Independents199747 min.
What About Me: The Rise of the Nihilist Spasm Band200076 min.
Casuistry: The Art of Killing a Cat200478 min.
Mission Holiday200625 min.
Aqua Alta200770 min.
Subcultural Revolution: Shanghai2008/1071 min.

References
  1. "Zev ASHER Obituary: View Zev ASHER's Obituary by The Gazette". Legacy.com. 2013-08-07. Retrieved 2013-08-31.
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