Magnetic Wonder brings Apples back to scene

I have always been fond of the indie rock genre-you know, the genre that includes all those artists most people have never heard of.

I like the idea of artists experimenting with the boundaries of sound and expanding what is culturally considered to be "good music".

The Apples in Stereo are one such band of the indie rock repertoire, and after listening to New Magnetic Wonder, their newest album, I've decided that they deserve a little positive publicity around Tech's campus.

I didn't have much of a background with The Apples in Stereo before this past week; but I got a new love out of listening to New Magnetic Wonder, so I consider this to be a pretty successful week.

I will admit that I still don't know much about The Apples in Stereo aside from the fact that they have released six studio albums and four EPs (which, for those of you musically challenged folks, stands for "extended play") all spanning from June 1993 to February 2007; another little-known fact is that they are an amazing band.

Her Wallpaper Reverie, which was released in 1999, is the group's third full-length album and is thought by many sources to be their best. After giving it a bit of a listen, I noticed its obvious influences from The Beatles, which is apparent in tracks such as "Strawberryfire" and "Ruby." Sounding like The Beatles, how could it not be critically acclaimed?

Unfortunately, New Magnetic Wonder did not quite get the same positive attention that Her Wallpaper Reverie received, but it is quickly becoming one of my favorite albums of this year.

New Magnetic Wonder did manage to beat out one of its predecessors, however. Velocity of Sound, the fifth of their six albums, received negative reviews because strong tracks are few and far between, making it unworthy of our time and ears.

In contrast to their not-worth-the-listen album, New Magnetic Wonder is certainly worth it even though it was released back in February of this year. Though I admit at first I was a little turned off by its ridiculous 24 tracks, I can confidently say that it deserves your time.

Any album that has 24 tracks can be a bit of a turn off at first. Besides, if almost half the songs are less than a minute long, the album could have just been condensed down to the usual 12 tracks, right? Probably so, but that wouldn't have been as effective.

The shorter songs range anywhere between 13 and 51 seconds and act as transitions for the songs they fall between. The style varies so drastically between tracks and yet the progression from style to style feels so incredibly natural.

The songs flow so smoothly from one to the other, I was surprised when I looked down at my car stereo to find myself already listening to track eight.

Robert Schneider, the lead vocalist and guitarist, writes most of the band's music and lyrics. His voice throughout is utterly captivating, and his vocals in many songs sound extremely similar to the popular '70s English rock band Queen.

With a track titled "Vocoder Ba Ba" on New Magnetic Wonder, it was just a hunch that a vocoder was used in the recording of the album. The vocoder is the recording equipment that gives Schneider's vocals the renowned Queen sound-and you cannot say that you don't love Queen.

We all love the classics we grew up listening to like Queen and The Beatles, so why not a group that sounds like them? Give them a listen, and you might actually find that you're enjoying it.

All in all, the new The Apples in Stereo album gets good reception. Get it? Radio waves? Reception? Stereo? Of course you get it. You go to Georgia Tech. Now, get this: listen to it.

You won't regret it.