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Photo
by Joshua Kessler |
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| Dates |
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Venue |
| Sun 7/20/08 |
Chicago, IL |
Pitchfork Festival |
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In
the charmed world of THE APPLES IN STEREO's ROBERT SCHNEIDER,
music and mathematics are the principal creative outlets. Although
these subjects are inextricably linked, New Magnetic Wonder
represents the first time Schneider's imagination has seamlessly
integrated them on an Apples album. New Magnetic Wonder marks
the Apples' first release in five years, as well as their fifth
official full-length album. The album also marks the first release
on ELIJAH WOOD's newly formed label Simian Records (co-released
by Yep Roc Records and co-distributed by Elephant 6/Redeye Distribution).
Apples lead singer Robert Schneider met Wood at SXSW music festival
in Austin, TX in 2003. As fate would have it, the Apples, who
recently departed from their long-time label spinART, were looking
for a new label at exactly the same time Wood was launching
Simian Records.
True to their Elephant 6 roots, the album features an array
of special guests including many members of the Elephant 6 collective.
Sticking with their indierock pedigree the Apples sought the
production skills of acclaimed engineer BRYCE GOGGIN (Pavement,
Sebadoh, Phish, Sean Lennon), who mixed their last album Velocity
of Sound. The idea of working with Goggin was once again, according
to Schneider, a perfect fit. Schneider felt at home amid Goggin's
laid-back wizardry, wielded in his studio full of vintage gear
with no separate control room. On New Magnetic Wonder, Goggin
and Schneider together massaged the vortex between lush orchestration
and an indie rock sparseness all the while understanding the
Apples' collective unconscious, infused by influences as diverse
as ELO, Pavement, and the Beach Boys.
New Magnetic Wonder is far and away the most elaborate Apples
production the Apples have completed to date. Recorded in five
cities (Brooklyn, NY; Lexington, NY; Denver, CO; Athens, GA;
and Benton, KY) over 12 months, the recording and completion
of New Magnetic Wonder spanned great change within the band
(which includes bass player ERIC ALLEN and guitarist JOHN HILL).
New Magnetic Wonder led Schneider through a labyrinth of new
directions, including the recent departure of the band's longtime
drummer and second vocalist, Hilarie Sidney, to focus on her
own band The High Water Marks, as well as Schneider's invention
of a new musical scale.
New Magnetic Wonder is an ambitious LP clocking in at 53 minutes
containing 14 songs and 12 additional musical segue-ways (or
'link tracks' as Schneider refers to them). In fact, at several
points during the making of the album, Goggin had trouble keeping
his Pro-tools recording system functioning. Schneider's use
of 96 tracks of instrumentation on some songs, including the
pop hit "Same Old Drag," was not only a record number
of tracks for Goggin and his studio, but was also so densely
layered with overdubs, that it caused his computer processor
to crash repeatedly. And, this was only the tip of the iceberg
in terms of technical challenges for the album. Another major
challenge was New Magnetic Wonder's magnum opus "Beautiful
Machine" which uniquely marries four distinct sounding
songs. Schneider, in a lengthy and incredibly subtle process
of production and mixing, was able to turn these tracks into
an almost eight minute suite– the indie rock equivalent
of a grand classical concerto. "Beautiful Machine"
was such a difficult song to complete, that it not only threatened
Schneider's tenuous sanity but it also threatened the album's
very completion.
"Finishing this record took every joule of energy I had,"
quips Schneider in his typical effervescent and rapid-fire manner.
"There were so many different sounds and ideas bouncing
around in my head, and such strong feelings to get across. With
Velocity of Sound, I returned to the rawness of our live shows
and the fuzzy vibe of our early four-track recordings. This
time I wanted to make a record that really meant something,
that felt life affirming and real, yet ultra hi-fi and unreal
at the same time. Apparently that kind of record is not technically
feasible."
For all of this talk of high fidelity and lofty logic, Schneider
was not married to the idea that more is more. "One-half
of 'Sun Is Out' was recorded on a handheld cassette recorder,"
he reflects, "And the basic track of the other half was
recorded live into a single microphone just the way we used
to do it in high school. Then we added 10 tracks of us laughing
and singing and just goofing off." Overall, a constant
stream of ideas and undying enthusiasm kept Schneider abreast
throughout this project, and can be found in every delicately
chiseled part of this album. Schneider particularly reveled
in using studio gems found in Goggin's treasure trove of vintage
gear, including a grand piano, a vintage vocoder, and Paul McCartney's
tape machine from McCartney 2.
New Magnetic Wonder contains such fist pumping anthems as "Can
You Feel It?," the 70's AM radio-esque "Same Old Drag,"
the slice of infectious Vocoder heaven "Joanie Don't U
Worry" (a 'link track' throwback to the 'Computer Love'
of the late 80s/early 90s), and the Mellotron majesty of "Energy."
This is perfect music for Jeff Lynne and Brian Wilson to make-out
to.
Schneider's Production style (most noted on Neutral Milk Hotel's
In The Aeroplane Over The Sea) is known for breaking new recording
ground. True to form, New Magnetic Wonder includes another Schneider
first, the newly invented "Non-Pythagorean Music Scale"
as the enhanced portion of this multimedia CD release, which
includes digital sound files for MIDI usage and an in-depth
description both in document and video form. Through elegant
mathematical equations based on the properties of natural logarithms,
Schneider was able to replace the standard twelve tones in a
musical octave with a completely new set of frequencies, which
Schneider says "Add according to a different algebra from
the traditional, rational pitches. Music theory in this scale
has not yet been worked out." Not only are the Apples taking
a revolutionary step in providing this scale in a form that
invites fans to invent new chords and songs and proliferate
it amongst friends, but the first compositions created with
this scale are incorporated as link tracks on New Magnetic Wonder,
including the "Non-Pythagorean Chord" which opens
the album.
Schneider's two creative muses have melded seamlessly and with
New Magnetic Wonder The Apples triumphantly return to indie-rock's
hierarchal throne. |
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New
Magnetic Wonder
Simian Records/Yep Roc
2007 |
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