Biography
German composer and experimental musician Marcus Schmickler engages with multiple artistic forms that range from multi-channel sound installations to electro-acoustic improvisation, radio plays, and theater productions. Algorithmic systems and microtonal tuning surface regularly throughout his output, which draws influence from both early avant-garde experiments and contemporary club culture. His most widely recognized efforts appear under the Pluramon moniker, a post-rock project whose acclaimed releases include 1998's Render Bandits. Schmickler belongs to the electronic improv ensemble MIMEO and has worked with AMM co-founder Keith Rowe, Peter Rehberg, Julee Cruise, and Mouse on Mars' Jan St. Werner, among numerous additional partners. Solo material has appeared on respected labels including A-Musik, Erstwhile Records, Rehberg's Editions Mego (such as 2010's Palace of Marvels [Queered Pitch]), and Kompakt (2019's Particle/Matter-Wave/Energy).
Born in Cologne in 1968, Schmickler encountered Karlheinz Stockhausen's music during childhood and began producing experimental work in the late 1980s, issuing the industrial cassette Nach Schweiz with Frank Dommert while participating in the Entenpfuhl collective alongside artists such as C-Schulz and Georg Odijk. Several of these musicians later formed the group Kontakta, which originated during a New Year's Eve jam session in 1990 and subsequently released a self-titled album on French label Odd Size. Schmickler's solo debut, Onea Gako, came out on the same imprint in 1993. He assembled the trio Pol with C-Schulz and Christoph Kahse, issuing the Krautrock-dub album Transomuba in 1994 and the soundtrack Baby, I Will Make You Sweat the following year. Also in 1995, Schmickler co-founded the Cologne-based A-Musik record store and label with Odijk and Jan St. Werner; the three established the DJ collective Brüsseler Platz 10A-Musik, named after the shop's original address. That same year Schmickler began composing for film, theater, and radio, and he performed electro-acoustic music under the name Wabi Sabi, occasionally collaborating with video artist Joerg Pfeiffer. The project's self-titled album appeared in 1996.
Around the same period Schmickler launched electronic post-rock releases as Pluramon. Mille Plateaux issued debut album Pick Up Canyon in 1996, followed by Render Bandits in 1998; both received substantial critical praise. He joined MIMEO (Music in Movement Electronic Orchestra) in 1998, where fellow members included Christian Fennesz, Rafael Toral, and Kaffe Matthews. Schmickler also explored minimal techno, releasing a 12" on Thomas Brinkmann's Max imprint. He completed studies in electronic music and composition in 1999, submitting a thesis on Gottfried Michael Koenig. His generative composition Sator Rotas appeared the same year.
In 2000, Schmickler and fellow MIMEO member Thomas Lehn released BART, the first of numerous duo projects, on EAI label Erstwhile Records. Pluramon also issued the abstract remix album Bit Sand Riders featuring contributors including Matmos, Lee Ranaldo, and Merzbow, along with the techno-focused 12" Reservoir containing mixes by Cristian Vogel and Brinkmann. Schmickler's orchestral solo work Param emerged in 2001, while the disco-influenced house EP Chevrolet Corvette (with Brinkmann) appeared on Max Ernst the same year. Schmickler continued exploring dance music with the 2002 full-length Mein Kopf Verlor Ein Dach, credited to Marc Ushmi Meets Reverend Galloway on Ernst Busch. Rabbit Run, a collaboration with Lehn and Keith Rowe, surfaced on Erstwhile in 2003.
Karaoke Kalk released Pluramon's third album, Dreams Top Rock, in 2003, a more shoegaze-oriented effort that included dream pop chanteuse Julee Cruise (of Twin Peaks fame) along with contributions from Kevin Drumm and Felix Kubin. While continuing to issue improv collaborations on Erstwhile and A-Musik, Schmickler released the solo work Demos (For Choir, Chamber Quintet and Electronic Music) in late 2006. Amazing Daze, a drone album with bagpipe player Hayden Chisholm, came out on Swedish label Häpna in 2007. Pluramon's second album with Cruise, The Monstrous Surplus, appeared later that year. Schmickler and Peter Rehberg formed the duo R/S, releasing One (Snow Mud Rain) on Erstwhile. Schmickler's solo work Altars of Science arrived through Rehberg's Editions Mego as a hybrid disc containing a multi-channel DVD-audio mix on one side and a stereo mix playable as a CD on the other. Two albums with Lehn, the LP Kölner Kranz and CD Navigation Im Hypertext, were issued by A-Musik in 2008. Deployment, an improv set with Frank Gratkowski and Simon Nabatov, appeared on Leo Records in 2010.
Schmickler's second Editions Mego release, the computer music album Palace of Marvels [Queered Pitch], arrived in late 2010. The same label issued Live Double Séance [Antaa Kalojen Uida], an LP and surround sound DVD recorded with Lehn, in 2011. Later that year, Lorenzo Senni's Presto!? label released Schmickler's noisy LP Bari Workshop, while a collection of orchestral and ensemble compositions called Rule of Inference came out on A-Musik. An R/S album titled USA, documenting performances from the duo's 2009 American tour, was issued by PAN. Politiken der Frequenz, a collaboration with Julian Rohrhuber, was co-released by Editions Mego and Tochnit Aleph in 2014. In 2015, Schmickler began serving as an assistant professor at the Institute for Music and Media in Düsseldorf. Timekeepers, a collaboration with John Tilbury, appeared on A-Musik that year, and Neue Bilder (with Lehn) surfaced on Russian label Mikroton Recordings in 2017. The immersive solo composition Particle/Matter-Wave/Energy was issued by Kompakt in 2019.
Born in Cologne in 1968, Schmickler encountered Karlheinz Stockhausen's music during childhood and began producing experimental work in the late 1980s, issuing the industrial cassette Nach Schweiz with Frank Dommert while participating in the Entenpfuhl collective alongside artists such as C-Schulz and Georg Odijk. Several of these musicians later formed the group Kontakta, which originated during a New Year's Eve jam session in 1990 and subsequently released a self-titled album on French label Odd Size. Schmickler's solo debut, Onea Gako, came out on the same imprint in 1993. He assembled the trio Pol with C-Schulz and Christoph Kahse, issuing the Krautrock-dub album Transomuba in 1994 and the soundtrack Baby, I Will Make You Sweat the following year. Also in 1995, Schmickler co-founded the Cologne-based A-Musik record store and label with Odijk and Jan St. Werner; the three established the DJ collective Brüsseler Platz 10A-Musik, named after the shop's original address. That same year Schmickler began composing for film, theater, and radio, and he performed electro-acoustic music under the name Wabi Sabi, occasionally collaborating with video artist Joerg Pfeiffer. The project's self-titled album appeared in 1996.
Around the same period Schmickler launched electronic post-rock releases as Pluramon. Mille Plateaux issued debut album Pick Up Canyon in 1996, followed by Render Bandits in 1998; both received substantial critical praise. He joined MIMEO (Music in Movement Electronic Orchestra) in 1998, where fellow members included Christian Fennesz, Rafael Toral, and Kaffe Matthews. Schmickler also explored minimal techno, releasing a 12" on Thomas Brinkmann's Max imprint. He completed studies in electronic music and composition in 1999, submitting a thesis on Gottfried Michael Koenig. His generative composition Sator Rotas appeared the same year.
In 2000, Schmickler and fellow MIMEO member Thomas Lehn released BART, the first of numerous duo projects, on EAI label Erstwhile Records. Pluramon also issued the abstract remix album Bit Sand Riders featuring contributors including Matmos, Lee Ranaldo, and Merzbow, along with the techno-focused 12" Reservoir containing mixes by Cristian Vogel and Brinkmann. Schmickler's orchestral solo work Param emerged in 2001, while the disco-influenced house EP Chevrolet Corvette (with Brinkmann) appeared on Max Ernst the same year. Schmickler continued exploring dance music with the 2002 full-length Mein Kopf Verlor Ein Dach, credited to Marc Ushmi Meets Reverend Galloway on Ernst Busch. Rabbit Run, a collaboration with Lehn and Keith Rowe, surfaced on Erstwhile in 2003.
Karaoke Kalk released Pluramon's third album, Dreams Top Rock, in 2003, a more shoegaze-oriented effort that included dream pop chanteuse Julee Cruise (of Twin Peaks fame) along with contributions from Kevin Drumm and Felix Kubin. While continuing to issue improv collaborations on Erstwhile and A-Musik, Schmickler released the solo work Demos (For Choir, Chamber Quintet and Electronic Music) in late 2006. Amazing Daze, a drone album with bagpipe player Hayden Chisholm, came out on Swedish label Häpna in 2007. Pluramon's second album with Cruise, The Monstrous Surplus, appeared later that year. Schmickler and Peter Rehberg formed the duo R/S, releasing One (Snow Mud Rain) on Erstwhile. Schmickler's solo work Altars of Science arrived through Rehberg's Editions Mego as a hybrid disc containing a multi-channel DVD-audio mix on one side and a stereo mix playable as a CD on the other. Two albums with Lehn, the LP Kölner Kranz and CD Navigation Im Hypertext, were issued by A-Musik in 2008. Deployment, an improv set with Frank Gratkowski and Simon Nabatov, appeared on Leo Records in 2010.
Schmickler's second Editions Mego release, the computer music album Palace of Marvels [Queered Pitch], arrived in late 2010. The same label issued Live Double Séance [Antaa Kalojen Uida], an LP and surround sound DVD recorded with Lehn, in 2011. Later that year, Lorenzo Senni's Presto!? label released Schmickler's noisy LP Bari Workshop, while a collection of orchestral and ensemble compositions called Rule of Inference came out on A-Musik. An R/S album titled USA, documenting performances from the duo's 2009 American tour, was issued by PAN. Politiken der Frequenz, a collaboration with Julian Rohrhuber, was co-released by Editions Mego and Tochnit Aleph in 2014. In 2015, Schmickler began serving as an assistant professor at the Institute for Music and Media in Düsseldorf. Timekeepers, a collaboration with John Tilbury, appeared on A-Musik that year, and Neue Bilder (with Lehn) surfaced on Russian label Mikroton Recordings in 2017. The immersive solo composition Particle/Matter-Wave/Energy was issued by Kompakt in 2019.
Albums
