Tracy + the Plastics

Tracy + the Plastics is the name of the electropop solo music and video project of Wynne Greenwood, a lesbian feminist video artist based in Olympia, Washington. The music consists of a Boss DR-5 drum machine, an Akai 612 disc sampler and anything else Tracy and fictional backup singers Nikki Romanos and Cola feel like using.

Although the name implies the group is made up of a lead singer and her back up singers, all three characters are performed by Wynne.

In 2004, cultural critic Sara Marcus, writing for The Advocate, said that Tracy + the Plastics's performance art "successfully crosses borders between high art and pop music." Marcus described the act's 2004 album Clay for Pigeons as "electronic dance punk" with "complex rhythmic sensibilities" and "increasingly off-kilter beats."

In her live shows, Wynne takes on the alter-ego of Tracy as she performs against her backups, Nikki Romanos and Cola, who are known as "the Plastics" and exist solely in a pre-recorded projected video. When performing, Tracy provides vocals while accompanied by Nikki on the keyboard and Cola on drums.

Tracy + the Plastics was the ultimate result of two other projects Wynne created, the first of these being called The Tooth, then The OK Miss Suit. "Tracy + the Plastics came from this choose-your-own-adventure murder mystery movie I was writing. The Plastics were a group of girls who ran a pawn shop and replaced parts of themselves with hyper-colorful pieces of plastic. Their town was never-ending, gray drab, surrounded by super-tall mountains that people lived on top of. Bits of plastic debris would fall down the mountains, and the Plastics (Nikki, Cola, Tracy, and Honeyface) would find and use the debris, like a red toothpaste cap for a tooth or something like that."

In 2005, Tracy + the Plastics recorded a version of the Lesbians On Ecstasy song "Summer Luv", which was released on that band's LP of remixes, Giggles In The Dark.

Tracy + the Plastics combines lo-fi filmmaking, performance art, Devo-styled songs, and feminist and queer politics in an entertaining package. Wynne calls herself a representative of the "lesbo for disco" generation.

In June 2006, Wynne Greenwood called an end to the Tracy + The Plastics project.

Discography

• Turn Video (Heartcore Records, 2000)
• Muscler's Guide to Videonics (Chainsaw Records, 2001)
• Forever Sucks EP (Chainsaw Records, 2002)
• Culture for Pigeon (Troubleman Unlimited Records, 2004)
• Real Damage Split EP with The Gossip (Dim Mak Records, 2005)

Compilation track

• "Oh Maria" – Calling All Kings & Queens (Mr. Lady Records, 2001)
• "Dead Face" – Nothing Fancy Just Music 7" (NFJM Records, 2003)

External links

• The Official Tracy + the Plastics Website
• Official Wynne Greenwood site with Tracy + the Plastics information and archives