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.
In this pandemic Truus has put her efforts into various new projects. One is a brand new direction of guided Sleep Hypnosis. In a collaborative effort with surrealist painter Marion Peck they created two pieces featuring Truus' narration and music to Marion's script. At this time of stress and unrest we hope this will come in handy to find some temporary peace.
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
|
THE WAVE WIDOWS
|
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
