The label that ignited the Dutch post-punk scene!
Homogeneity be damned, these early Plurex tracks are a head-turning snapshot of what was happening in the late ‘70s Netherlands underground! Includes an interview with Plurex founders and all of the singles from 1978-‘80! - This fantastic release includes of course the Plus Instruments very first release!
Homogeneity be damned, these early Plurex tracks are a head-turning snapshot of what was happening in the late ‘70s Netherlands underground! Includes an interview with Plurex founders and all of the singles from 1978-‘80! - This fantastic release includes of course the Plus Instruments very first release!
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podcast
Jim Sclavunos (12/12/2023)Soho Radio • December 12, 2023 Interview with Dutch electronica pioneer Truus De Groot, plus year end round-up. Listen here 
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November 2023 saw the release of "The Annual", a new publication by Frans de Waard and Alfred Boland. Truus is well represented here! Richard Foster wrote a great piece on Eindhoven's late 70's early 80's music scene, which talks about a lot of Truus' comings and goings, and Truus wrote a little piece digging in her old notes of that same time which will hopefully turn into a memoir of some sort..some day. She am joined by an amazing roster of cool people and their stories. More here: https://www.kormplastics.nl
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Gonzo Circus Magazine Oct-23
Actually Plus Instruments for everything Truus de Groot puts her hands on. This could be a Korg-MS-20 synthesizer, but it could also be a television or a plastic toy guitar. Since 1978, when she was still a member of Nasmak, she has been pushing musical boundaries. On her own or in occasional collaborations. The music on '79/80' is a compilation of her earliest work and contains eight tracks from the untraceable cassette "Truss Plus Instruments" from 1980. De Groot opened her archives for the six other songs. About the buzzing synthesizers, an echo room and a primitive rhythm box, De Groot improvises with her voice. Unlike many contemporaries, the atmosphere is playful rather than dark. Comparative material is not so obvious, or it would have to be BeNe GeSSeRiT, because of the bizarre vocals and combination of electronics plus toy instruments. None other than Wally van Middendorp (Minny Pops) makes a guest appearance on the fun minimal-electronics experiment “Drama”. This LP is highly recommended to diggers who get a kick out of obscure material from the 1980s. Who still remembers it all? For those who wants something more exclusive, hunt for one of the seventy-five copies on purple vinyl, with the added bonus of a cassette with two live performances from that same era. (PV) |
Vital Weekly - Aug 23
The Plus Instruments LP is, technically, not a Plus Instruments LP but Truss + Instruments, as it says on the cover of the original cassette. I can perfectly understand why Truus de Groot and the label decided on using the name Plus Instruments. De Groot was, in 1980, part of Nasmak, but restless as she is, she moved away and started the second version of Plus Instruments with Lee Ranaldo and James Sclavunos. The 'Truss + Instruments' she recorded before that and is the result of experimenting with sounds with the help of Wally van Middendorp, best known as the singer of Minny Pops and Michel Waisvisz, the famous inventor of the crackle box and founder of Steim. De Groot worked in private studios or at home, using a variety of instruments; Korg MS20, the Putney synthesizer, crackle box (and as such, the big version of which Michel Waisvisz only made two), guitar, rhythm box, plastic toy guitar, flute, organ, TV, microphone, echo machine and "anything that came in handy". If you like Plus Instruments based on the 'Februari - April 81' record from 1981, which was re-issued in 2013 and 2022, or the later work, with its motorik-driven beats, you are in for a surprise here. The original cassette had fourteen tracks, of which seven are on this LP, plus seven more from De Groot's archive. These pieces are pretty experimental, scratchy, buzzing and whirring songs. Minimal and simple rhythms, small music as it were, some sketches and ideas, and some more worked-out songs and soundscapes.
In a limited edition, there is also a cassette release with a live recording from 1979 and one from 1980. The first is from Notre Dame Hall in London, with Plus Instruments being De Grrot and Waisvisz. They deliver an exciting set, both using voices over improvised electronics that have a slightly rhythmic impact. This side of Plus Instruments is quite raw and punky and different from the LP here or later work. On the other side is De Groot's solo, with a recording from Eindhoven, and here you find early seeds of the later work. Slightly more extensive use of rhythm, more song-based, and also in the use of the voice. Combined with the recordings on the LP here, this gives a great insight into the early and rapid evolution of her music. (FdW)
The Plus Instruments LP is, technically, not a Plus Instruments LP but Truss + Instruments, as it says on the cover of the original cassette. I can perfectly understand why Truus de Groot and the label decided on using the name Plus Instruments. De Groot was, in 1980, part of Nasmak, but restless as she is, she moved away and started the second version of Plus Instruments with Lee Ranaldo and James Sclavunos. The 'Truss + Instruments' she recorded before that and is the result of experimenting with sounds with the help of Wally van Middendorp, best known as the singer of Minny Pops and Michel Waisvisz, the famous inventor of the crackle box and founder of Steim. De Groot worked in private studios or at home, using a variety of instruments; Korg MS20, the Putney synthesizer, crackle box (and as such, the big version of which Michel Waisvisz only made two), guitar, rhythm box, plastic toy guitar, flute, organ, TV, microphone, echo machine and "anything that came in handy". If you like Plus Instruments based on the 'Februari - April 81' record from 1981, which was re-issued in 2013 and 2022, or the later work, with its motorik-driven beats, you are in for a surprise here. The original cassette had fourteen tracks, of which seven are on this LP, plus seven more from De Groot's archive. These pieces are pretty experimental, scratchy, buzzing and whirring songs. Minimal and simple rhythms, small music as it were, some sketches and ideas, and some more worked-out songs and soundscapes.
In a limited edition, there is also a cassette release with a live recording from 1979 and one from 1980. The first is from Notre Dame Hall in London, with Plus Instruments being De Grrot and Waisvisz. They deliver an exciting set, both using voices over improvised electronics that have a slightly rhythmic impact. This side of Plus Instruments is quite raw and punky and different from the LP here or later work. On the other side is De Groot's solo, with a recording from Eindhoven, and here you find early seeds of the later work. Slightly more extensive use of rhythm, more song-based, and also in the use of the voice. Combined with the recordings on the LP here, this gives a great insight into the early and rapid evolution of her music. (FdW)
Boomkat Product Review - September 23
'79/80' examines the earliest days of Plus Instruments, Dutch vanguard Truus de Groot's freewheeling experimental project. This anthology bundles a handful of tracks from her rare debut cassette with archival tracks from the same period. Properly spannered gear, it's an industrial-adjacent boil of broken synths, haunted vocals and sozzled tape noise that plays like a cross between The Shadow Ring, Throbbing Gristle, Wolf Eyes and Tolerance.
De Groot was still a member of cult Dutch experimental new wave band Nasmak in 1978 when she officially established herself as a solo artist, using the name Truss + Instruments for the project. She wouldn't stay solo for long, escaping the Netherlands for New York in the early '80s and bringing in assistance from artists like Lee Ranaldo and James Sclavunos, but this collection focuses on the project's genesis. The bulk of the record is snipped from De Groot's 1980-released debut, trimmed slightly and then fleshed out with unreleased tracks from the same time period. And it's remarkably coherent, sounding just as alien and unique now as it no doubt did back then. De Groot has a way of working that sounds haphazard but endlessly endearing, meshing her bizarre vocalizations with off-kilter beatbox blasts, oscillator squeaks and lashings of tape-damaged noise. It's tempting to call it industrial, but there's more going on here - De Groot doesn't sound as if she's in the thrall of any particular genre or other, but experimenting at her own pace, working out exactly what she can do with her modest setup.
Using a multi-track recorder with "whatever crappy gadgets she could find", De Groot trains her focus on snot and attitude, making songs that sound so battered they could fall apart at any moment. 'Lucky Day' introduced the original cassette and welcomes us to this set, bursting into the frame with hoarse screams and ghosted, saturated synth vamps that splinter into springy echoes. The roots of later noise upstarts like Wolf Eyes are right here, buried in De Groot's mucky tangle of distorted, nonchalant vocals, screaming feedback and irregular rhythms. On 'Herhalingen', she loops a single syllable until it's a pulse, spritzing it with tinny keyboard wails and breaking for a moment to remind us "the show must go on". And on 'True Love Stallion', one of the anthology's archival finds, she turns seemingly random synth bleeps into a detuned lullaby, using a disconcerting hum as accompaniment and stabbing at the keys erratically.
Another of the unheard rarities is 'Improv 1', a short blast of LFO noise that mutates into bleeps and damaged vocals, before 'Dance', 'So' and 'Music-Zak' bring us back to the original release. The latter is a serious highlight, a humid, hummable ditty that sounds like a cheap organ being played underwater. 'Improv 10' meanwhile glues a robotic voice to De Groot's pained screams and electrical fluctuations, and 'Mountain' sounds like a loping dancefloor melter, with a stumbling kick drum set against haunted echoes and distant recorder blasts. Utterly bonkers, this one'll have your head spinning - forget what you know, this is as punk as it gets.
'79/80' examines the earliest days of Plus Instruments, Dutch vanguard Truus de Groot's freewheeling experimental project. This anthology bundles a handful of tracks from her rare debut cassette with archival tracks from the same period. Properly spannered gear, it's an industrial-adjacent boil of broken synths, haunted vocals and sozzled tape noise that plays like a cross between The Shadow Ring, Throbbing Gristle, Wolf Eyes and Tolerance.
De Groot was still a member of cult Dutch experimental new wave band Nasmak in 1978 when she officially established herself as a solo artist, using the name Truss + Instruments for the project. She wouldn't stay solo for long, escaping the Netherlands for New York in the early '80s and bringing in assistance from artists like Lee Ranaldo and James Sclavunos, but this collection focuses on the project's genesis. The bulk of the record is snipped from De Groot's 1980-released debut, trimmed slightly and then fleshed out with unreleased tracks from the same time period. And it's remarkably coherent, sounding just as alien and unique now as it no doubt did back then. De Groot has a way of working that sounds haphazard but endlessly endearing, meshing her bizarre vocalizations with off-kilter beatbox blasts, oscillator squeaks and lashings of tape-damaged noise. It's tempting to call it industrial, but there's more going on here - De Groot doesn't sound as if she's in the thrall of any particular genre or other, but experimenting at her own pace, working out exactly what she can do with her modest setup.
Using a multi-track recorder with "whatever crappy gadgets she could find", De Groot trains her focus on snot and attitude, making songs that sound so battered they could fall apart at any moment. 'Lucky Day' introduced the original cassette and welcomes us to this set, bursting into the frame with hoarse screams and ghosted, saturated synth vamps that splinter into springy echoes. The roots of later noise upstarts like Wolf Eyes are right here, buried in De Groot's mucky tangle of distorted, nonchalant vocals, screaming feedback and irregular rhythms. On 'Herhalingen', she loops a single syllable until it's a pulse, spritzing it with tinny keyboard wails and breaking for a moment to remind us "the show must go on". And on 'True Love Stallion', one of the anthology's archival finds, she turns seemingly random synth bleeps into a detuned lullaby, using a disconcerting hum as accompaniment and stabbing at the keys erratically.
Another of the unheard rarities is 'Improv 1', a short blast of LFO noise that mutates into bleeps and damaged vocals, before 'Dance', 'So' and 'Music-Zak' bring us back to the original release. The latter is a serious highlight, a humid, hummable ditty that sounds like a cheap organ being played underwater. 'Improv 10' meanwhile glues a robotic voice to De Groot's pained screams and electrical fluctuations, and 'Mountain' sounds like a loping dancefloor melter, with a stumbling kick drum set against haunted echoes and distant recorder blasts. Utterly bonkers, this one'll have your head spinning - forget what you know, this is as punk as it gets.
Interview
Tisa Neža Herlec speaks to Truus de Groot, a musician, writer and photographer about her exhibition GRIT that happened at Slash Gallery, Worm and about her Worm Sound studio residency, in the presence and curatorial insight of Leonor Faber-Jonker with whom they've closely collaborated in the production of the exhibition and a book of photographs.At Radio Worm in Rotterdam, 22. 11. 2022
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review
Bandcamp – album of the day
By Miles Bowe · March 24, 2022
Cosmo Vitelli, aka French producer and DJ Benjamin Boguet, has spent nearly two decades drifting through the murky corners of electronic music. It wasn’t always that way: Vitelli landed a major label deal during the late ‘90s French electro-clash craze. But he found his true voice later, chasing sounds unmoored from any time or place while championing acts like Simian Mobile Disco and Azari & Ill through his independent label I’m A Cliché. Twenty years later, the Berlin-based producer is at his best blurring industrial, disco, and synth-pop while maintaining a fondness for the bombastic sounds on which he cut his teeth. For his third solo album, Medhead, Vitelli has found the perfect partner and foil in Truus de Groot—the Dutch vocalist and electronic artist best known for her legendary no-wave band Plus Instruments and their 1981 cult classic Februari – April ’81. Together these two veteran outsiders have crafted an album bursting with personality and atmosphere while slicing convention to ribbons.
Medhead walks a razor-thin line between decadence and discomfort best captured on opener “7 Foot Clown in My Bed.” Beginning with hissing synth tones and a dry, prickling drum machine that sounds straight out of Chris Carter’s arsenal of electronics, de Groot coolly recounts an eerie story of seeing her male friend, described as “a world-famous artist”, fawned over by a pair of women at a party. Filled with de Groot’s voyeuristic little details, the song is a masterclass in building tension and unplaceable dread that replicates another quality of Throbbing Gristle much more difficult to capture than Carter’s sonics—the ability to use suggestion and ambiguity to push an audience towards their own dark conclusions. “7 Foot Clown” remains entirely chaste, but its implications and power dynamics build like a panic attack, until de Groot finally runs over and pulls her friend out of the situation altogether. Medhead only builds on the unique deliveries and grimy vibes laid out by this ominous opener. De Groot’s observations of a child on the propulsive disco track “Just Like His Dad” gradually draw you to the abusive figure out of frame, while Vitelli’s sprawling instrumental centerpiece “Patient Zero” perfects the album’s sleazy crawl.
For all of Medhead’s tensions, its moments of release are explosive. The in-the-red EBM of “High Blood Pressure” follows the unsettling opener with a slow, crushing drum loop, and chunky low-end synths. “Down The Hatch” and “How Is It To Be You?” trade in snappy electro and wry humor, while the industrial slow-burn of “Trichophilia” walks a tightrope of S&M dynamics to create something both edgy and genuinely sexy. The album unexpectedly closes on “Don’t Sleep,” a blissful sunrise of warm synths and delicate guitar that only makes the preceding dream feel more vivid. Vitelli and de Groot may have come out of distinct scenes tied to specific eras, but on Medhead, they’ve created music that feels transcendent and timeless. They may have decades of material behind them, but here together, they’re making the best work of their careers.
By Miles Bowe · March 24, 2022
Cosmo Vitelli, aka French producer and DJ Benjamin Boguet, has spent nearly two decades drifting through the murky corners of electronic music. It wasn’t always that way: Vitelli landed a major label deal during the late ‘90s French electro-clash craze. But he found his true voice later, chasing sounds unmoored from any time or place while championing acts like Simian Mobile Disco and Azari & Ill through his independent label I’m A Cliché. Twenty years later, the Berlin-based producer is at his best blurring industrial, disco, and synth-pop while maintaining a fondness for the bombastic sounds on which he cut his teeth. For his third solo album, Medhead, Vitelli has found the perfect partner and foil in Truus de Groot—the Dutch vocalist and electronic artist best known for her legendary no-wave band Plus Instruments and their 1981 cult classic Februari – April ’81. Together these two veteran outsiders have crafted an album bursting with personality and atmosphere while slicing convention to ribbons.
Medhead walks a razor-thin line between decadence and discomfort best captured on opener “7 Foot Clown in My Bed.” Beginning with hissing synth tones and a dry, prickling drum machine that sounds straight out of Chris Carter’s arsenal of electronics, de Groot coolly recounts an eerie story of seeing her male friend, described as “a world-famous artist”, fawned over by a pair of women at a party. Filled with de Groot’s voyeuristic little details, the song is a masterclass in building tension and unplaceable dread that replicates another quality of Throbbing Gristle much more difficult to capture than Carter’s sonics—the ability to use suggestion and ambiguity to push an audience towards their own dark conclusions. “7 Foot Clown” remains entirely chaste, but its implications and power dynamics build like a panic attack, until de Groot finally runs over and pulls her friend out of the situation altogether. Medhead only builds on the unique deliveries and grimy vibes laid out by this ominous opener. De Groot’s observations of a child on the propulsive disco track “Just Like His Dad” gradually draw you to the abusive figure out of frame, while Vitelli’s sprawling instrumental centerpiece “Patient Zero” perfects the album’s sleazy crawl.
For all of Medhead’s tensions, its moments of release are explosive. The in-the-red EBM of “High Blood Pressure” follows the unsettling opener with a slow, crushing drum loop, and chunky low-end synths. “Down The Hatch” and “How Is It To Be You?” trade in snappy electro and wry humor, while the industrial slow-burn of “Trichophilia” walks a tightrope of S&M dynamics to create something both edgy and genuinely sexy. The album unexpectedly closes on “Don’t Sleep,” a blissful sunrise of warm synths and delicate guitar that only makes the preceding dream feel more vivid. Vitelli and de Groot may have come out of distinct scenes tied to specific eras, but on Medhead, they’ve created music that feels transcendent and timeless. They may have decades of material behind them, but here together, they’re making the best work of their careers.
November is Truus month in WORM
WORM, Boomgaardsstraat 71 | S/ash Gallery, Boomgaardsstraat 69, 3012 XA Rotterdam
Pioneering musician Truus de Groot (US/NL) comes to Rotterdam for a concert, exhibit, film and more
On the occasion of the publication of photo book GRIT. Truus de Groot in New York City, WORM presents a multimedia exhibition of the same name in S/ash Gallery (4- 20 November). Truus de Groot is coming to Rotterdam for a residency at WORM and will a.o. curate a movie night. On Thursday 3 November, she will play a Plus Instruments set with drummer Mathijs Burgler (Rats On Rafts) and Kathy Ziegler.
Musician, crackle-box player, and electro pioneer Truus de Groot (known for Nasmak and Plus Instruments, among others) has been working on an innovative and cross-genre oeuvre since the early 1980s. The exhibition and publication GRIT. Truus de Groot in New York City gives Truus de Groot a stage as a multidisciplinary artist for the first time.
Photo book and exhibition "GRIT. Truus de Groot in New York City" is published in a limited edition by SAGO Press, the new publishing house of author and artist Leonor Faber-Jonker. The photo book contains previously unpublished photographs that Truus de Groot made between 1981 and 1989 of her then hometown New York City. In S/ash Gallery these photographs are on view alongside (super-8) films made by Truus, soundscapes, documents, and objects from her personal archives.
Concert: Truus de Groot plays Plus Instruments. On Thursday 3 November, Truus de Groot plays a special Plus Instruments set, reinventing classic material of the albums ‘Februari-April ‘81’ and ‘Exile in Paradise’. She will perform with the original analogue backing tracks, live drummer Mathijs Burgler (Rats On Rafts) and Kathy Ziegler. Prior to the concert is the free opening and book presentation of GRIT. Truus de Groot in New York City in WORM’s S/ash Gallery.
On Wednesday 16 November, WORM presents a film night with a short film (super-8) by Truus de Groot and the classic ‘The French Connection’ (1971), hand-picked by Truus because its gritty New York scenes made a lasting impression on her when she was in her early teens. A cinematographic exploration of the appeal of the Big Apple.
Thursday 3 November
Opening exhibition & book presentation @S/ash Gallery Start: 18:00 | Free entrance
Truus de Groot plays Plus Instruments + Ka Baird
Doors: 20:00 | start: 20:30 Entrance: 7,50 presale | 10,- door.
Sunday 13 November
Live radio show Truus de Groot on Radio Worm @Wunderbar
15:00 – 17:00 | Free entrance
Wednesday 16 November
*TRUUS NYC Movie Night* with super-8 Truus de Groot + ‘The French Connection’ (1971) Doors: 20:00 | start: 20:30
Entrance: 7,50 presale | 8,50 door | Cineville: free
Cosmo Vitelli collaboration with Truus de Groot
"Medhead" is Cosmo Vitelli’s third solo album. Featuring eight cuts, five of them being recorded in collaboration with Truus de Groot, lead singer of Dutch new/no-wave outfit Plus Instruments, ‘Medhead’ is a statement to the power of electronic language as a summoner of deep-laid, recursive narratives. Emancipated from normative restraints and nonsensical branding, the album spans everything from slo-drip kraut to wasted disco, through murky motel-pop, neo-kosmische, hip-hop, industrial and, quite obviously, a healthy dose of reconfigured indie-rock motifs. A gravity-defying ode to the weirdness of being, Cosmo Vitelli’s new album bridges gaps and reexamines our reality, which seems so prone to enslave itself to rupture and disjunction. Let that organized chaos take over your senses and cast off to a world of untamed, eerie wonders.
"Medhead" is Cosmo Vitelli’s third solo album. Featuring eight cuts, five of them being recorded in collaboration with Truus de Groot, lead singer of Dutch new/no-wave outfit Plus Instruments, ‘Medhead’ is a statement to the power of electronic language as a summoner of deep-laid, recursive narratives. Emancipated from normative restraints and nonsensical branding, the album spans everything from slo-drip kraut to wasted disco, through murky motel-pop, neo-kosmische, hip-hop, industrial and, quite obviously, a healthy dose of reconfigured indie-rock motifs. A gravity-defying ode to the weirdness of being, Cosmo Vitelli’s new album bridges gaps and reexamines our reality, which seems so prone to enslave itself to rupture and disjunction. Let that organized chaos take over your senses and cast off to a world of untamed, eerie wonders.
Listen to Truus in an interview with Charlie Crooijmans on Radio Wira Wiri.
July, 2021 saw the release of Bar Tears, a 4 song EP with Truus' Blue Beast collaborator Miguel Barella. At the tail end of the extensive Pandemic quarantine, during which Blue Beast created the 8 track “Quarantine Singles” album, Blue Beast came upon a new sound, as such, we decided to compile 4 songs on an EP. This journey started with a re-mix of our song “Like a Fairy Tale” (from the album “Roaring”) by Apollo Nove for the TV horror series “Insania”. Apollo presented us with a full version of this re-mix and it steered Blue Beast into a more melancholy Noise Rock sound. We could see what Apollo’s direction offered us so we asked for his guidance on these 4 songs. Truus is using her voice in a huskier, moody way and the songs have a melodramatic flair. As we work completely by means of digital music file exchange between Brazil and Southern California, things started to take shape during many interchanges between Truus, Miguel and Apollo. On Bottom of the Barrel, horn player supreme, Edward Capel (NL) graces the tracks with his alto sax and horn section arrangements. On the title track “Bar Tears” we were lucky enough to recruit Blue Beast’s live rhythm section, Paulo Bira (bass) and Kuki Stolarski (Drums). So we are ecstatic to offer these 4 songs on this EP that tells of nostalgia, romance, melancholy and obsessions. The EP is accompanied by beautiful cover art created by prolific Dutch artist extraordinaire Rik van Iersel. Released on July 2nd, 2021 on Bandcamp. Digital world wide streaming everywhere.
Live concert review of Plus Instruments 2012
Cosmo Vitelli - Truus de Groot collaboration
Another very exciting project is a collaboration with Producer / DJ Cosmo Vitelli. Truus and Cosmo have been working on a number of songs to be released at a yet determined date. Their combine backgrounds are sure to yield some amazing sounds.
Stay tuned for that, hope to soon have some sounds to share.
Plus Instruments 1979 - Full Album of 11 original songs (Digital release) streaming everywhere
BandT + Instruments are Truus de Groot and Bregt Camphuijzen
Originally three songs were released on a 7” EP on the Plurex Label in 1979. This is the debut of all 11 songs on a digital album. Oh yes and there was more.. We were in our zone, all the time! Trying to describe how these recordings came about brings up so many memories. How do these two teen girls get access to a recording studio? It starts and ends with Michel Waisvisz, who became our mentor (as much as these two girls could be mentored), famous for playing and co-inventing the Crackle Synthesizer. Somehow Truus had hooked up with Michel who suggested they come and record at the STEIM foundation in Amsterdam. Over a few days in 1979 they got access to a full studio, filled with devices where they were left to their own devices. There they operated the ¼ “ 4 track Reel to reel. Once in a while one of the STEIM personnel would explain what they were looking at, a Vocoder, Harmonizer, echo, reverb, etc. Then there was the Crackle Synthesizer, Putney Synthesizer and whatever they could lay their hands on, no rules, just go! Since they engineered and mixed it themselves, sometimes it might lack in professionalism. This was remedied 40 years later to a great extent by Miguel Barella (BR) who patiently re-mastered the tracks with a tremendous skill. So here to finally see the light of day! Almost 41 years later. Listen on Spotify Truus de Groot 2020
BandT + Instruments are Truus de Groot and Bregt Camphuijzen
Originally three songs were released on a 7” EP on the Plurex Label in 1979. This is the debut of all 11 songs on a digital album. Oh yes and there was more.. We were in our zone, all the time! Trying to describe how these recordings came about brings up so many memories. How do these two teen girls get access to a recording studio? It starts and ends with Michel Waisvisz, who became our mentor (as much as these two girls could be mentored), famous for playing and co-inventing the Crackle Synthesizer. Somehow Truus had hooked up with Michel who suggested they come and record at the STEIM foundation in Amsterdam. Over a few days in 1979 they got access to a full studio, filled with devices where they were left to their own devices. There they operated the ¼ “ 4 track Reel to reel. Once in a while one of the STEIM personnel would explain what they were looking at, a Vocoder, Harmonizer, echo, reverb, etc. Then there was the Crackle Synthesizer, Putney Synthesizer and whatever they could lay their hands on, no rules, just go! Since they engineered and mixed it themselves, sometimes it might lack in professionalism. This was remedied 40 years later to a great extent by Miguel Barella (BR) who patiently re-mastered the tracks with a tremendous skill. So here to finally see the light of day! Almost 41 years later. Listen on Spotify Truus de Groot 2020
By Richard Foster
BandT + Instruments (1979) EP - Plurex label
What the bloody heck is this? The sound of the FUTURE that's what. The Plurex debut of the wonderful + Instruments and Truus de Groot. This sounds out of time and ahead of its time all at once, and could only come from a working class town built on technology and elbow grease: Eindhoven. Simultaneously digging Paul Panhuysen and bubblegum pop, Truus de Groot's vision, when welded onto the dour lads from Plus Instruments/Nasmaak [sic] produced incredible results. The lead track "Special Agreement" could be an advert for a new light bulb, it's that way out. And "Sweet Bananas" and "Words" are more out there and FAR less pretentious and academic than Ruth White. And encased in thee cutest sleeve imaginable. You can see how far we've regressed in this Facebook age. How de Groot's work gets overlooked when Heads like Cosi Fanni Tutti & Delia Derbyshire get (rightfully) praised is a mystery. Digital download available here: https://smikkelbaard.bandcamp.com
BandT + Instruments (1979) EP - Plurex label
What the bloody heck is this? The sound of the FUTURE that's what. The Plurex debut of the wonderful + Instruments and Truus de Groot. This sounds out of time and ahead of its time all at once, and could only come from a working class town built on technology and elbow grease: Eindhoven. Simultaneously digging Paul Panhuysen and bubblegum pop, Truus de Groot's vision, when welded onto the dour lads from Plus Instruments/Nasmaak [sic] produced incredible results. The lead track "Special Agreement" could be an advert for a new light bulb, it's that way out. And "Sweet Bananas" and "Words" are more out there and FAR less pretentious and academic than Ruth White. And encased in thee cutest sleeve imaginable. You can see how far we've regressed in this Facebook age. How de Groot's work gets overlooked when Heads like Cosi Fanni Tutti & Delia Derbyshire get (rightfully) praised is a mystery. Digital download available here: https://smikkelbaard.bandcamp.com
Hot of the press! Well sort of. Blue Beast second album "Roaring" now streaming everywhere! Blue Beast is the brainchild of Truus de Groot (Plus Instruments) and Miguel Barella. Both are seasoned veterans of the experimental electronic / noise world. After the acclaimed album entitled “Devil May Care”, released December 16, 2016, they just dropped their second Album "Roaring". Now streaming everywhere! CD available Shortly. Go Here to listen on Spotify.
Plus Instruments "Aim For The Center".
10 original songs with a heavy dose of Dance floor-worthy tunes.
Recorded at The Ranch, Escondido, CA, USA & STEIM, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Created & performed by Truus de Groot - Jimmy Virani plays Synthesizer on Robot Dream
Words and Music by Truus de Groot (Geertruda Degroot) except Chance Meeting Music
co-written with Chvad SB, Bernhard Chad Stephan- © 2019 Angry Apple Muffin Man Music
All rights reserved, © 2019 Dewclaw Ditties, BMI
10 original songs with a heavy dose of Dance floor-worthy tunes.
Recorded at The Ranch, Escondido, CA, USA & STEIM, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Created & performed by Truus de Groot - Jimmy Virani plays Synthesizer on Robot Dream
Words and Music by Truus de Groot (Geertruda Degroot) except Chance Meeting Music
co-written with Chvad SB, Bernhard Chad Stephan- © 2019 Angry Apple Muffin Man Music
All rights reserved, © 2019 Dewclaw Ditties, BMI
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THE WAVE WIDOWS
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Same
Plus Instruments & Cold Void
New Digital Album out now.
In 2013, Luuk Bouwman and Rafaël Rozendaal (Cold Void), approached Truus with a set of instrumental tracks. Over a period of a few months of back and forward WAV file exchange they completed this 13 song album. Their sound is deliciously minimal, ethereal yet brooding in nature. The lyrics are surrealist poems written and sung by Truus to take you somewhere you have never been before.
Now Streaming everywhere
Plus Instruments & Cold Void
New Digital Album out now.
In 2013, Luuk Bouwman and Rafaël Rozendaal (Cold Void), approached Truus with a set of instrumental tracks. Over a period of a few months of back and forward WAV file exchange they completed this 13 song album. Their sound is deliciously minimal, ethereal yet brooding in nature. The lyrics are surrealist poems written and sung by Truus to take you somewhere you have never been before.
Now Streaming everywhere
Lineality
Truus de Groot
This full, extra length, album was created by Truus de Groot featuring analog synthesizers only. Many of these are her very own synths, co-designed by Bosko Hrnjak and built by Dr. Moonstien. The album features 6 songs of 11 minutes each, clocking a total of 66 minutes. This brain stimulating music is from another dimension, it is ideal to create art by, cook, write, meditate, go about your business or excellent driving music to make the world just a little more interesting.
Now Streaming everywhere
Truus de Groot
This full, extra length, album was created by Truus de Groot featuring analog synthesizers only. Many of these are her very own synths, co-designed by Bosko Hrnjak and built by Dr. Moonstien. The album features 6 songs of 11 minutes each, clocking a total of 66 minutes. This brain stimulating music is from another dimension, it is ideal to create art by, cook, write, meditate, go about your business or excellent driving music to make the world just a little more interesting.
Now Streaming everywhere
"Newtons Flat Fidelity Vol. 2
by
Plus Instruments & Intige Taluure
(cassette)
A collaboration between Truus (Plus Instruments) and Intige Taluure, a duo from Belgium. A full length album, out only on a Ltd edition Cassette of 75 pieces. Hopefully available soon here. Digital release end of this year.
Limited Edition Cassette Available here.
$20 (free shipping)
by
Plus Instruments & Intige Taluure
(cassette)
A collaboration between Truus (Plus Instruments) and Intige Taluure, a duo from Belgium. A full length album, out only on a Ltd edition Cassette of 75 pieces. Hopefully available soon here. Digital release end of this year.
Limited Edition Cassette Available here.
$20 (free shipping)
REVIEWS
Vital Weekly - Number 1233 - By Frans de Waard
BLUE BEAST - ROARING (CDR by Declaw Ditties)
Behind Blue Beast we find Plus Instruments' Truus de Groot and Miguel Barella; he plays the guitar and she plays keyboards and sings. 'Roaring' is their second release, the follow-up to 'Devil May Care' (see Vital Weekly 1067). Oddly enough there is also a song with that title on this new CDR. As I wrote before I quite enjoy the music of Plus Instruments, which I always call the female version of Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft. The minimalist, motorik beats are something that De Groot also brings to this table, but with the addition of the guitar and electronics of Barella, it also becomes something quite different. While the strong opening 'Fucking Telephone' is very much a Plus Instruments Plus
song, it is when the rhythm machines and sequencers are shut off, and Truus starts more narrating, the speed slowing down, it also becomes more like something of radio drama proportions. Not that something entirely alien to the world of De Groot; in Vital Weekly 814 I reviewed 'Salton Sea' by her and Bosko Hrnjak, which also was a more of a radio drama. Here the music gains dramatic impact and becomes another bloom in her catalogue. It's still all quite poppy, for the lack of a better word (nothing that will storm the charts), but this is all leftfield pop music. Strange sounds, familiar ones, a bit of improvisation, a bit of structure elsewhere, and a bit of history thrown in. I can easily see the Plus Instruments side of this music, but it's my lack of knowledge when it comes to the work of Barella; I am sure he brings quite something different to the table, which makes this another fascinating release of modern surreal and alternative pop music. (FdW)
Josephine Bosma
Listening to Plus Instruments is like being somewhere between an upbeat techno club, a carnival and a surrealist ball. It is almost unbelievable this is a one-woman band: noises, beats, beeps, blips, the oddest sounds and Truus de Groot's voice fill the room and seem to come from everywhere. De Groot's lyrics are poetic and absurd, yet always fun and light, an absolute pleasure to listen to. All in all Plus Instruments makes poppy anti-pop, from gripping ballads to sometimes quirky and other times really highly energizing dance music. Her new album Aim for the Center shows her ongoing development towards stardom. You cannot do without Robot Dream in your playlist. Love Comes in Waves is already stuck in mine. Kylie Minogue wished she had De Groot give her Touch Me Goodbye. Who knows where Plus Instruments' amazing journey will go next.
Vital Weekly:Number 1198-Week 37
by; Frans de Waard
PLUS INSTRUMENTS - AIM FOR THE CENTER (CDR by Dewclaw Ditties)
Is that title, and the target cover, for real or is it a remark on the current state of the USA where unfortunately any idiot can own a gun and sadly enough also use them a bit too much? I metTruus de Groot, the woman behind Plus Instruments a couple of times, and didn't ask for herpolitical ideas (I rarely do that, actually), but I am sure it is her cynic comment on the country where she resides since many years and not a plea for more guns. Originally she was from The Netherlands, member of Nasmak and then forming Plus Instruments, along with Lee Renaldo(before his time in Sonic Youth) and David Linton, but since many years Plus Instruments is now her solo project. Sometimes she works as Truus de Groot and does a bit of other music, such as her 'surf' album, 'The Wave Widows' (see Vital Weekly 1162). I like that other work, but for me, Plus Instruments is where she delivers her strongest work. Over the years she gathered quite a bit of synthesizer, including a big crackle box of which only two copies exists and made by Steim in Amsterdam, where she recorded parts of this album. On previous occasions, I called Plus Instruments the feminine version of D.A.F. for the use of motorik beats and icy synths because of De Groot's soulful voice (well, not as in soul music, but you get my drift, I guess). Over recent years, that sound is less D.A.F. inspired, growing slowly into a more electronic project of all kinds. Plus Instruments can be poppy, noisy (the crackle box gets the headline in 'Love Comes In Waves'), techno-based or krautrock alike. De Groot's voice, whether or not treated with a Kaos-pad is sweet, angry, demanding and in a likewise ever-changing mood. The ten pieces last forty minutes and they are all great, without anyone especially leaping out; no straight forward hit single this time, but that doesn't matter. In many of the songs there is that fine rough-edged synth sound, bubbling and bursting away, in a very free role, underneath but various times also right on top of things. That gives the music a fine raw edge, one that works in fine contrast with the voice of De Groot and the strict tempos used. And damn, so I thought, with all the interest in electronic pop-related music, especially from those who have been around so long, and with all the love for vinyl, why is this not released on vinyl, but a CDR? I could see this reaching to all the people who happily shop at all the usual labels with re-issues. That is something that eludes me (unlessTruus de Groot has some hang-up on being independent and wants to have something cheap to mail!) as Plus Instruments is something that I could see reach a larger audience. She aims for the center, now the center has to respond! (FdW)
by Ioan for Louder than war - LINEALITY
Either as a solo performer, or under the Plus Instruments moniker, Truus de Groot has been at the forefront of experimental music-making for the last three decades. Established in 1978 in the Netherlands, amidst the explosion of punk rock and new wave, de Groot became active in the resulting detritus of the scenes. However, the more experimental aspects of tinkering with toy instruments, mangled improvised sounds, and in particular, analog synthesizers gradually took over and moved de Groot’s sound beyond post-punk, and thus Plus Instruments was born.
Releasing their first EP single in 1979, most of Plus Instruments’ live performances were improvised, and after hundreds of performances all through Europe, Truus struck up a friendship with Rhys Chatham’s drummer, David Linton after seeing them play live in her hometown of Eindhoven. This friendship with Linton involved an invitation for a NYC visit in 1981, where de Groot was suddenly thrown into the burgeoning and incredibly fertile No wave scene. There, Plus Instruments would soon include Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) on guitar and David Linton on drums, while Truus played bass and sang lead vocals. They quickly recorded and released an album, February – April 1981, on the Dutch Kremlin label. With this line-up, they hit the New York club scene, and went on to a European Tour. Over the coming years, Plus Instruments would include musicians such as Jonathan Schneider, Craig Kafton, Annene Kay, Marula Verbeek and James Sclavanos (Sonic Youth, Bad Seeds), yet de Groot remained the constant in this fluid, experimental outfit.
December 2017 saw the latest release from de Groot, in the form of the six-track LP, Lineality. Each of the six tracks runs to exactly eleven minutes and it is described by de Groot herself as, “my most experimental album to date”. The full-length album was created solely using her own analog synthesizers, co-designed by Bosko Hrnjak and built by Dr. Moonstien. Immediately from Lineality 1 (Primam Aciem), the widescreen scope of the sounds that de Groot is able to makes is unnervingly evident – wonky analog synth drone, with audial cosmic arrays and modulator bends. Halfway through the track, a throbbing synth beat emerges, only to be beaten down by the experimental warped sounds.
Lineality 2 (II Recta) starts off with a more organic feel. At times it sounds like field recordings and not the results of any electrical involvement. As the track progresses, the spacial architecture De Groot is able to make with her sounds becomes especially evident, as you could imagine these are the last sounds a dying spacecraft would make as it plummets into a planet. Lineality 3 (Tertiam) has the spastic modular bends, ramped up as the other-worldly sounds she is able to produce become more and more outrageous and astonishing. A heavy, unnerving march underlies the track and you could well imagine it playing out to the march of a Triffid, or worse. The second half of the track is taken up with a more noisy experimental feel, albeit accompanied with what sounds like a deranged oboe. Nice.
Lineality 4 (Quarta Acie) has quite a harsh, high-pitched noise start and is closely followed by another drone-heavy slog through the gorgeously-twisted frequencies, sinister heavy throbs, spectral ripples and celestial rip tides. Ironically, it is out of this unearthly electronica swamp that comes the first thing that remotely resembles a ‘tune’ in the most conventional terms. Follow-up, Lineality 5 (Linea Quinque), is another track that trudges through a sonic scrap land soundtracking decrepit and outsourced robots, sending out final distress signals as they head to the crusher. It’s pure modular synth hedonism and de Groot sounds like she is having the time of her life making these tracks.
Final track, Lineality 6 (Tandem Lineam) starts off a more gentle affair than the previous tracks and sees de Groot veering into Max Richter-esque territory. That is until the equilibrium is once again upset and the sonic ground you were walking on changes like an Escher painting. Again, the sounds created are unsettling, jarring and disconcerting. But they make perfect sense.
Equal parts musique concrete and The Quatermass Experiment, Lineality is unnerving and creates disquiet, but never discomfort. This sort of territory is left to the ‘harsh noise’ makers. Instead, what de Groot does so perfectly is mine the depths of sonic possibilities with a masterful knowledge of modular synth to create vast amounts of space and time in which to paint her sounds. Experimental and abstract, yet beautifully distracting (and even comforting) in this increasingly weird and hostile world. Gorgeous stuff.
Frans de Waard for VITAL WEEKLY Number 1114
TRUUS DE GROOT - LINEALITY (CDR by Dewclaw Ditties)
Following her collaborative work with Intigue Taluure (see Vital Weekly 1111), here is something new by Truus de Groot. I believe she divides her work between her own name and Plus Instruments when it comes to doing something more ‘pop’ like (for the lack of a better word) and something more ’sound scape’ like (again for the lack of a better word). For the latter she uses her own name, and Plus Instruments when employing sequencers, drum machines and synthesizers. I quite enjoy the work of
the latter, and of the first I think I simply didn’t hear a lot. The thing that springs to mind is the work she did with Bosko Hrnjak, ’Salton Sink Vol.1: Salton Sea’ (see Vital Weekly 814), which was more field recordings, voice and making up a fine radio play and her ’Surrealist Ball’ (see Vital Weekly), which for all I know could have been as Plus Instruments, but which was a bit gentler, I guess. On ‘Lineality’ she placed all her electronic gear as listed on the cover (Sonus Injecto, Triomne, Boka Box, Drone Box, Crackle Synthesizer, EMS VCS Putney, Moog Opus 3 and Korg MS 20 mini) on a table and started to fiddle around with. Some of these machines you know, and some you don’t, as they “co-designed by Bosko Hrnjak and built by Dr. Moonstien”. She recorded six pieces, which, give or take a few seconds, last eleven minutes. On her website Truus describes what her intention is with this: “This brain stimulating music is from another dimension, it is ideal to create art by, cook, write, meditate, go about your business or excellent driving music to make the world just a little more interesting.” Of course the reviewer has to cook and write but perhaps also concentrate a bit on the music, but sometimes I decide to sit back and continue to read today’s newspaper. De Groot chooses her title well, I think. Her pieces move in a strict linear fashion. She works with a bunch of sounds, at the same time and they keep playing, while she changes very minimally some parameters and volume of some while others continue, before it’s their time to change. Sometimes a bit drone like, obviously I would think, but it also has more bubbling, oscillations, sine and square forms, and above all a bit more noise and grittiness than you would have on an average drone record. De Groot isn’t too careful with the volume and with the ears of the listener, which made me think that playing this in the kitchen with some volume is perhaps not something that would go with everybody helping you out. It seems to me something that is enjoyed in solitude, so that you as a listener could decide on the volume for optimum pleasure, be it very loud or moderate and you’ll find it out it works wonderfully well and is engaging to do some other activity without paying very close attention. This is an excellent release and good to hear De Groot diversifying from her usual music. (FdW)
BLUE BEAST - ROARING (CDR by Declaw Ditties)
Behind Blue Beast we find Plus Instruments' Truus de Groot and Miguel Barella; he plays the guitar and she plays keyboards and sings. 'Roaring' is their second release, the follow-up to 'Devil May Care' (see Vital Weekly 1067). Oddly enough there is also a song with that title on this new CDR. As I wrote before I quite enjoy the music of Plus Instruments, which I always call the female version of Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft. The minimalist, motorik beats are something that De Groot also brings to this table, but with the addition of the guitar and electronics of Barella, it also becomes something quite different. While the strong opening 'Fucking Telephone' is very much a Plus Instruments Plus
song, it is when the rhythm machines and sequencers are shut off, and Truus starts more narrating, the speed slowing down, it also becomes more like something of radio drama proportions. Not that something entirely alien to the world of De Groot; in Vital Weekly 814 I reviewed 'Salton Sea' by her and Bosko Hrnjak, which also was a more of a radio drama. Here the music gains dramatic impact and becomes another bloom in her catalogue. It's still all quite poppy, for the lack of a better word (nothing that will storm the charts), but this is all leftfield pop music. Strange sounds, familiar ones, a bit of improvisation, a bit of structure elsewhere, and a bit of history thrown in. I can easily see the Plus Instruments side of this music, but it's my lack of knowledge when it comes to the work of Barella; I am sure he brings quite something different to the table, which makes this another fascinating release of modern surreal and alternative pop music. (FdW)
Josephine Bosma
Listening to Plus Instruments is like being somewhere between an upbeat techno club, a carnival and a surrealist ball. It is almost unbelievable this is a one-woman band: noises, beats, beeps, blips, the oddest sounds and Truus de Groot's voice fill the room and seem to come from everywhere. De Groot's lyrics are poetic and absurd, yet always fun and light, an absolute pleasure to listen to. All in all Plus Instruments makes poppy anti-pop, from gripping ballads to sometimes quirky and other times really highly energizing dance music. Her new album Aim for the Center shows her ongoing development towards stardom. You cannot do without Robot Dream in your playlist. Love Comes in Waves is already stuck in mine. Kylie Minogue wished she had De Groot give her Touch Me Goodbye. Who knows where Plus Instruments' amazing journey will go next.
Vital Weekly:Number 1198-Week 37
by; Frans de Waard
PLUS INSTRUMENTS - AIM FOR THE CENTER (CDR by Dewclaw Ditties)
Is that title, and the target cover, for real or is it a remark on the current state of the USA where unfortunately any idiot can own a gun and sadly enough also use them a bit too much? I metTruus de Groot, the woman behind Plus Instruments a couple of times, and didn't ask for herpolitical ideas (I rarely do that, actually), but I am sure it is her cynic comment on the country where she resides since many years and not a plea for more guns. Originally she was from The Netherlands, member of Nasmak and then forming Plus Instruments, along with Lee Renaldo(before his time in Sonic Youth) and David Linton, but since many years Plus Instruments is now her solo project. Sometimes she works as Truus de Groot and does a bit of other music, such as her 'surf' album, 'The Wave Widows' (see Vital Weekly 1162). I like that other work, but for me, Plus Instruments is where she delivers her strongest work. Over the years she gathered quite a bit of synthesizer, including a big crackle box of which only two copies exists and made by Steim in Amsterdam, where she recorded parts of this album. On previous occasions, I called Plus Instruments the feminine version of D.A.F. for the use of motorik beats and icy synths because of De Groot's soulful voice (well, not as in soul music, but you get my drift, I guess). Over recent years, that sound is less D.A.F. inspired, growing slowly into a more electronic project of all kinds. Plus Instruments can be poppy, noisy (the crackle box gets the headline in 'Love Comes In Waves'), techno-based or krautrock alike. De Groot's voice, whether or not treated with a Kaos-pad is sweet, angry, demanding and in a likewise ever-changing mood. The ten pieces last forty minutes and they are all great, without anyone especially leaping out; no straight forward hit single this time, but that doesn't matter. In many of the songs there is that fine rough-edged synth sound, bubbling and bursting away, in a very free role, underneath but various times also right on top of things. That gives the music a fine raw edge, one that works in fine contrast with the voice of De Groot and the strict tempos used. And damn, so I thought, with all the interest in electronic pop-related music, especially from those who have been around so long, and with all the love for vinyl, why is this not released on vinyl, but a CDR? I could see this reaching to all the people who happily shop at all the usual labels with re-issues. That is something that eludes me (unlessTruus de Groot has some hang-up on being independent and wants to have something cheap to mail!) as Plus Instruments is something that I could see reach a larger audience. She aims for the center, now the center has to respond! (FdW)
by Ioan for Louder than war - LINEALITY
Either as a solo performer, or under the Plus Instruments moniker, Truus de Groot has been at the forefront of experimental music-making for the last three decades. Established in 1978 in the Netherlands, amidst the explosion of punk rock and new wave, de Groot became active in the resulting detritus of the scenes. However, the more experimental aspects of tinkering with toy instruments, mangled improvised sounds, and in particular, analog synthesizers gradually took over and moved de Groot’s sound beyond post-punk, and thus Plus Instruments was born.
Releasing their first EP single in 1979, most of Plus Instruments’ live performances were improvised, and after hundreds of performances all through Europe, Truus struck up a friendship with Rhys Chatham’s drummer, David Linton after seeing them play live in her hometown of Eindhoven. This friendship with Linton involved an invitation for a NYC visit in 1981, where de Groot was suddenly thrown into the burgeoning and incredibly fertile No wave scene. There, Plus Instruments would soon include Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) on guitar and David Linton on drums, while Truus played bass and sang lead vocals. They quickly recorded and released an album, February – April 1981, on the Dutch Kremlin label. With this line-up, they hit the New York club scene, and went on to a European Tour. Over the coming years, Plus Instruments would include musicians such as Jonathan Schneider, Craig Kafton, Annene Kay, Marula Verbeek and James Sclavanos (Sonic Youth, Bad Seeds), yet de Groot remained the constant in this fluid, experimental outfit.
December 2017 saw the latest release from de Groot, in the form of the six-track LP, Lineality. Each of the six tracks runs to exactly eleven minutes and it is described by de Groot herself as, “my most experimental album to date”. The full-length album was created solely using her own analog synthesizers, co-designed by Bosko Hrnjak and built by Dr. Moonstien. Immediately from Lineality 1 (Primam Aciem), the widescreen scope of the sounds that de Groot is able to makes is unnervingly evident – wonky analog synth drone, with audial cosmic arrays and modulator bends. Halfway through the track, a throbbing synth beat emerges, only to be beaten down by the experimental warped sounds.
Lineality 2 (II Recta) starts off with a more organic feel. At times it sounds like field recordings and not the results of any electrical involvement. As the track progresses, the spacial architecture De Groot is able to make with her sounds becomes especially evident, as you could imagine these are the last sounds a dying spacecraft would make as it plummets into a planet. Lineality 3 (Tertiam) has the spastic modular bends, ramped up as the other-worldly sounds she is able to produce become more and more outrageous and astonishing. A heavy, unnerving march underlies the track and you could well imagine it playing out to the march of a Triffid, or worse. The second half of the track is taken up with a more noisy experimental feel, albeit accompanied with what sounds like a deranged oboe. Nice.
Lineality 4 (Quarta Acie) has quite a harsh, high-pitched noise start and is closely followed by another drone-heavy slog through the gorgeously-twisted frequencies, sinister heavy throbs, spectral ripples and celestial rip tides. Ironically, it is out of this unearthly electronica swamp that comes the first thing that remotely resembles a ‘tune’ in the most conventional terms. Follow-up, Lineality 5 (Linea Quinque), is another track that trudges through a sonic scrap land soundtracking decrepit and outsourced robots, sending out final distress signals as they head to the crusher. It’s pure modular synth hedonism and de Groot sounds like she is having the time of her life making these tracks.
Final track, Lineality 6 (Tandem Lineam) starts off a more gentle affair than the previous tracks and sees de Groot veering into Max Richter-esque territory. That is until the equilibrium is once again upset and the sonic ground you were walking on changes like an Escher painting. Again, the sounds created are unsettling, jarring and disconcerting. But they make perfect sense.
Equal parts musique concrete and The Quatermass Experiment, Lineality is unnerving and creates disquiet, but never discomfort. This sort of territory is left to the ‘harsh noise’ makers. Instead, what de Groot does so perfectly is mine the depths of sonic possibilities with a masterful knowledge of modular synth to create vast amounts of space and time in which to paint her sounds. Experimental and abstract, yet beautifully distracting (and even comforting) in this increasingly weird and hostile world. Gorgeous stuff.
Frans de Waard for VITAL WEEKLY Number 1114
TRUUS DE GROOT - LINEALITY (CDR by Dewclaw Ditties)
Following her collaborative work with Intigue Taluure (see Vital Weekly 1111), here is something new by Truus de Groot. I believe she divides her work between her own name and Plus Instruments when it comes to doing something more ‘pop’ like (for the lack of a better word) and something more ’sound scape’ like (again for the lack of a better word). For the latter she uses her own name, and Plus Instruments when employing sequencers, drum machines and synthesizers. I quite enjoy the work of
the latter, and of the first I think I simply didn’t hear a lot. The thing that springs to mind is the work she did with Bosko Hrnjak, ’Salton Sink Vol.1: Salton Sea’ (see Vital Weekly 814), which was more field recordings, voice and making up a fine radio play and her ’Surrealist Ball’ (see Vital Weekly), which for all I know could have been as Plus Instruments, but which was a bit gentler, I guess. On ‘Lineality’ she placed all her electronic gear as listed on the cover (Sonus Injecto, Triomne, Boka Box, Drone Box, Crackle Synthesizer, EMS VCS Putney, Moog Opus 3 and Korg MS 20 mini) on a table and started to fiddle around with. Some of these machines you know, and some you don’t, as they “co-designed by Bosko Hrnjak and built by Dr. Moonstien”. She recorded six pieces, which, give or take a few seconds, last eleven minutes. On her website Truus describes what her intention is with this: “This brain stimulating music is from another dimension, it is ideal to create art by, cook, write, meditate, go about your business or excellent driving music to make the world just a little more interesting.” Of course the reviewer has to cook and write but perhaps also concentrate a bit on the music, but sometimes I decide to sit back and continue to read today’s newspaper. De Groot chooses her title well, I think. Her pieces move in a strict linear fashion. She works with a bunch of sounds, at the same time and they keep playing, while she changes very minimally some parameters and volume of some while others continue, before it’s their time to change. Sometimes a bit drone like, obviously I would think, but it also has more bubbling, oscillations, sine and square forms, and above all a bit more noise and grittiness than you would have on an average drone record. De Groot isn’t too careful with the volume and with the ears of the listener, which made me think that playing this in the kitchen with some volume is perhaps not something that would go with everybody helping you out. It seems to me something that is enjoyed in solitude, so that you as a listener could decide on the volume for optimum pleasure, be it very loud or moderate and you’ll find it out it works wonderfully well and is engaging to do some other activity without paying very close attention. This is an excellent release and good to hear De Groot diversifying from her usual music. (FdW)
Interview
Excellent Truus retrospective interview by the brilliant Richard Foster for Louder than war
Excellent Truus retrospective interview by the brilliant Richard Foster for Louder than war
Interview
Interview on RAN$OME NOTE - all about Plus Instruments "Past & Present - Truus de Groot Talks" by Alasdair King
Interview on RAN$OME NOTE - all about Plus Instruments "Past & Present - Truus de Groot Talks" by Alasdair King
