SILVER APPLES
Bought a CD by them from a second-hand music store. This is what they're all about:
"Decades after their brief yet influential career first ground to a sudden and mysterious halt, the Silver Apples remain one of pop music's true enigmas: a surreal, almost unprecedented duo, their music explored interstellar drones and hums, pulsing rhythms and electronically-generated melodies years before similar ideas were adopted in the work of acolytes. The Silver Apples formed in New York in 1967 and comprised percussionist Danny Taylor and lead vocalist Simeon, a bizarre figure who played an instrument also dubbed the Simeon, which (according to notes on the duo's self-titled 1968 debut LP) consisted of "nine audio oscillators and eighty-six manual manual controls...The lead and rhythm oscillators are played with the hands, elbows and knees and the bass oscillators are played with the feet." Although the utterly uncommercial record — an ingenious cacophony of beeps, buzzes and beats — sold poorly, the Silver Apples resurfaced a year later with their sophomore effort, Contact, another far-flung outing which fared no better than its predecessor. "
I took the CD to the desk, where the sales assistant guy looked at me with awe and reverence, and launched into effusive praise: "Woooah! Oh right! - Yes! Yes! This is brilliant - you'll love this!".
Well, I don't know if I love it exactly, but it is pretty interesting and I quite like it, in spite of all 12 tracks sounding identical. I'm not sure whether I like it when sales assistants go so OTT, though. If and when I buy another CD from the store and the assistant doesn't go wild, I'll be thinking "Why aren't you enthusing like you were last time? Is this one no good?". Generally speaking, people's confidence is too easily won. Or perhaps that's just me.
Silver Apples, though. Falling off the edge of 'odd'.
Bought a CD by them from a second-hand music store. This is what they're all about:
"Decades after their brief yet influential career first ground to a sudden and mysterious halt, the Silver Apples remain one of pop music's true enigmas: a surreal, almost unprecedented duo, their music explored interstellar drones and hums, pulsing rhythms and electronically-generated melodies years before similar ideas were adopted in the work of acolytes. The Silver Apples formed in New York in 1967 and comprised percussionist Danny Taylor and lead vocalist Simeon, a bizarre figure who played an instrument also dubbed the Simeon, which (according to notes on the duo's self-titled 1968 debut LP) consisted of "nine audio oscillators and eighty-six manual manual controls...The lead and rhythm oscillators are played with the hands, elbows and knees and the bass oscillators are played with the feet." Although the utterly uncommercial record — an ingenious cacophony of beeps, buzzes and beats — sold poorly, the Silver Apples resurfaced a year later with their sophomore effort, Contact, another far-flung outing which fared no better than its predecessor. "
I took the CD to the desk, where the sales assistant guy looked at me with awe and reverence, and launched into effusive praise: "Woooah! Oh right! - Yes! Yes! This is brilliant - you'll love this!".
Well, I don't know if I love it exactly, but it is pretty interesting and I quite like it, in spite of all 12 tracks sounding identical. I'm not sure whether I like it when sales assistants go so OTT, though. If and when I buy another CD from the store and the assistant doesn't go wild, I'll be thinking "Why aren't you enthusing like you were last time? Is this one no good?". Generally speaking, people's confidence is too easily won. Or perhaps that's just me.
Silver Apples, though. Falling off the edge of 'odd'.
