The Apples in Stereo -- Hipster Music

The Apples in Stereo
[the apples in stereo website]

The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone

Fun Trick Noisemaker

The debut from Apples in Stereo was big deal back in the day. And when I say day, I mean 1995. There had been some retro bands out here (Urge Overkill, anyone?), but this thing borrowed from the likes of the Beach Boys and The Beatles. Avoiding the pitfalls of other 60's throwbacks (mainly the trippy, hippy thing), these guys concentrate on the fun loving, somewhat ethereal sound of the non-stinky earlier era. This represented a pretty sunny sound for the time, post-grunge and post-hard rock revival. The music is fun and bubbly, without being too bubble gum, but lacks any depth that I can detect. The lyrics actually tend to get lost in all the layers, but are probably of little consequence anyway. I really want to like this, but it just lacks any kind of emotional punch or connection to anything other than a sort of nostalgic time before I was even born.

Her Wallpaper Reverie

Ah! What the hell is that racket? Why start an album with an awful kid's xylophone solo? You're trying to kill me. Christ, there it is again in track three. Sounds like the recordings I made on my folks' tape recorder in the 70's. The rest of the album sounds like Beatlemania, complete with what can only be called a "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" cover and a bunch of other light-hearted, derivative boringness. I just can't get into the sugary popiness of the whole thing--it's missing that modern edge that some of these Elephant 6 bands have.

New Magnetic Wonder

Tone Soul Evolution

A nice little slice of retro-rock courtesy of our friends from Apples in Stereo. I must admit, I don't love all of their stuff, but this album seems to have a little more substance (read: balls) to it. It's less cutesy, but still retains the sunniness of their other stuff. The tunes are just more memorable to me than most of their other efforts. I like experimentation sometimes (but barely), so a nice album filled with old-fashioned guitar pop songs is totally cool with me. I know some will argue with me on this one, but if you feel like buying an Apples In Stereo album, this is the one to pick up first.

Velocity of Sound