Pram for post rock

Just noticed. I'll put it on chart as soon as all the information are available

Pram are a British post-rock band from Birmingham, formed as Hole in 1988 before changing their name in 1990. The founding lineup consisted of childhood friends Rosie Cuckston (vocals/keyboards), Matt Eaton (guitarist) and Andy Weir (drums), later recruiting Samantha Owens (bass/backing vocals) and Max Simpson (keyboards/sampler) to complete the quintet. They have released eight full-length albums and eight EPs during their existence, with a constantly shifting array of performers joining and leaving the group. Pram's krautrock-rooted electronic sound is a perfect amalgam of their main influences Can, the Raincoats, Faust and the Residents, while also taking cues from the Slits, Alice Coltrane, Sonic Youth and Sun Ra. Over the years, the band have built on this sonic foundation adding dub, bhangra, hip-hop, post-punk and exotica, coining an eclectic style inspired by sci-fi film soundtracks and children's television shows that would go on to influence like-minded bands Stereolab and Broadcast, and lead Pram to be among the earliest groups to be dubbed "post-rock." Much journalistic ink has been spilt describing the dissonance of Cuckston's childlike voice and her dark, surrealist lyrics, as well as the band's preference for toy and vintage instruments, wielding an arsenal of theremin, flute, trumpet, glockenspiel, xylophone and sampler to craft their unique vision.

Their earliest work - demonstrated in the 1992 Gash EP and 1995 Perambulations compilation - displayed a more experimental and noisy punk-like voice with avant-prog leanings. Gash would attract the attention of the independent London-based Too Pure Records, and Pram subsequently issued their label debut Iron Lung in 1993. The EP was produced by local Birmingham legend Justin Broadrick (of Godflesh and later Jesu), who also supported the band by lending them equipment and mixers. Daren Garratt would replace Weir on drums in the wake of its release. Iron Lung showed a developmental leap that pointed the way towards the distinctive sound Pram would codify on their seminal first LP, The Stars Are So Big, the Earth Is So Small... Stay As You Are. Pram refined their newly-minted approach on the 1994 Meshes EP and the 1995 Sargasso Sea album, but flagging record sales lead the band to be dropped from Too Pure. During their time in the unsigned wilderness, Pram released an EP and a handful of singles on different labels (among them Stereolab's Duophonic Records) and once again replaced their drummer, with Mark Butterworth entering the fold.

In 1998, Pram were signed to Domino Records, which would release all of the band's subsequent records, beginning with North Pole Radio Station and its sister EP Sleepy Sweet. A collection of their work between labels, Telemetric Melodies, followed in 1999, and the next year saw the group expand to a septet for their fifth album, The Museum of Imaginary Animals, now featuring multi-instrumentalist Nick Sales (of Blissbody), drummer Steve Perkins (formerly of Broadcast) and trumpeter Alex Clare. 2003's Dark Island debuted new drummer Laurence Hunt with a handful of tracks featuring Perkins, with Clare and Sales leaving the band thereafter. Trombonist/thereminist Harry Dawes joined in 2006, and helped shape the sound of next year's The Moving Frontier LP.

Cuckston departed Pram in 2008 to focus on academia, namely writing, and the group would enter hiatus, though still occasionally playing live, with its members keeping busy in numerous projects in the interim. On December 5th, 2008, Pram joined This Heat's Charles Hayward and Acid Mothers Temple's Kawabata Makoto as "sound carriers" for the legendary Damo Suzuki of Can at a concert in Birmingham. Pram interacted with yet another of their fundamental krautrock influences in 2012, recording hours' worth of experimental material at Hans Joachim Irmler's Faust Studio. The group officially returned in 2016, with Pram now consisting of Dawes, Eaton and Simpson, with Owen replacing Cuckston as lead vocalist. After playing a handful of live shows in 2017, Pram released their first album in eleven years, Across the Meridian, in 2018. The band are currently editing their ninth album based on the 2012 Faust Studio sessions.

Pram's adventurous and ethereal discography comes highly recommended to listeners of Stereolab, Can, Tortoise, Slapp Happy, Pascal Comelade, Bark Psychosis, Art Bears, Cul de Sac and Moonshake.

"The Stars Are So Big The Earth Is So Small... Stay As You Are" (1993)

"Helium" (1994)

"Meshes" EP (1994)

"Sargasso Sea" (1995)

"North Pole Radio Station" (1997)

"Telemetric Melodies" (1999)

"The Museum Of Imaginary Animals" (2000)

"Dark Island" (2003)

"The Moving Frontier" (2007)

"Across The Meridian" (2018)

I agree with you that they'd be eligible for Crossover as well (not unlike post-rock progenitors Talk Talk who are listed there), but I can see them having a future in straight-up Krautrock and indeed RIO/Avant, too, if all else fails. And very astute of you to point out the Art Bears+Slapp Happy connection, that escaped me until now but seems so obvious (I updated the bio and included them, thank you). As much as I will always adore and prefer Stereolab, Pram have become an indispensable group in my life and I'm sorry I didn't check them out sooner. Their presence would certainly benefit PA (and it's interesting they aren't here already, as they're directly mentioned on the Post/Math subgenre page).

PS: Also, the revival of Aksak Maboul and their phenomenal new record is a game-changer to me, as they were a pivotal influence on Vanishing Twin and recursively have new work which sounds almost exactly like them (with inevitable allusions to Stereolab and Pram).