James Plotkin began his musical career as the guitarist for heavy-metal trio O.L.D., with vocalist Alan Dubin and ever-changing drummer/bassists. They released albums that became more and more adventurous: Old Lady Drivers (Earache, 1988), Lo Flux Tube ([Earache], 1991) and The Musical Dimensions of Sleastak (Earache, 1993). By the time of their fourth album, Formula (Earache, 1995), they had pared down to a duo and the instruments were credited as: "vocoded voice, looped guitar, synth guitar, bass, tapes, rhythm machine... and a drop of 303". In the meantime, Plotkin had already started a new career as a bold and outrageous avantgarde musician, who built otherworldly collages of metal-dance music such as Clinton Street/ Dead Soul Surfing (Alley Sweeper, 1995), A Strange Perplexing (Indiscreet, 1996) for manipulated guitar sounds, and Joy Of Disease (Avant, 1996), for manipulated guitar, bass, rhythm machines and samples; as well as engaged in dynamite collaborations with the likes of KK Null (of Zeni Geva) on Aurora (Sentrax, 1995), that features his guitar tour de force Speeding Across My Hemisphere, and Mick Harris on Collapse (Somnient, 1996), five lengthy pieces for looped guitar and natural/unnatural sounds. He also began to coin ever new alter-egos: Jupiter Crew for the two-track EP Jungle Concrete (Possible, 1996); Flux for the album Protoplasmic (Release, 1997). Plotkin also plays in Khanate.