I recently picked up "The Monstrous Surplus", the long-awaited (by me) new album from Marcus Schmickler's Pluramon alias. It appears, on first listen, to be a (relatively) straightforward collection of songs, although I am sure there is a lot more happening, which will only reveal itself over time. Schmickler, presumably coincidentally, is moving in a similar direction to Caribou. Here are a couple of first impressions: (a) if you cut out the vocals, the opening song, "Turn In", could be a new song by the Chills (and with that prospect remaining tantalisingly close but frustratingly far away, I'll take this for now); and (b) "Fresh Aufhebung" would appear to have invented a new genre, which I would choose to call progtronica (if nobody has the copyright on that yet).
But it is "Can't Disappear" that I keep coming back to. It sits so neatly with a number of my own personal cornerstones (viz., The Passions' "I'm In Love With A German Film Star", Strawberry Switchblade's "Trees and Flowers" and the Moir Sisters' "Good Morning How Are You"; meanwhile Julee Cruise does her best Noosha Fox impersonation) that I can't give it any kind of dispassionate analysis or perspective. What I do know is that I love it.
