Ipecac Recordings
Artists Phantomsmasher
Biography
(aka JAMES PLOTKIN, formerly known as Atomsmasher)
Phantomsmasher is Plotkin's latest brain-teaser and arguably his most
ferocious. Teaming up with drum-man-chine DAVE WITTE (Burnt by the Sun, Discordance Axis, Melt Banana) and voice-ripper/sonic guerilla DJ SPEEDRANCH, the trio has cast aside the limits of hardcore, electronics, and rock thus creating an inexplicable force of a sound. Soar through a windtunnel of guitar while being skinned alive by audiomulch vocals before you're pummeled by the filtered blastbeat sonic-crunch. Imagine your favorite genres being extracted to your harddisk, torn to shreds and spat back out in the form of metallic digital powder. Imagine DIY laptop hardcore geeks having convulsions and vomiting buttermilk. The music is much more appealing than that. Phantomsmasher is music that makes you feel excited
about art once again.
For over half his life, James Plotkin has been involved in making music. Whether writing, performing, or producing, his recordings have been invariably unique and extreme. Each release is usually a complete departure from the last, satisfying the need to explore different and sometimes uncharted avenues of sound and composition. More recent projects display a return to the aggressive, intense style that had originally drawn listeners to his music.
Plotkin's body of work to this date consists of over 80 releases across many formats. He has been lucky enough to work with many of his peers including Franz Treichler, Michael Gira, Mick Harris, and John Zorn among others, and has been an integral part of groups including Scorn, Old, Khanate, Atomsmasher (now Phantomsmasher), and Death Ambient. Many record labels that he has admired have in turn released recordings of his, validating his existence as an artist in the process. Such labels include Kranky, Ant-Zen, Hydra Head, Asphodel, Fat Cat, Earache, and now Ipecac Recordings. Plotkin continues to form new groups and create exciting sounds with musicians and friends alike, making the experience one not only of artistic merit but also of life affirmation and personal gratification as well. Without these beneficial factors, the sounds need not exist.
Few things are for certain, but one of these things is that James Plotkin will always live for music. It is and always was the main driving force in his life. He also believes that the importance of sound as art and recreation is immeasurable. In this light, he creates music that sounds like nothing else.
Discography:
2001
Atomsmasher - n/t (CD - Hydrahead)
The Trifid Project - EP (MCD/10" ltd. 400 - Vacuum/Ant-Zen)
Khanate - s/t (LP/CD - Southern Lord - planned for October)
2000
James Plotkin - "Forensics for Guitar pt.2" 1-8 Split Series (CD - Fatcat)*
James Plotkin - "Lila Engel" A Tribute To Neu (CD - Cleopatra)
1999
James Plotkin/Brent Gutzeit - Mosquito Dream (CD - Kranky)
James Plotkin/Fenech - The Return of Blind Courage (CD - FBWL-Tow)
Pimmon/James Plotkin - "Forensics For Guitar" Split Series (12" ltd. 1000 - Fatcat)*
UBIK - "Plex" Or Some Computer Music (CD - OR/Touch)
James Plotkin/Tamara Goukassova - "Duet #2" Fear Drop no.6 (CD w/magazine - Fear Drop)
1998
James Plotkin/Mark Spybey - A Peripheral Blur (CD - Kranky)
Romance - Bleak Memories (CD - Audio Museum)
Namanax - Audiotronic (CD - Release)
Solarus - Crystallized (CD - Release)
Body Lovers (with Michael Gira) - One of Three (CD - Young God)
Body Haters (with Michael Gira) - 34:13 (CD, ltd. 2000)
1997
Flux - Protoplasmic (CD - Release)
Solarus - Empty Nature (CD - Release)
Namanax - Monstrous (CD - Release)
Namanax - "The Medicined Man" Gummo - OST (CD - London/Polygram)*
Jupiter Crew - 2 tracks from 12" (2CD - Possible Records/Invisible)*
Romance - "Throwing Caution to the Wind (rmx)" Noise Reduction 2 (CD - Alleysweeper/Invisible)*
The Joy Of Disease - "Our Transformation" Release Your Mind Volume 2 (CD - Release)
James Plotkin - "Intruder?" Release Your Mind Volume 2 (CD - Release)
Namanax - "Released" Release Your Mind Volume 2 (CD - Release)
Solarus - "Negative Polarity" Release Your Mind Volume 2 (CD - Release)
1996
James Plotkin - The Joy Of Disease (CD - Avant)
James Plotkin/Mick Harris - Collapse (CD - Asphodel)
James Plotkin/K.K. Null - Aurora (reissue of 1993 CD - Rawkus)*
James Plotkin - A Strange, Perplexing (CD - Indiscreet 1996)*
James Plotkin/K.K. Null - Aurora Remixes (CD/12" - Rawkus)*
Jupiter Crew - s/t (12" - Possible Records)*
1995
OLD - Formula (CD - Earache)
OLD - "Thug" Mind the Gap vol.7 (CD w/magazine - Gonzo Circus)*
James Plotkin - "Chemistiks" Indiscreet StereoTest (CD - Indiscreet)*
James Plotkin - "Slow Revolutions + Live" Endless 1 (CD - Manifold)*
James Plotkin - "Event Horizon" The Miracle of Levitation (CD - Gentle Giant)*
James Plotkin/Brent Gutzeit - "Realize = Halo" Noise Reduction (CD - Alleysweeper)*
James Plotkin/K.K. Null - "Drowning in Aurora" Swarm of Drones (2CD - Sombient/Asphodel)*
1994
James Plotkin/K.K. Null - "Lost" Ambient 4 Isolationism (2CD - Virgin)*
James Plotkin - Swimming Against/Clinton Street (7" ltd. 500 Alleysweeper)*
James Plotkin - "untitled" Hygene EP (12" - Downwards)*
OLD - "Freak Now" BRAINSCAN original motion picture soundtrack (CD - Columbia)*
Scorn - Evanescence (CD - Earache)
1993
OLD - Hold On To Your Face (CD - Earache)
James Plotkin/K.K. Null - Aurora (CD - Sentrax)*
1992
OLD - "Who Are You?" Masters Of Misery: An Earache Tribute To Black Sabbath (Earache)
OLD - Musical Dimensions Of Sleastak (CD - Earache)
1991
OLD - Lo Flux Tube (CD - Earache 1991)
1989
Old Lady Drivers - "Colostomy Grab Bag" Grindcrusher (CD - Earache)*
OLD/Assuck - split ep (7" ltd.900 - No System)*
1988
OLD - Old Lady Drivers (LP - Earache 1988)
* = Out of print
Releases
