Apples in Stereo: Travellers in Time and Space

Apples in Stereo: Travellers in Time and Space

2010

Simian Records/ Elephant 6/Yep Roc Records

Format I Own it On: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. The Code  2. Dream About the Future  3. Hey Elevator  4. Strange Solar System  5. Dance Floor  6. C.P.U.  7. No One in the World  8. Dignified Dignitary  9. No Vacation  10. Told You Once  11. It's All Right  12. Next Year at About the Same Time  13. Floating in Space  14. Nobody But You  15. Wings Away  16. Time Pilot

This album caught me slightly off guard when it was first released. The Apple in Stereo change up their sound, drastically reducing the guitar and amping up the vocoder, strings and  keyboards, with an end result that comes off as Electric Light Orchestra mixed with Hall and Oates..

 Underneath it all though it's all still just the same straight up pop melodies that we've grown to love. This new instrumental approach doesn't always work, but honestly, it works a lot more often than I expected it to.  They really manage to  write some of their most infectious material to date.  The chorus to "Hey Elevator" sounds like some long lost 80's radio staple that you somehow forgot about. I get that same "where have I heard this before?" feeling from "No Vacation" too.   I almost feel like I have to warn you before listening to this song,  since it's so incredibly catchy, that it's going to take everything you got to keep it out of your mind.

I also have to say, in this age of terminal unemployment, $4 gallons of gas, and endless recessions, it's refreshing to hear someone who is still so damn optimistic about the future. It fits the throwback mood of the album quite well, due to the fact that I think the last time I heard a song that looked forward to the future was probably some time in the'80's.

Now let's take a look back at the events of 2010..

Chile is devestated by one of the largest recorded earthquakes in history. The Earthquake triggers a tsunami killing 525 people...Wow...that's really sad...

The Gulf of Mexico falls prey to the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Disaster . Surrounding beaches and wild life are covered in crude....Ugh...This is horrible stuff.. do I have to keep going...?

Tila Tequila is brutally attacked at a Juggalo Convention...Wait...what?! My God, what is this world coming to?! .Surely something good must have happened that year, right? It couldn't have been all gloom and doom!

 You Tube sensation, Justin Bieber continues his insidious  domination of the charts....People willingly listening to Justin Bieber?! That's more than I can take....the real 2010 is just too depressing...can we just take a look at fictional events that occurred in 2010 instead?



Apparently, this is the year Lisa Simpson gets married...



The Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union officially comes to an end, after the new star, Lucifer,  is formed due to a nuclear reaction on the planet Jupiter after the planet is engulfed by Monoliths.



The population of Planet Earth officially hits 10 billion, as foretold by the Bad Religion song "10 in 2010."

There. Aren't those fun facts a lot better? Eat it, reality!

Let's check out "Hey Elevator:" by the Apples in Stereo....