Ashkan Kooshanejad

Ashkan Kooshanejad (Persian: اشکان کوشانژاد; born 13 August 1985), also known as Ash Koosha, is a British-Iranian technology entrepreneur,[1] multidisciplinary artist, futurist and innovator.[2] He is known to use computer software such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality in his work. He is the CEO and co-founder of Oorbit Inc.[3] and one of the founders of Auxuman Inc.[1]

Ashkan Kooshanejad
OriginTehran, Iran
GenresElectronic
Experimental
Soundtrack
Ambient
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur, Composer, record producer, film director,
Years active2007–present
LabelsOlde English Spelling Bee
Ninja Tune
Realms

Early life and education

Kooshanejad was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. He studied music at the Tehran Conservatory of Music.[4]

Career

Kooshanejad played the lead role in an Iranian-Cannes jury prize winner docufiction film by director Bahman Ghobadi called No One Knows About Persian Cats, which follows his band's story scouring the Iranian underground music scene trying to find musicians to play in a festival in the UK.[5][6] Kooshanejad sought asylum in the UK due to the reaction to the film in Iran.[7][8]

Kooshanejad released the album GUUD in 2015. The video for "I Feel That" was directed by digital artist Hirad Sab.[9] The album has received positive feedback and support from music critics such as Pitchfork.[10] The album holds a rating of 4.4/5 on Discogs.[11]

He released his second album I AKA I on London label Ninja Tune, which holds a rating of 4/5 on AllMusic[12] and 79 on Metacritic.[13] I AKA I was accompanied by CGI videos created by Hirad Sab and was premiered on Adult Swim.[14]

In 2015, he introduced the concept for the world's first virtual reality album and has developed multi-sensory experiences for songs such as Snow, OTE, Stained and Eluded since.[15] He has performed using a virtual reality headset for the first time at the London Institute of Contemporary Art, in collaboration with TheWaveVR.[16]

In 2018, he introduced a virtual singer named "YONA" which uses text-to-speech processed through an associated software to create human-sounding singing.[17]

In 2019, he founded Auxuman Inc., a technology company building virtual musicians using artificial intelligence.[1]

In 2021, he founded Oorbit inc., a cloud computing company that makes infrastructure for the metaverse.[1]

Discography

Albums
Year Title
2015 GUUD
2016 I AKA I
2017 CHIMERA EP
2018 AKTUAL
2018 Unnamed
2018 Return 0
2018 A OK
2018 STAMINA

Singles
Year Title
2016 "Biutiful"
2016 "Faint"
2018 "Aroha"

Filmography
Year Title Functioned as
director Screenwriter Producer Composer Actor
2009 No One Knows About Persian Cats (Feature) No No No Yes Yes
2015 Fermata (Feature) Yes Yes Yes Yes No
2017 Another News Story (Feature/Documentary) No No No Yes No

References
  1. "The Loneliness of a Highbrow Teenage Songwriting Robot". Bloomberg.com. 26 November 2019. Archived from the original on 27 November 2019.
  2. "Extension of Self: Ash Koosha Talks". Theransomnote.com. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  3. "Oorbit raises $5M from Mark Cuban, Deadmau5 and more for metaverse platform". 17 March 2022.
  4. Sherburne, Philip (16 September 2015). "Ash Koosha: Conducting Destruction". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  5. Davies, Rodrigo (25 March 2010). "Iran's underground rock scene thrives despite censors". BBC News.
  6. Richard Gehr (30 January 2017). "Ash Koosha: Acclaimed Iranian Musician on Being Newly Banned From U.S." Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  7. McElroy, Damien; Allen, Benjamin (11 August 2009). "Iran rock band seeks asylum in Britain". The Daily Telegraph.
  8. Backer, Stina (8 August 2009). "Iranian stars who shone at Cannes ask Britain for asylum". The Independent.
  9. Liu, Juliet (8 July 2015). "Enter Ash Koosha's Extra-Dimensional Virtual Reality in the Video For "I Feel That"". The FADER.
  10. "Listen to "Harbour" by Ash Koosha". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  11. "Ash Koosha – Guud". Discogs.com. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  12. Simpson, Paul (15 April 2016). "I AKA I - Ash Koosha AllMusic Review by Paul Simpson". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  13. "I AKA I by Ash Koosha". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  14. "Watch Music Videos and Clips for Free from Adult Swim". Adultswim.com. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  15. "Ash Koosha is pushing electronic music into a virtual reality". Factmag.com. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  16. "Ash Koosha Live UK Debut + Brood Ma & LING | Institute of Contemporary Arts". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  17. "Ash Koosha explains why robots won't kill us all". Thefader.com. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
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