Plus Instruments + Jahiliyya Fields + Lowcommittee
Publiée le jeudi 2 octobre 2014
Truus de Groot aka Plus Instruments, Jahiliyya Fields, Lowcommittee
PLUS INSTRUMENTS. Established in Eindhoven, the Netherlands in 1978 by de Groot - also singer in popular band, Nasmak - Plus Instruments released an EP on Dutch label Plurex before a chance encounter with Rhys Chatham's drummer David Linton in 1980 sparked her decision to move to New York in 1981, where she reformed Plus Instruments with a pre-Sonic Youth Lee Ranaldo on guitar and Linton on drums.
Not many people know of Truus de Groot’s work, or at best will have only a fleeting knowledge of it. Which is a terrible shame; because, like the other long-lost, (and recently reified) Dutch experimental pop pioneers Minny Pops, Truus’s work with Naasmak and Plus Instruments is of the highest order. It really is.
JAHILIYYA FIELDS
Experimental electronica from NYC (US). For fans of Ron Morelli and SvenghalisGhost.
Not sure what the deal is behind Jahiliyya Fields, though I can guess: it’s on Ron Morelli’s label (the first release on L.I.E.S. that’s not a dance-oriented 12”), and one of the tracks is the score to a 16mm film by visual artist/righteous man Steve Cossman, so that narrows it down a bit. There are a lot of amateurs out there pulling their dicks out now that they got a synthesizer and a sequencer, but very few who seem to know what to do with it now that they’re hanging brain. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Insofar as the expected “fuck or fight” response, J. Fields (who is this person? Jason Letkiewicz? Kris D? Aurora H.? The facilities manager at the Body Actualized Center?) is definitely in the “fuck” column, but more like “fuckkkkkkk … that’s heavy.”
The new-nu-age rotisserie spins slowly to engender further listener involvement, in a novel way for this time and age: Jahiliyya Fields is not so much an environment builder, as is so much of the lazy conceptual hang of most artists in this field, who want you to think about the enormity of space or the pressurized terror of the sea. Rather, the tracks here depict specific energies attuned to sound waves, and use the controls of the synths and the hand of the editor and tastefully-used percussive breaks to paint those imprints onto the cosmic circuit.
For a taster of what to expect, watch this clip of JF slaying OFF Festival in Poland earlier this month:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sfxf17xRKc
or check his Boiler Room:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KG7AZao2wQ
LOWCOMMITTEE .
World of antipodes. Born from the malfunction of machinery and surface noise
filtering, this entity is lost in the void between pop culture and extreme isolation.
Fascinated by 80’s and 90’s errors, rejected and erased things, the ghost of obsolete
technologies is fighting with the digital world. While assembling weird noises and rigid
rhytmic parts out of DIY electronic devices, his vision get clearer. Collecting samples
is like ammassing ashes for a phoenix rebirth. Surfing Between genres, tempos and
textures is a motto. Not blue nor black, it’s multicoloured, with gradients all over. A
constant research in density, complexity bring details to hide for further listenings.
Moving and waving with constant hum, it looks like a magnetic affair. I like to build a
lot of things. I̖̰̞͓͟t̲̫̙ͅ'̣̝͢s̵̗̖̬̹̤ ҉̺ov̪e̡͍̦̤̟͈r̦͔͝.̴̱̥͈ now.
PLUS INSTRUMENTS. Established in Eindhoven, the Netherlands in 1978 by de Groot - also singer in popular band, Nasmak - Plus Instruments released an EP on Dutch label Plurex before a chance encounter with Rhys Chatham's drummer David Linton in 1980 sparked her decision to move to New York in 1981, where she reformed Plus Instruments with a pre-Sonic Youth Lee Ranaldo on guitar and Linton on drums.
Not many people know of Truus de Groot’s work, or at best will have only a fleeting knowledge of it. Which is a terrible shame; because, like the other long-lost, (and recently reified) Dutch experimental pop pioneers Minny Pops, Truus’s work with Naasmak and Plus Instruments is of the highest order. It really is.
JAHILIYYA FIELDS
Experimental electronica from NYC (US). For fans of Ron Morelli and SvenghalisGhost.
Not sure what the deal is behind Jahiliyya Fields, though I can guess: it’s on Ron Morelli’s label (the first release on L.I.E.S. that’s not a dance-oriented 12”), and one of the tracks is the score to a 16mm film by visual artist/righteous man Steve Cossman, so that narrows it down a bit. There are a lot of amateurs out there pulling their dicks out now that they got a synthesizer and a sequencer, but very few who seem to know what to do with it now that they’re hanging brain. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Insofar as the expected “fuck or fight” response, J. Fields (who is this person? Jason Letkiewicz? Kris D? Aurora H.? The facilities manager at the Body Actualized Center?) is definitely in the “fuck” column, but more like “fuckkkkkkk … that’s heavy.”
The new-nu-age rotisserie spins slowly to engender further listener involvement, in a novel way for this time and age: Jahiliyya Fields is not so much an environment builder, as is so much of the lazy conceptual hang of most artists in this field, who want you to think about the enormity of space or the pressurized terror of the sea. Rather, the tracks here depict specific energies attuned to sound waves, and use the controls of the synths and the hand of the editor and tastefully-used percussive breaks to paint those imprints onto the cosmic circuit.
For a taster of what to expect, watch this clip of JF slaying OFF Festival in Poland earlier this month:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sfxf17xRKc
or check his Boiler Room:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KG7AZao2wQ
LOWCOMMITTEE .
World of antipodes. Born from the malfunction of machinery and surface noise
filtering, this entity is lost in the void between pop culture and extreme isolation.
Fascinated by 80’s and 90’s errors, rejected and erased things, the ghost of obsolete
technologies is fighting with the digital world. While assembling weird noises and rigid
rhytmic parts out of DIY electronic devices, his vision get clearer. Collecting samples
is like ammassing ashes for a phoenix rebirth. Surfing Between genres, tempos and
textures is a motto. Not blue nor black, it’s multicoloured, with gradients all over. A
constant research in density, complexity bring details to hide for further listenings.
Moving and waving with constant hum, it looks like a magnetic affair. I like to build a
lot of things. I̖̰̞͓͟t̲̫̙ͅ'̣̝͢s̵̗̖̬̹̤ ҉̺ov̪e̡͍̦̤̟͈r̦͔͝.̴̱̥͈ now.