{{Short description|Indie rock band}} {{about||the motor yacht|Plvs Vltra (yacht)}} {{distinguish|Plus ultra}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Plvs Vltra | image = toko.jpg | caption = | image_size = | alias = | origin = Los Angeles | genre = Indie rock | years_active = 2012–present | label = Spectrum Spools<br/>Field Hymns | associated_acts = Enon | website = {{URL|plvsvltra.bandcamp.com}} | current_members = Toko Yasuda }}
'''Plvs Vltra''' is the indie rock solo project of Toko Yasuda (Enon, Blonde Redhead, The Lapse, The Van Pelt), featuring melodic, fractured tunes created on samplers, vintage synthesizers, drum machines and various effects alongside Yasuda's comforting singsong vocals.
Since forming in 2012, Plvs Vltra has released two albums and one single.
==Band name== The project's name derives from the motto of Spain, "''plus ultra''", meaning "further beyond" in Latin and stylized with the letter 'V' replacing the letter 'U' as in the early Roman alphabet. The phrase is engraved in a fireplace at Fonthill Castle in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Yasuda was inspired by the motto while touring the historic Arts and Crafts mansion.<ref name="LT4ZINE">{{cite web|title=Interview: Plvs Vltra|url=https://lt4zine.wordpress.com/2013/09/10/interview-plvs-vltra/|website=Left Turn 4 Records|date=10 September 2013 |access-date=26 July 2016}}</ref>
==Biography== After Enon ceased to be an ongoing recording and touring concern in 2011, Yasuda made the first recordings for what would become Plvs Vltra's debut album, ''Parthenon.'' The sessions included collaborations with Enon's John Schmersal, who produced the album, as well as with friends Danny Ray Thompson of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Scott Allen of Thunderbirds Are Now, and Thomas Keville of Man Man. Yasuda spent much of 2011 mostly keeping to herself and "compiling unfinished tracks" before she "decided to wrap them up by making deadlines."<ref name="LT4ZINE" />
The opening track, "Flowers To Bees," was featured in Tiny Mix Tapes' Chocolate Grinder section.<ref>{{cite web|last1=P|first1=Mr.|title="Chocolate Grinder: Flowers And Bees" (track review)|url=http://www.tinymixtapes.com/chocolate-grinder/listen-plvs-vltra-flowers-bees|website=Tiny Mix Tapes|accessdate=26 July 2016}}</ref> Yasuda collaborated with Scott Allen on the song, finishing a backing track Allen had created. Danny Ray Thompson played baritone sax, flute and contributed percussion, adding "emotions to these electronic tunes," according to Yasuda. The title track includes a sample from a "storybook vinyl album" Yasuda found at a thrift store.<ref name="Crowell">{{cite web|last1=Crowell|first1=John|title=Interview: Plvs Vltra|url=http://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/plvs-vltra|website=Tiny Mix Tapes|accessdate=26 July 2016}}</ref>
''Parthenon'' was released in 2012 on Austrian experimental label Spectrum Spools/Editions Mego. "As if Alice Coltrane's Universal Consciousness was...sent into the future to be reimagined as an electronic pop record...''Parthenon'' refuses to be pinned down," enthused Spectrum's biography.<ref>{{cite web|title="Parthenon" (album details and artist biography)|url=http://editionsmego.com/release/SP-018|website=Spectrum Spools|accessdate=26 July 2016}}</ref> ''SPIN'' rated ''Parthenon'' 7 out of 10 stars, citing its fusion of Kylie Minogue and Boredoms influences.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sherburne|first1=Phillip|title=Parthenon: Album Review|url=http://www.spin.com/2012/06/plvs-vltra-parthenon-spectrum-spools/|website=SPIN|accessdate=26 July 2016}}</ref> Resident Advisor rated the album 3.5 of 5 stars, calling the record an "addictive jumble...a confusingly infectious record" with catchy hooks but puzzling lyrics.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kerr|first1=Steve|title=Parthenon: Album Review|url=https://www.residentadvisor.net/reviews/11353|website=Resident Advisor|accessdate=26 July 2016}}</ref> Tiny Mix Tapes called ''Parthenon'' a "straight-up pop album with alluring (because “sexy” sounds misogynist and creepy) female vocals."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Reid|first1=Mike|title=PLVS VLTRA (Enon's Toko Yasuda) to release uncomfortably catchy Parthenon LP on Spectrum Spools|url=http://www.tinymixtapes.com/news/plvs-vltra-enons-toko-yasuda-release-uncomfortably-catchy-parthenon-lp-spectrum-spools|website=Tiny Mix Tapes|accessdate=26 July 2016}}</ref> The Quietus said Yasuda's songs are "equivalent to playing Twister in order to lose, turning in on themselves the very game-logics of popular sounds and structures."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Diduck|first1=Ryan Alexander|title=Parthenon: Album Review|url=http://thequietus.com/articles/09274-plvs-vltra-parthenon-review|website=The Quietus|date=6 July 2012 |accessdate=26 July 2016}}</ref>
Yasuda quickly followed that release with a second album, ''Yo-Yo Blue'', on the Field Hymns cassette-only label in 2013. Though the album was limited to 100 physical copies, ''Yo-Yo Blue'' was also released digitally via Bandcamp. Field Hymns described the album to a "thumbed-through flip book of vaporous, hazy memories...replete with childhood recitals, fragments of half-remembered stanzas and sumptuous j-pop interludes."<ref>{{cite web|title="Yo-Yo Blue" (album details and artist biography)|url=http://shop.fieldhymns.com/album/yo-yo-blue|website=Field Hymns (label)|accessdate=26 July 2016}}</ref> Cassette Love said the mostly instrumental album "has the mood of a dream, floating above and observing a variety of scenes; detached, yet focused" and singled out the vocal performances on “ちょ-ちょ (with Nico)” and “Falling Slowly” as "worthy of being featured on a single all by themselves."<ref>{{cite web|title=Yo-Yo Blue: Album Review|url=https://cassettelove.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/plvs-vltra-yo-yo-blue-field-hymns/|website=Cassette Love|date=20 July 2013 |accessdate=26 July 2016}}</ref>
Later that year Yasuda released a 7" single, "Rooftop Arcade" b/w "Mesopotamia" on Columbus-based Scioto Records. Schmersal and Yasuda produced both songs, which were primarily composed on an Akai MPC4000 sampler.<ref>{{cite web|title="Rooftop Arcade" (Bandcamp page)|url=http://sciotorecords.bandcamp.com/album/rooftop-arcade|website=Bandcamp|accessdate=26 July 2016}}</ref>
==Equipment== Yasuda plays hardware synths including a Minimoog Voyager, Nord Lead 2 and Casio SK-1 to sample and play melodies, along with some effects including Kaoss Pad and reverb. She typically makes beats using an Akai MPC4000 and Ableton Live software. "[Schmersal] and I also ran lots of signals through various hardware components as we were mixing," Yasuda told Tiny Mix Tapes. "Old mic [pre-amps]...mixers, compressors, and effects boxes."<ref name="Crowell" /> Yasuda also uses a Tascam 424 cassette four-track to send signals to and from the digital realm. "That’s my effort to create a little more organic sounding tracks," Yasuda said in an interview with the ''Left Turn 4 Records'' zine.<ref name="LT4ZINE" />
==Touring== From 2011-2014 Yasuda toured with St. Vincent playing synth. She has performed a limited number of live shows as Plvs Vltra, but feels that her one-woman shows lack the stage presence of her other musical projects. "I feel like me standing alone on stage with musical toys might not be captivating enough," Yasuda told ''Left Turn 4 Records'' in 2013, "I feel bad for these people who are watching me pressing buttons on stage by myself."<ref name="LT4ZINE" />
==Discography==
===Albums=== *2012 ''Parthenon'' CD and LP (Spectrum Spools/Editions Mego) *2013 ''Yo-Yo Blue'' cassette and digital release (Field Hymns/Bandcamp)
===Singles=== *2013 '"Rooftop Arcade" / "Mesopotamia" 7" (Scioto Records)
===Compilation appearances=== *2013 "Mizu" on "Mixtape: Summer 2013" cassette and digital release (LT4/Bandcamp)
==References== {{Reflist}} * {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p416000|label=Enon}} http://www.allmusic.com/artist/plvs-vltra-mn0002935215
==External links== *[http://plvsvltra.bandcamp.com Plvs Vltra Bandcamp page] *[https://soundcloud.com/plvs-vltra Plvs Vltra Soundcloud page]
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Category:American art rock groups Category:Musical groups established in 2012 Category:Indie pop groups from Los Angeles Category:Indie rock musical groups from California Category:2012 establishments in California