Jimmy Plotkin

Profile:
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.
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Shortcut Code: [a12544]
Data Quality Rating: Correct

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Discography

Releases:
Jimmy Plotkin / Alan Dubin (2x7", Ltd)   Speeding Across My Hemisphere 1995
Production:
Lo Flux Tube (CD, Album)   Earache 1991
Appears On:
Lo Flux Tube (CD, Album)   Earache 1991
The Musical Dimensions Of Sleastak (CD, Album)   Earache, Earache 1993
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Reviews & Discussion

Review by Alastis Mar 08, 2006 (edited over 3 years ago)
American musician James Plotkin was not the first to create so-called "guitar ambient" (Germany's own Maeror Tri are considered godfathers of that weird subgenre of ambient), but he was probably the first to make it more noticeable. Via his collaborations and his own projects, he shown how guitar can be used not only for traditional rock music, but all sorts of experimental sounds as well. Certainly, what he's doing is not for everyone (maybe not even suitable for an average ambient fan), but there are a lot of interesting ideas in his own work and projects with others, namely Mick Harris and Mark Spybey.

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YouTube Videos

James Plotkin - Fuzzy