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The Prix Ars Electronica Archive is a collection enabling search and viewing of all the submissions since 1987. The award-winning projects are documented with catalogue texts and audio-visual media. All other submissions can be searched by title/artist and displayed with year, category in list form. Please cite the credits (artwork name, artist and photographer) and only use the materials if your article is related to Ars Electronica.
Gearhound
J Lesser
Touring extensively with Thrill Jockey’s postrock darlings A Minor Forest, Lesser built up notoriety on the electronic underground. Now the mainstream press is crashing the party: Lesser’s side project DISC garnered a rave review from legendary rock critic Richard Meltzer, who called it “the greatest work of electronic sound manipulation since Steve Reich’s tape experiments”. Lesser’s annihilation of drum and bass frameworks has also caught the attention of the in-the-know folks at SPIN magazine, who singled out his Welcome to the American Experience release in his profile on the San Diego label Vinyl Communications as an outstandingly fresh and unpredictable work of American electronica. Lesser’s newest outing, Gearhound, been called a “detriment to humanity,” a title coveted by super villains and world leaders, but seldom realized.
Covering Public Enemy, Merzbow and the Doobie Brothers with equal aplomb, Lesser straddles the division between the drum and bass, IDM and noise scenes. Dropping a fiendish live mixture of beats and improvised freakouts that manages to win over members of all three camps. The wide variety of labels and artists currently seeking tracks (Chicago’s Kultbox, Scotland’s Diskono! and, ahem, Matador Europe) and remixes (Super Furry Animals, Jr. Varsity) from Lesser indicates the diversity of his approach. Playing guitar in the Metallica cover band Creeping Death, Lesser’s got chops for days, and the sense not to put musical muscularity in the way of a good time. Perhaps the hours spent decoding those riffs and solos shows through in the programming finesse, texture and attention to detail you’ll find in the average Lesser song—who knows?
J Lesser appears courtesy of Matador Records Europe and prefers to be adressed as “Sir”.
Covering Public Enemy, Merzbow and the Doobie Brothers with equal aplomb, Lesser straddles the division between the drum and bass, IDM and noise scenes. Dropping a fiendish live mixture of beats and improvised freakouts that manages to win over members of all three camps. The wide variety of labels and artists currently seeking tracks (Chicago’s Kultbox, Scotland’s Diskono! and, ahem, Matador Europe) and remixes (Super Furry Animals, Jr. Varsity) from Lesser indicates the diversity of his approach. Playing guitar in the Metallica cover band Creeping Death, Lesser’s got chops for days, and the sense not to put musical muscularity in the way of a good time. Perhaps the hours spent decoding those riffs and solos shows through in the programming finesse, texture and attention to detail you’ll find in the average Lesser song—who knows?
J Lesser appears courtesy of Matador Records Europe and prefers to be adressed as “Sir”.
J Lesser (US) spent formative years in the indie-rock wastelands of San Diego, playing in bands with members of Heavy Vegetable, Optiganally Yours, Crash Worship, Physics and A Minor Forest. Soldering together new instruments out of the refuse of 80's mixers and synths, J Lesser avoids the standard sounds and strategies in favour of a confrontational, schizophrenic and often hilarious rethinking of conventional "intelligent" electronic dance music.