ArtistInfo

Jeffrey Surak

vn, p,
Electronic
A.k.a. 1348 Violet (2)

Jeff Surak is a veteran experimenter from Washington, DC. He started in the early 80s participating in the international hometaper network. He released his music under the name -1348- on his own Watergate Tapes imprint along with other artists such as Controlled Bleeding, Kapotte Muziek, Odal, and collaborations with John Hudak, Crawling With Tarts, Zan Hoffman and others. Surak also performed and toured with his live unit New Carrollton creating improvised post industrial soundscapes. During the early 1990s Surak spent most of his time living in Russia, where he formed the noise group Sovmestnoye Predpriyatiye (Joint Venture), which did site specific performances. In the late 90s, Surak returned to recording and live performance with the free music duo V. After releasing numerous recordings and touring the USA, V. disbanded and Surak focused on solo works under the name of Violet, creating organic irrational compositions, using electro-acoustic instruments and tape/cd/vinyl manipulations. Currently Surak performs under his own name, operating in the netherworld between composed and improvised music, moving between musique concrete, drone, noise, & free improvisation using whatever sound implements at hand. He has collaborated with such artists as Alexei Borisov, Frans De Waard, Zan Hoffman, Rinus Van Alebeek, and Michael Gendreau. Surak runs the Zeromoon label and directs the annual Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music in Washington DC, presenting performances by a wide range of artists from Phill Niblock, Magma, Univers Zero, Merzbow, Faust, Odal, Andrea Parkins, David Behrman, and hundreds of others. "Very much like watching a giant wildfire consuming nature or the eruptions of a volcanoe or seeing an avalanche go down, strikes you both with fear and awe, makes you stare straight into the eye of danger without being able to move a limb." ~ Cracked "Dark and mysterious, mixing in bits of Philip Jeck and Tim Hecker, Wolf Eyes, blending them into Violet's ominous world of sound." ~ Aquarius Records "Like beautiful rats hugging a sinking ship." ~ Wire

Instruments

• Violin
• Piano

Genres

• Electronic
• Dance
• Spoken Word

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