Apples in Stereo: New Magnetic Wonder

Apples in Stereo: New Magnetic Wonder

2007

Simian records/Spin Art/Yep Roc Records

Track Listing: 1. Can You Feel It?  2.Skyway  3.Mellotron 1  4. Energy  5. Same Old Drag  6. Joanie Don't U Worry  7.Sunndal Song  8. Droplet  9.Play Tough  10. Sun is Out  11. Non-Pythagorean Composition 1  12. Hello Lola  13. 7 Stars  14. Mellotron 2  15. Sunday Sounds  16. Open Eyes  17. Crimson  18. Pre-Crimson  19. Vocoder Ba Ba  20. Radiation  21. Beautiful Machine Parts 1-2  22. Beautiful Machine Parts 3-4  23. My Pretend  24. Non-Pythagorean Composition 3

Alright, this is more like it!  The Apples in Stereo return after a five year hiatus with a big fat, overstuffed epic record, with 24 tracks running almost an hour. Compare that to their last album, which only had 11 tracks and ran under 30 minutes.

 And they make the most of this hour too. Sure, there's some  material here that might be classified as "filler" but not filler in a bad away. These aren't simply "songs that don't quite work."  These fine fillers are usually very brief experiments with a vocoder, a Mellotron, or  some new scale he invented for the album called the Non-Pythagorean scale. So it's interesting stuff. And speaking of the vocoder, they use it a lot on this album, as the band touts a slick new ELO influence. And man, there's some knockout pop songs here!

"7 Stars" is so transcendent in its glorious hookiness that I can't not rewind it over and over. "Same Old Drag" is also fantastic, sporting a very 70's electric piano sound and one of Robert Schneider's most memorable vocals. They even resurrect (and improve) the "Velocity of Sound" production on part 1 of "Beautiful Machine." Most surprising of all,  as the album goes on they even summon up a bit of cosmic grandeur...To be honest I didn't even know they had it in them!

I recall this record being a nice surprise when it came out and revisiting it has been a blast, with its endless array of ever shifting instrumentation, and inventiveness there's never a dull moment. In fact, I wish there was a disc 3! Can we have some more of this, please?!

Here's "Same Old Drag" by the Apples in Stereo...