Jeff Surak 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 Musik, Odal, F.A.R. 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, Zan Hoffman, Bertrand Denzler, Rinus Van Alebeek, Marta Zapparoli, Frans De Waard, Michael Gendreau, Lina Lapelyte, and as Dead Violets with Thomas Ekelund, and as Critikal with Dmytro Fedorenko. 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 Phil Niblock, Magma, Univers Zero, Merzbow, Faust, Noveller, Odal, Andrea Parkins, David Behrman, John Butcher, Cut Hands, Okkyung Lee, U.S. Girls, and hundreds of others.
