Biography
Dewey Mahood operates Plankton Wat as his individual outlet. A highly productive experimental musician living in Portland, Oregon, he has participated in numerous groups since the late 1980s and earned his strongest recognition as guitarist in the heavy psych improvisers Eternal Tapestry. Plankton Wat recordings have moved between organic acoustic psych-folk and densely effected cosmic stoner rock, at times adding vocals or electronic layers. The project issued multiple cassettes and CD-Rs across the 2000s, most of them tracked by Mahood at home, before making its first vinyl appearance at the decade’s close with Dawn of the Golden Eternity. Later releases on imprints such as Thrill Jockey, among them Spirits in 2012 and Future Times in 2021, reflected expanded collaboration and a more fully realized sonic palette.
Mahood began on bass in Chico, California punk bands during the 1980s, joining the hardcore outfit Empty Offer in 1987. He soon moved to guitar and played in psychedelic, grunge, and free improv groups. After a brief stay in Seattle at the end of the 1980s he relocated to Portland in 1992, where he formed the post-punk band Elephant Factory with Larry Crane of Tape Op magazine. In 2000 he assembled the free jazz-inspired Cosmos Group, then launched the solo home-recording project Plankton Wat in 2001, naming it in tribute to Krautrock producer Conny Plank and bassist Mike Watt. The project debuted in 2002 with the handmade CD-R Interstellar Sounds Of. Mahood subsequently spent several years in the avant-rock trio Scuffle & Dustcough before co-founding Eternal Tapestry in 2005, an ensemble that toured extensively and released acclaimed albums on labels including Not Not Fun and Three Lobed Recordings. He continued Plankton Wat activity, reactivating the project with the 2007 CD-R Other Worlds on his own Solar Commune imprint and issuing further cassettes and CD-Rs on underground labels such as Digitalis Limited, Blackest Rainbow, and Stunned Records. DNT Records released Plankton Wat’s first LP, Dawn of the Golden Eternity, in 2009. Additional limited editions appeared on Sloow Tapes and Reverb Worship, and Mahood took part in projects including Gärden Söund with members of Barn Owl and the dub-funk group Edibles.
Eternal Tapestry signed with Chicago’s Thrill Jockey in 2011, after which Plankton Wat’s first album for the label, Spirits, arrived in 2012. The single-sided 12" EP Mirror Lake came out on Sound of Cobra later that year, and a 2013 split LP with Expo ’70 on Debacle Records appeared around the same time as the second Thrill Jockey full-length, Drifter’s Temple. Mahood formed Spectrum Control with Dustin Dybvig of Horse Feathers and Edibles, and Galaxy Research with James Shaver of Million Brazilians and Deep Earth. Plankton Wat returned in late 2017 with Hidden Path on Sky Lantern Records, which included post-production and additional instrumentation by Dustin Dybvig along with flute from Ash Dybvig, bass by John Rau, and lap steel guitar by Matt McDowell. The Healing Earth, recorded entirely at home by Mahood in an improvised session, received a digital release for Earth Day in April 2019. Plankton Wat’s third Thrill Jockey album, Future Times, appeared in 2021. Created together with Dustin Dybvig and engineer/producer Victor Nash, the record reflected on social unrest and climate change. Thrill Jockey issued a wider edition of Hidden Path in 2022.
Mahood began on bass in Chico, California punk bands during the 1980s, joining the hardcore outfit Empty Offer in 1987. He soon moved to guitar and played in psychedelic, grunge, and free improv groups. After a brief stay in Seattle at the end of the 1980s he relocated to Portland in 1992, where he formed the post-punk band Elephant Factory with Larry Crane of Tape Op magazine. In 2000 he assembled the free jazz-inspired Cosmos Group, then launched the solo home-recording project Plankton Wat in 2001, naming it in tribute to Krautrock producer Conny Plank and bassist Mike Watt. The project debuted in 2002 with the handmade CD-R Interstellar Sounds Of. Mahood subsequently spent several years in the avant-rock trio Scuffle & Dustcough before co-founding Eternal Tapestry in 2005, an ensemble that toured extensively and released acclaimed albums on labels including Not Not Fun and Three Lobed Recordings. He continued Plankton Wat activity, reactivating the project with the 2007 CD-R Other Worlds on his own Solar Commune imprint and issuing further cassettes and CD-Rs on underground labels such as Digitalis Limited, Blackest Rainbow, and Stunned Records. DNT Records released Plankton Wat’s first LP, Dawn of the Golden Eternity, in 2009. Additional limited editions appeared on Sloow Tapes and Reverb Worship, and Mahood took part in projects including Gärden Söund with members of Barn Owl and the dub-funk group Edibles.
Eternal Tapestry signed with Chicago’s Thrill Jockey in 2011, after which Plankton Wat’s first album for the label, Spirits, arrived in 2012. The single-sided 12" EP Mirror Lake came out on Sound of Cobra later that year, and a 2013 split LP with Expo ’70 on Debacle Records appeared around the same time as the second Thrill Jockey full-length, Drifter’s Temple. Mahood formed Spectrum Control with Dustin Dybvig of Horse Feathers and Edibles, and Galaxy Research with James Shaver of Million Brazilians and Deep Earth. Plankton Wat returned in late 2017 with Hidden Path on Sky Lantern Records, which included post-production and additional instrumentation by Dustin Dybvig along with flute from Ash Dybvig, bass by John Rau, and lap steel guitar by Matt McDowell. The Healing Earth, recorded entirely at home by Mahood in an improvised session, received a digital release for Earth Day in April 2019. Plankton Wat’s third Thrill Jockey album, Future Times, appeared in 2021. Created together with Dustin Dybvig and engineer/producer Victor Nash, the record reflected on social unrest and climate change. Thrill Jockey issued a wider edition of Hidden Path in 2022.
Albums
Singles
