Zipper Spy was the multimedia project of Bay Area noise artist and sculptor Maria Moran, a longtime mainstay of the local music scene whose past projects included creating soundtracks for low-budget horror movies, producing area indie bands, and even playing bass in a Los Angeles punk outfit. She began experimenting with noise while a college student in Colorado, assembling soundscapes produced with found objects and talk-radio dialogue samples; in 1994, while combing for noises to record to digital audio, Moran accidentally captured the sound of her parka's zipper, and was so taken with the resulting sample she began including amplified zippers in virtually all of her projects. Noted for their signature combination of video projections, metal instrumental sculptures, samples and other found-sounds, Zipper Spy installations were also documented on record, including the LPs Icki Beats and Uno. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
