The New Music

After 17 years of making the most candied music in the indie rock cosmos, Denver, Colorado’s Apples in Stereo issue a career-spanning retrospective before they make that crucial step towards the future and a sound that’s been self-described as “early seventies R&B as played by a UFO.”

Led by the inimitably helium-voiced Robert Schneider (the band’s only remaining original member and co-founder of the Elephant 6 Recording Company), Apples in Stereo were always underappreciated. As the title suggests, #1 Hits Explosion should be that obligatory “greatest hits” collection that most bands release this stage in their career, however, because of their underground status and forever mutating sound, the band have yet to record a true hit.

That said, the timing for this kind of record couldn’t be any better, considering the band’s biggest commercial success yet, “Energy,” is all over the television being sung by American Idol hopefuls and selling cans of Pepsi. It’s no surprise then that the anti-lethargy anthem kicks off the Explosion. Originally featured on 2007’s New Magnetic Wonder, the song sets the pace for one of the most sickly-sweet albums ever assembled.

Giving a snapshot of the band’s history, this comp does a fine job of leaving no stone unturned. All six studio albums are represented, with most emphasis placed on New Magnetic Wonder and The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone, both of which have four songs here.

Her Wallpaper Reverie’s “Strawberryfire” has more Beatles DNA in its 4:22 running time than Oasis have in their entire catalogue, not only referencing the band’s trippier moments in the title but also in the backwards masking, psychedelic guitars and soaring vocals.

“Seems So” and “Shine A Light” speak for the band’s jangle period of Tone Soul Evolution, while “Tidal Wave” from Fun Trick Noisemaker, on the other hand, demonstrates how the Apples also enjoyed covering themselves in a thick layer of fuzz.

And let’s not forget “Signal in the Sky,” their kid-friendly track for The Powerpuff Girls soundtrack that was expected to be the Apples’ break-out hit back in 2000.

While some fans could argue some oversights, like the absence of the 7-inches like “Everybody Let Up” and “Man You Gotta Get Up,” the festive “Holiday Mood” or Velocity of Sound’s “That’s Something I Do” single, #1 Hits has more hooks than a fully stocked Bass Pro Shop.

Listen to it here

Artist: Lullabye Arkestra
Album:#1 Hits Explosion
Release Date: September 1, 09
Label: Yep Rock Records
Genre: Lo-Fi Indie Pop
Author: Cam Lindsay
First Spin Live Until: August 11, 2009

Track Listing:

1. Energy
2. Go!
3. Strawberryfire
4. Tidal Wave
5. Please
6. The Rainbow
7. Seems So
8. Same Old Drag
9. The Bird That You Can’t See
10. Shine A Light
11. 20 Cases Suggestive Of…
12. Ruby
13. Signal In The Sky
14. Can You Feel It?
15. Winter Must Be Cold
16. Sun Is Out

Tags: Apples In Stereo, first spin

Posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 3:32 pm by Klye and is filed under The New Music.

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