Pluramon

The most accessible project of German experimental artist Marcus Schmickler, Pluramon achieved some of the more remarkable hybrids of standard guitar/drums/bass, abstract electronics, and non-traditional instruments. Pluramon first appeared with 1996's Pickup Canyon, a hypnotic set of post-rock which dipped into Krautrock, dub, trip-hop, and drone elements. The Render Bandits (1998) and a glitch-heavy remix album (2000's Bit Sand Riders) followed. Pluramon then went in a more melodic, dream pop-influenced direction with 2003's Dreams Top Rock and 2007's The Monstrous Surplus, both of which featured guest singer/songwriter Julee Cruise. Based in Köln, Schmickler formed Pluramon in 1995. Although the focus of the project was in counterpoint to the heavily sample-based post-techno of his then-recent solo work Onea Gako, the desire to fuse acoustics and electronics in contexts geared toward the exploration of new musical forms stretched back to his work in the early '90s with two groups, Pol and Kontakte (whose releases appeared on French label Odd Size). Both groups were heavy on guitars, acoustic drums, and wind instruments, and paired live, sometimes improvisational sessions with subsequent treatments and electronic overdubs. Pol and Kontakte also provided some contributors who would be absorbed by Pluramon, including Georg Odijk (founder of the A-Musik label and record shop) and Frank Dommert (another A-Musik local and a schoolmate of Schmickler's). Pluramon's first release, the full-length Pickup Canyon, was released in 1996 by Mille Plateaux, sublabel of German techno juggernaut Force Inc. A heady, filmic fusion of electronic atmospheres, disembodied guitar, and sparse, wafting percussion, Canyon was widely lauded as one of the most original rearticulations of the '70s German Krautrock movement associated with Can, Neu, Amon Duul, and others. (That the record also included a brief appearance by former Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit brought the point home with a certain force.) But the group's strongest statement of solidarity with the Krautrock tradition was made with its follow-up album, finally released in 1998, again by Mille Plateaux. Render Bandits was a much more full-blown fusion of Can-esque musical structures and bizarre sonic interventions tracing to sources both acoustic (including instruments such as glockenspiel, picadongs, and nickel strings) and electronic (broad use of effects and digital sound processing, echoing Schmickler's intervening solo work, Wabi Sabi, released by A-Musik in 1997). In 2000, Pluramon released Bit Sand Riders, a remix album with contributors ranging from Lee Ranaldo and Mogwai to Matmos and Merzbow, as well as the club-centric remix EP Reservoir. Pluramon resurfaced on Karaoke Kalk with the 2003 effort Dreams Top Rock, a more shoegaze-influenced effort featuring dream pop chanteuse Julee Cruise as well as guest contributors such as Kevin Drumm and Felix Kubin. Cruise returned for 2007's The Monstrous Surplus, which also included vocals by Jutta Koether, Hayden Chisholm, Julia Hummer, and Schmickler himself. Schmickler remains productive as a solo artist and collaborator, releasing music on labels such as Kompakt and Editions Mego, but Pluramon has remained inactive following the release of The Monstrous Surplus.
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