Jason Levine (@xululululuuum) is a Montreal-based performance artist, musician, and creative coder. He is quickly becoming known for creating otherworldly performance-installations using the latest technologies to augment his voice and body. Cutting-edge yet accessible, his performances are well-suited to festivals, events, and art galleries.
Jason taught himself to program computers at age 7 and performed with the I MUSICI orchestra at age 9. From then on, his passion was split between technology and performance. Fascinated by the voice, he began experimenting with beatboxing and throatsinging. Too avant-garde for traditional music school, he attended the Institute for Living Voice in Marseilles, France in 2003, Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2007, and Antwerp, Belgium in 2010. During his time at the Institute, he studied under renowned contemporary vocalists such as David Moss, Joan La Barbara, Tran Quang Hai, and Jaap Blonk. In 2006, Jason completed a Bachelor in Computer Science with a specialization in Music Technology from Concordia University. That same year he was given the Award for Outstanding Vocal Percussion by the International Collegiate Championship Acapella and went on to beatbox at Lincoln Centre in New York City with the acapella group Effusion.
Jason began his new media performance career in 2001 with his live looping group entitled Tabula Rasa. In 2004, Jason came in contact the graphical programming environment Max/MSP and pandora’s box was opened. Jason began constructing his own instruments out of sensors, creating gesture-controlled surround sound diffusion systems, and working with interactive lighting. In 2008, he began working in the worlds of circus and dance as a musical performer with his unique voice and innovative inventions. Finally, Jason began working with what would become his primary medium: interactive video. In November 2010, the Kinect was released and a brand new pandora’s box was opened….