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.
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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 |
Musical Connections:
Marbles
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