J Lesser is the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

for Jason Doerck (born December 19, 1970). Between 2003 and 2006 Doerck was a member of the now defunct laptop group Sagan, alongside

Blevin Blectum Blevin Blectum (born Bevin Kelley) is an American electronic musician and multimedia composer. She is celebrated as an "icon of deviant and cerebral electronic music". The pioneering musician and composer otherwise known as Bevin Kelley has been a ...

Wobbly The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...

, and video artist Ryan Junell.

Early years

Born and raised around

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, including Willits and

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, Doerck began his music career listening to and playing bass guitar

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

and

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

, including a Metallica cover band. In San Diego, he had a job coloring

New Kids on the Block New Kids on the Block (also initialized as NKOTB) is an American boy band from Dorchester, Massachusetts. The band consists of brothers Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. New Kids on the Block had ...

comic books using computers. In 1997, he helped form the group

Disc Disc or disk may refer to: * Disk (mathematics), a two dimensional shape, the interior of a circle * Disk storage * Optical disc * Floppy disk Music * Disc (band), an American experimental music band * ''Disk'' (album), a 1995 EP by Moby Other ...

with Kid606, M.C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel (of

Matmos Matmos is an experimental electronic music duo formed in San Francisco and based in Baltimore. M. C. (Martin) Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their performances no ...

). An interest in

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

drove Doerck to begin work with record label Vinyl Communications in 1992, adding more electronic flavor to what was otherwise a punk record label. Doerck settled in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

in 1994, where he participated in the

drum & bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-bass lines, samples, and synthesizers. The genre ...

scene. There he toured with

A Minor Forest A Minor Forest was a San Francisco-based math rock band active from 1992 to 1998. History The band formed after Andee Connors left his home in San Diego to start a career in music in the San Francisco Bay Area. After a brief stint in Cradlest ...

, and later collaborated with

Kid606 Miguel Trost De Pedro (born July 27, 1979), better known by his stage name Kid606, is an electronic musician who was raised in San Diego and later moved to San Francisco. He is most closely associated with the Glitch (music), glitch, Intelligent ...

, publishing a number of records on the label

Tigerbeat6 Tigerbeat6 is a San Francisco and Berlin based independent and (mostly) electronic record label run by Kid606 (Miguel De Pedro). The label is run as a DIY operation and releases a variety of electronic music styles, including noisecore, intel ...

. Doerck also played with members of

Crash Worship Crash Worship or ADRV (''Adoración de rotura violenta'', Spanish for "crash worship") was a San Diego, California based experimental music and performance art ensemble formed in 1986. They were most renowned for live performances partly inspire ...

. Doerck's early electronic music influences included

Luke Vibert Luke Vibert (born 26 January 1973) is a British electronic musician and producer, also known for his work under several aliases such as Plug and Wagon Christ. Raised in Cornwall, Vibert began releasing projects in the 1990s across varied genre ...

's work released under the alias ''Plug'', which Doerck admits he tried to imitate (with little success).

Brave New Waves ''Brave New Waves'' was a Canadian radio program which aired on CBC Stereo, later known as CBC Radio 2, from 1984 to 2007. Airing overnight five nights a week, the show profiled alternative and indie music and culture, including film, comics, ...

interview, aired February 22, 2001

2000s

In 2001, Doerck became a live/touring member of Matmos when they toured as an opening act with

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

in addition to playing as supporting musicians in her band on the ''

Vespertine ''Vespertine'' is the fourth studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. It was first released on 18 August 2001 in Japan by One Little Indian Records and in the United States by Elektra Entertainment. Björk aspired to create an album ...

'' tour. During the same year, his album ''Gearhound'' won an Honorable Mention for Digital Musics in the

Prix Ars Electronica The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the best known and longest running yearly prizes in the field of electronic and interactive art, computer animation, digital culture and music. It has been awarded since 1987 by Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria ...

. In 2001, Doerck released an

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...

compilation of Lesser material on CD entitled ''LS-MP3CD-R'' that included hundreds of files and over 12 hours of audio. In 2004, Doerck remixed "Who Is It" from Björk's ''

Medúlla ''Medúlla'' is the fifth studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. It was released on 30 August 2004 in the United Kingdom by One Little Independent Records and in the United States by Elektra Entertainment. After the release of her ...

'' album.

Discography

* ''I Hate Me'' (Cassette, 1990) * ''Split 7" with bigblackMariah'' (Hate Posse Records, 1991) * ''VC-39'' (Vinyl Communications, 1992) * ''I Hate Me'' (Endless Records, 1993) * ''The 1995 Lesser / Rob Crow Split CD'' (Vinyl Communications, 1995) * ''Excommunicate The Cult Of The Live Band'' (Vinyl Communications, 1996) * ''Welcome To The American Experience'' (Vinyl Communications, 1997) * ''Gigolo Cop'' (Vinyl Communications, 1997) * ''Elements of Pessimism, vol.1'' (Box Theory Records, 1998) * ''Lesser / Kid606 Split CD'' (Vinyl Communications, 1998) * ''Gearhound'' (Matador Europe, 2001) * ''MENSA Dance Squad'' (Tigerbeat6, 2001) * ''LS-MP3CD-R'' (Tigerbeat6, 2002) * ''Suppressive Acts: I-X'' (Matador Europe, 2003)

References

External links

* *
Jay Lesser on Matador Records
* Golden, Barbara. “Conversation with J Lesser).�

(April 2010). Montréal: CEC. * Hood, Stu
Interview with J Lesser
''SHZine'' (1 October 2002). {{DEFAULTSORT:J Lesser Living people American electronic musicians 1970 births People from Willits, California