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April 21, 2005

Album Review -- Apples in Stereo

Apples in Stereo
Fun Trick Noisemaker
[SpinArt; 1995]

There's a photo of a girl I once knew in Seoul stuck to my bedroom door. The photo's not especially good, but that doesn't matter -- you see, it's the smile that the photo's captured that's important. It's a smile informed with an astonishingly accomplished sense of fun and the sharp and sexy buzz of intellect; it's a smile that evidences a soft and swollen heart and a fondness for mango daiquiris. It was a very good shag.
And it's also a smile that remains cosmically attached to the human magic it took to write this album -- an incurably charming marriage of sun-blessed melodies and ever-optimistic lyrics... in anyone else's hands, the good intentions that paved this album could very well have led to an album crippled with schmaltz, but kid, these are able hands....
Spiritual proteges of The Beatles, Richard Brautigan and temperate climates, Apples in Stereo have forwarded us gleaming tight pop -- they are the musical equivalents of Brautigan's best passages -- the one about the ''waterfall'' in Trout Fishing in America, or his descriptions of the Japanese beauty in Sombrero Fallout (''Yukiko turned like a beautiful page in her sleep...'') -- the point is, they are both masters of their craft, and their product is a profound simplicity, achievable only because of their respective skills.
Also achieved with this album is a sense of credible essence -- you know, like Teenage Fanclub's Byrds and Beatles homage; their influences are judiciously appropriated with soul and substance. Well, like the Fannies, the Apples too boast the talent of being educated and intelligent.
If Liam Gallagher could get his hands on Fun Trick... you can almost imagine his drug-addled features contorting in confusion and panic -- how could these American no-bodies have nailed The Beatles' essence so... accurately? Well, far from cheap proponents of self-aggrandizement and mimicry, The Apples lay forth pop-bubbles brokered from much firmer stuff. To assist enforce this sense of distinguish, it may be appropriate to mention here that psychedelic-pop stable, Elephant 6 (you know the E6 bands...), was partially established by Apples main-man Rob Schneider. Kudos.
The recording levels on this album are attributable to the use of an 8-track analogue; whether it was a decision decided by fiscal infractions, or to establish a proper sense of retro homage (I suspect the latter), the record does often sound as if it's been recorded in a dusty cupboard. Sure, there's a warmth, but there's also a sense of a dirty brown film hanging over the vocals. Damn it, in the super-sexy world of digital sound, I think a case can be made for re-mastering this record. And I know that the Apples would rather see me shot. I love them for that.

Posted by Martin McKenzie-Murray at April 21, 2005 11:10 AM