A guitarist and producer at the nexus of various strains of extreme music, James Plotkin began as a member of Old Lady Drivers (known as OLD), a band whose 1987 debut was a seminal entry in the catalog of fabled grindcore label Earache. Throughout the ‘90s he ventured into ever more audacious sonic waters, from harsh power electronics to dub-inflected ambient electronica, often collaborating with similar traffickers of post-metal experimentation such as Mick Harris, K.K. Null, and Michael Gira. The new millennium marked the beginning of several new ventures for Plotkin: Khanate, a doom-metal outfit with Sunn O))) guitarist Stephan O’Malley, and Phantomsmasher, a laptop- and electronics-oriented grindcore act featuring the bizarre, Dadaist-inspired vocal spew of DJ Speedranch.