Pluramon

"Post-rock" as a fusion of the instrumentation and song structures of rock'n'roll with those of a range of more commercially marginal styles such as dub, ambient, techno, and Krautrock has been asserted primarily to be an American phenomenon, an assertion usually supported by reference to groups such as Tortoise, Labradford, Jessamine, Rome, and others associated with Chicago's Kranky and Thrill Jockey labels. But while many of those groups have been instrumental in propogating the style to a wider audience, English and European artists such as Stereolab, Broadcast, Circle, and Kreidler have seen to some of the post-rock picture's more innovative brushstrokes. Marcus Schmickler's Pluramon project is best heard in this context. A sort of collaborative orchestra assembled from bits and bobs of freeform acoustic/analog and hard disk sessions, Schmickler's group has achieved some of the more remarkable hybrids of standard guitar/drums/bass, abstract electronics, and nontraditional instruments. Where dub tends to surface as the organizing principle of much American post-rock, Pluramon's music seems informed by far broader timbral and organizational perspectives.

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