(Click on the picture to download.) Pluramon is essentially the project of Markus Schmickler. This is his second album and it's a far cry from the My Bloody Valentine/Ride/Slowdive inspired sound of his last record Dreams Top Rock, a collaboration with Julee Cruise (she of Twin Peaks fame). Like on his debut Pickup Canyon, Schmickler teamed up with a group of collaborators, most notably Mouse On Mars/Microstoria-member Jan St. Werner and Jaki Liebezeit, to record some loosely structured jams, using everything from glockenspiel to analogue and digital electronics to tapes. Schmickler then edited, remixed and sound processed the recordings and came up with this sublime and immensely listenable album. Mostly propulsed by Liebezeit's sturdy grooves, Render Bandits' hypnotic, circular melodies and thick layers of electronic ambience culminate in a kind of trippy nocturnal psychedelia with an elegant, cinematic sweep. (The cover has to be one of the ulgiest in the history of recorded music though.)
