a r t i s t : Pluramon
t i t l e : The Monstrous Surplus
d a t e : 2007
l a b e l : Karaoke Kalk
c a t : kalk cd 42
s o u r c e : CDDA
g e n r e : Indie
r l s. d a t e : Nov/2007
t r a c k s : 11
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 73,9 MB
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Everyone who went out buying multiple copies of Slowdive, Ride
and Chapterhouse albums seemed to end up making electronic
music of some sort, at least that's what it feels like right
now. Already this year we've had albums from Ulrich Schnauss
and M83 and the whole nu-gaze thing was supposedly over, so
it's surprising to see another drawing in from the mists, this
time from electronic music veteran Marcus Schmickler's
Pluramon project. With releases dating back from the mid 90s
in the early days of Mille Plateaux, it was with his last
album that Schmickler finally made the dent in the music scene
we always knew he was capable of, and that was thanks in some
part to his collaborations with a certain Julee Cruise. Yep,
that would be the same Julee Cruise who made her name lending
her smoky tones to David Lynch for the Twin Peaks soundtrack,
and her vocals made Schmickler's 'Dreams Top Rock' album
something of a milestone in the genre. 'The Monstrous Surplus'
follows its predecessor perfectly and builds on its successes
taking the crushed, dreamy indie-rock sound into places it has
rarely been before. The album crashes into life with 'Turn in'
and instantly we are once again in Schmickler's rich, melodic
clutches with thick waves of guitar, reverberating compressed
rhythms and those silken female vocals from none other than
Julee Cruise. This is a match made in heaven, the perfect
marriage of vocalist and producer and not since 1993's 'The
Voice of Love' has Cruise sounded so at ease with the noises
around her. Interestingly however 'The Monstrous Surplus' is
the first time Schmickler himself has allowed himself room to
sing, and on 'Border', the song's clear stand-out track it is
Schmickler who makes the biggest impression as a vocalist.
Backed up by German vocalist Julia Hummer (who appears on much
of the rest of the album) his deep tones bring to mind classic
90s indie rock and don't sound forced or over-done, rather
there is an innocence and purity which is hard to ignore. This
is how the album succeeds over so many others in the genre,
there's a sense that Schmickler has the desire to create pure
dream pop music, and is slowly perfecting that art over his
many albums. 'The Monstrous Surplus' has enough spine-tingling
pop moments to keep you reaching for the repeat button again
and again. An incredible selection of modern shoegaze music -
don't miss it!
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01-Turn In [03:19]
02-Border [04:41]
03-If Time Was On My Side [06:06]
04-Drowning In You [04:05]
05-Snow Blow [04:25]
06-Fresh Aufhebung [05:41]
07-K-Land [03:33]
08-Can't Disappear [05:27]
09-If The Kids Are United [02:57]
10-Fishing [03:03]
11-So? [03:47]
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47:04 min