DJ Olive

DJ Olive (also known as The Audio Janitor; born Gregor Asch) is an American disc jockey and turntablist. He is known for producing music generally in the electronic genre, with strong influences of dub, and free improvisation styles.

DJ Olive is a member of We, Lunchbox and Liminal. He has also collaborated with Kim Gordon, Ikue Mori, William Hooker, Zeena Parkins, Uri Caine, Medeski Martin and Wood, Dave Douglas, and various others.

Asch in 1992

Associated acts

• Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth, Ciccone Youth, Free Kitten)
• Ikue Mori (DNA, Kato Hideki, Badawi, Subdub, Boards of Canada, Butch Morris, John Zorn, Mike Patton, Electric Masada, Amanda Stewart)
• Zeena Parkins, Uri Caine, Medeski Martin and Wood Dave Douglas, Anthony Coleman, Keystone, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Marcus Rojas, William Hooker, (Thurston Moore, Elliott Sharp)

DISCOGRAPHY:

• dj olive. So Me Free, Record blanks
• dj olive. Homeless Records, Record blanks
• dj olive. Moon Wax, Record blanks
• dj olive. Vinyl Scores Live at Kootenay Coop Radio, Record blanks
• dj olive. Vinyl Scores Live at Berghain, Record blanks
• dj olive. Balm, Record blanks
• dj olive, THWIS, the Agriculture
• dj olive, "Heaps As" Live in Tasmania, the Agriculture
• dj olive, Bodega, the Agriculture
• dj olive, Coonymus ep, the Agriculture
• dj olive, Triage, ROOM40
• dj olive, Sleep, ROOM40
• dj olive, Buoy, ROOM40

• We(TM), Decentertainment, Home Entertainment,
• We(TM), Square root of negative one, Asphodel
• We(TM), "as is", Asphodel
• We(TM), Asphodelic, Asphodel
• We(TM), Sonar99. La recopilacion, so dens
• We(TM), crooklyn dub vol 1, Word sound
• We(TM), Valis: assassination of syntax, subharmonic
• We(TM), Mysteries of creation, Axiom
• We(TM), Necropolis Mix, Knitting Factory Works
• We(TM), the Antenna Tool and Die Session, Asphodel
• We(TM), Home Entertainment Vol. 2, Liquid Sky Music
• We(TM), Home Entertainment Vol. 3, Liquid Sky Music
• We(TM), Rock& Roll, this is jungle sky vol. 5, Liquid Sky Music
• We(TM), Land of the Baboon, Silent
• We(TM), You Mix, Incursions in Illbience, Asphodel

• Lunchbox, Anyways, the Agriculture
• Lunchbox, Incite:20, XLR8R

• Kim Gordon, Dj Olive, Ikue Mori, SYR 5
• DJ Olive & J.P. Dessy, Scories, Sub Rosa
• BBQ Beets II, returturn of the yams, the Agriculture.com
• Barbecue Beets, sunrise on a rooftop in brooklyn, the agriculture
• Liminal, Live at the Whitney Museum Series, Knitting Factory Works
• Liminal, Nosferatu Soundtrack, Knitting Factory Works
• Liminal, Pre Set, Knitting Factory Works
• Uri Caine, Urlicht / Primal Light, Winter and Winter
• Uri Caine, Urlicht / Primal Light, Live, Winter and Winter
• Uri Caine, Goldberg variations, Winter and Winter
• Uri Caine, Mozart, Winter and Winter
• Keter, Zohar, Knitting Factory Works
• Dave Douglas, Moonshine. Keystone. Green leaf Music
• Dave Douglas, Keystone Live in Sweden. Keystone. Green leaf Music
• Dave Douglas, Keystone. Green leaf Music
• Dave Douglas, Keystone Live at the Jazz Standard. Green leaf Music
• Dave Douglas, Spark Of Being, Keystone. Green leaf Music
• Dave Douglas, Spark Of Being: Burst, Keystone. Green leaf Music
• Dave Douglas, Spark Of Being: Expand, Keystone. Green leaf Music
• Dave Douglas, Spark Of Being: Soundtrack, Keystone. Green leaf Music
• Elliot Sharp, State of the Union, Zoar
• Funk, this is jungle sky vol.6. Liquid Sky Music
• Welcome to Execrate, Leaf
• Ben Neill, Triptycal, Antilles
• William Hooker, Armageddon, Homestead Records
• William Hooker, Mindfulness, Knitting Factory Works
• William Hooker,Compexity #2, Kos recordings
• Cloudwatch vol. 2. Sonic Soul
• Gerard Malanga, Up from the Archives, Sub Rosa
• BitStreams, Sound work exhibition at the Whitney Museum, JDK
• A Mutated Christmas, Illegal Art
• Copier.Coller, Quatermass, La Batie, Sub Rosa
• Medeski Martin & Wood, Uninvisable, Blue Note Records
• The turntable sessions, vol 1,Amulet Records
• Drop the Needle, illy B Eats remixes and breakbeats, Amulet Records
• Melatonin, Room 40
• Dj Olive meets I/O, Powerhouse Sessions, Room 40
• Polyhedric Tetrapak, Ooze.bap records
• NXS, Sleeper, Music Mine
• Soundworks, Whitney Biennial 2002, Whitney
• Blue Marble, Aiko Shimada, Tzadik
• EMIT, One, Electronic music information technology
• City Sonics, Transcultures
• Christian Marclay, dj Trio, Asphodel
• Christian Marclay, dj Trio, Live at the Hirshhorn 2002, Cuneiform Records
• Liquid Architecture #6, Liquid Architecture Festival Melbourne
• Matt Haimovitz, Goulash, Oxingale records
• Matt Haimovitz Tod Machover, The Vinyl Cello, Oxingale records
• Benefit Compilation For Japan, Various Artists Of Kompakt Distribution
• 2008 Mutek Festival Compilation, Mutek Records
• Air Texture Vol 3, Air Texture

Remix's include work for:

• vida blue
• Bill Laswell
• sporangia
• celluid mata
• Kompakt
• telekenetic soulmate
• 48 cameras
• Choro Club
• Nettle
• Rinken
• Mono
• Zu
• the McDades
• Medeski Martin & Wood

Remixed by WE (TM):

• Free Kitten
• Medeski Martin and Wood
• Tipsy
• Arto Lindsay
• Soul Slinger
• the Dylan group

COLLABERATION:

He has performed with:

Rich "Lloop" Panciera, Ignacio "Once11" Platas, Luc Ferrari, Marc Ribot, William Hooker, Christian Marclay, Kim Gordon, Christian Fennesz, Otomo Yoshihide, Derek Bailey, Charles Gayle, Steve Shelly, Ikue Mori, Jim O'Rourke, Cyro Baptista, Cornel Rochester, Ralph Peterson, Drew Gress, Mark Feldman, Yuka Honda, Don Byron, Micheal Formenek, Tim Barnes, Bavid Binney, Ralph Alessi, Alan Vega, David Moss, Khan & Walker, Elliot Sharp, Glenn Spearmen, William Winant, Ulricht Kriegler, Nuno Rebelo, Riina Saastamoinen, Fred Vaillant, John Zorn, Thurston Moore, Sylvie Courvoisier, Jim Black, Zeena Parkins, Toshio Kajiwara, o.blaat, Danny Bloom, Raz Mesinai, Marina Rosenfeld, Alan Licht, Chris Brown, Zach Danziger, Gala Drop, Dave Douglas, Mats Gustafsson, Shelley Hirsch, Soulslinger, Tom Surgal, Han Bennink, Massimo Zu, Eyvind Kang, David Gillmore, Barbara Walker, Ernaldo Bernocchi, Jamie Saft, John Medeski, Billy Martin, Chris Wood And also MMW, Min Xiao-Fen, Scotty Hard, Jah Wobble, Toshinori Kondo, Mike Watt, Brad Jones, Mat Hiemovitz, Lee Ranaldo, Aki Onda. Phillip Jeck, DJ Grasshopper, Dennis Delzotto, Carolyn "Honeychild" Coleman, Uri Caine, Erik M, Joke "Suddeninfant" Lanz, Martin Baumgartner, QPE, Bruno Amstad, Ben Perowsky, Hanzel Gretzel, Gerard Malanga, Matt Pass, Okkyung Lee, Bobby Previte, Charlie Hunter., and many many others.

References

After receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts from SUNY Purchase, Gregor Asch moved to Brooklyn in 1990 and co-founded Lalalandia Entertainment Research Corporation. Lalalandia made many of the most memorable Brooklyn warehouse after hours environments of the 90's. It was during this time that Asch started making music as Dj Olive. Multipolyomni and We(TM) are two notable projects he created . We(TM)'s '97 release "as is" can be considered a classic. Multipolyomni's episodes from their opera "Quark Soup" are considered influential to the forming of the early Williamsburg art scene. In 2000 he started two record labels: Phonomena Audio Arts & Multiples and The Agriculture. Dj Olive's first solo CD, "Bodega", is a Brooklyn favorite which he followed up with the much loved "Live in Tasmania". On an all together different note, Room40 from Brisbane, Australia released Dj Olive's "Triage", "Buoy" & "Sleep" CD's, 60-min voyages of beat-less warmth Olive calls "sleeping pills". He has also been working on a concept he calls "The Vinyl Score" since 1995, which are palettes of sound pressed on vinyl and then played with 'rules' by turntablalists. He has continued building installations, making sound art and participated in many exhibitions including: The Whitney Biennial 2008; Treble, Brooklyn Sculpture Center 2004; City Sonics, Mons 2004; Venice Biennale 2003; The Whitney Biennial 2002; Bit Streams, The Whitney Museum of American Art 2001; Art at the Anchorage, Brooklyn 1996.

EDUCATION:

• State University Of New York at Purchase

Bachelor of Fine Arts 1987

RELATED EXPERIENCE

TEACHING:

• New York '09- Ableton User Group and DubSpot, Ableton Live Workshop, Tech Serve, NYC
• Cleveland '08- Cleveland Institute of Art (visiting artist), teaching "The Future Collective Party Art & Ritual"
• Brisbane '06- Ableton Live Workshop, Judith Wright Centre For The Arts
• Cairns '06- Transience Festival, Ableton Live Workshop
• Banff '05- The Banff Centre (visiting artist), teaching ensemble workshops and a master class
• Lisbon '04- ZDB Portugal, Vinyl Scratch Classes for 5th and 6th Graders

LECTURE:

• S.U.N.Y Purchase
• Brisbane Museum
• Brisbane Music school
• Brisbane Workshop Music Industry
• Perth University, Perth, Australia
• Govett-Brewster Museum, New Plymouth, New Zealand

ART & INSTALLATION:

• "Triage" Installation, The 2008 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum Of American Art, NYC
• Installation Work, The Sonic Self (Group Show), The Chelsea Art Museum, NYC '08
• "Triage" Installation, Institute of Modern Art & The Valley Festival, Brisbane, Australia '08
• "Bouy" Installation, Treble, The Sculpture Center, NYC '04
• Installation Work, City Sonics, Mons '04
• "Blahblahblah" The Venice Biennale, Venice '03
• "Sunrise On a Rooftop In Brooklyn" The 2002 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum Of American Art
• Installation Work, BitStreams, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC '01

SOME PRESS: "Olive, is also one of the six who put together Lalalandia clubs in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in the early 90's. Their El Sensorium and Year 2077, the Futuristic Circus, are some of the most innovative experiences to come out of the underground art scene." Spin Out, Michelle Lolli, Urb, page 54, issue no. 39, November, 1994.

"The only work to display a visual ambition that approaches the scale of the Anchorage itself is the prefix-obsessed music and installation collaborative that calls itself Multipolyomni..." In Tomblike Vaults, the Future Flickers and Hums, Roberta Smith, The New York Times, Art Review, page C25, August 9, 1996.

"Dj Olive .. in addition to spinning records at nearly every ambient party, said his goal was to bring the old and the new together in a way that's constructive" At the Cubs, Murmurs and Ambient Music, Neil Strauss, the New York Times, page C32, March 8, 1996.

"multipolyomni...made the vault look like a subterranean grotto." Happy Disorientation Under the Bridge, Jon Pareles, the New York Times, pop review, page C13, July 15, 1996.

"Dj Olive...radical and beautiful." Ben Ratliff, The New York Times, Arts & Ideas, Music Review, page B16, Saturday, May 1, 1999.

"the term illbient was born as Dj Olive relates... i said as a joke that's illbient meaning sick." Illbient, Jana Martin, the village voice, page 37 - 40, July 23, 1996.

External links

• Official Site
• Facebook page