Biography
The Apples in Stereo emerged as a prominent sunny pop outfit within the Elephant 6 Recording Company, a loose affiliation of like-minded lo-fi indie acts such as the Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Secret Square that pooled players, concepts, and aesthetics. Fronted by singer and songwriter Robert Schneider, who grew up in the small Louisiana community of Ruston alongside Jeff Mangum—who would later join Neutral Milk Hotel—as well as William Cullen Hart and Bill Doss, the eventual founders of the Olivia Tremor Control, the group drew from shared high-school influences including the Beatles, the Zombies, Pink Floyd, and Sonic Youth while swapping homemade tapes and performing together in various configurations.
Following their college years, Schneider and Mangum moved to Denver, where Schneider connected with bass player Jim McIntyre, another devotee of the Beach Boys; the pair then recruited drummer Hilarie Sidney and guitarist Chris Parfitt to launch the Apples, releasing a self-titled debut EP on the Elephant 6 imprint. To distinguish themselves from similarly named ensembles, they adopted the full moniker the Apples in Stereo for their 1995 debut album Fun Trick Noisemaker. In 1996 Schneider oversaw production of the Olivia Tremor Control’s Music from the Unrealized Film Script, Dusk at Cubist Castle, and the Apples followed later that year with Science Faire, an anthology of singles and unreleased tracks.
The band resurfaced in autumn 1997 with Tone Soul Evolution, which prompted a distribution arrangement with Sire that led to a January reissue the next year. Their acclaimed Her Wallpaper Reverie appeared in spring 1999, succeeded a year afterward by the similarly lauded The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone. The group supplied a track to the 2000 compilation Heroes & Villains: Music Inspired by the Powerpuff Girls and, in 2001, issued the Let’s Go! EP that paired the Powerpuff contribution with a rendition of the Beach Boys song sharing that title. Their most expansive statement to that point, Velocity of Sound, arrived in fall 2002, after which the ensemble entered a hiatus during which Schneider pursued projects with Marbles and Ulysses while Sidney formed the High Water Marks.
Reconvening in 2006, they tracked New Magnetic Wonder for actor Elijah Wood’s Simian label in partnership with Yep Roc. Prior to the album’s release, Sidney exited in late 2006; her successor, John Dufilho of the Deathray Davies, joined a lineup that, apart from Schneider, featured former Olivia Tremor Control member Bill Doss on keyboards along with guitarist John Hill and bassist Eric Allen. The band gained further visibility when Schneider performed his tribute “Stephen, Stephen,” celebrating the appeal of Stephen Colbert, during the “Green Screen Challenge” installment of The Colbert Report. New Magnetic Wonder, the Apples in Stereo’s inaugural Yep Roc release, reached stores in 2007 and was followed in 2010 by their seventh studio album, Travellers in Space and Time.
Following their college years, Schneider and Mangum moved to Denver, where Schneider connected with bass player Jim McIntyre, another devotee of the Beach Boys; the pair then recruited drummer Hilarie Sidney and guitarist Chris Parfitt to launch the Apples, releasing a self-titled debut EP on the Elephant 6 imprint. To distinguish themselves from similarly named ensembles, they adopted the full moniker the Apples in Stereo for their 1995 debut album Fun Trick Noisemaker. In 1996 Schneider oversaw production of the Olivia Tremor Control’s Music from the Unrealized Film Script, Dusk at Cubist Castle, and the Apples followed later that year with Science Faire, an anthology of singles and unreleased tracks.
The band resurfaced in autumn 1997 with Tone Soul Evolution, which prompted a distribution arrangement with Sire that led to a January reissue the next year. Their acclaimed Her Wallpaper Reverie appeared in spring 1999, succeeded a year afterward by the similarly lauded The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone. The group supplied a track to the 2000 compilation Heroes & Villains: Music Inspired by the Powerpuff Girls and, in 2001, issued the Let’s Go! EP that paired the Powerpuff contribution with a rendition of the Beach Boys song sharing that title. Their most expansive statement to that point, Velocity of Sound, arrived in fall 2002, after which the ensemble entered a hiatus during which Schneider pursued projects with Marbles and Ulysses while Sidney formed the High Water Marks.
Reconvening in 2006, they tracked New Magnetic Wonder for actor Elijah Wood’s Simian label in partnership with Yep Roc. Prior to the album’s release, Sidney exited in late 2006; her successor, John Dufilho of the Deathray Davies, joined a lineup that, apart from Schneider, featured former Olivia Tremor Control member Bill Doss on keyboards along with guitarist John Hill and bassist Eric Allen. The band gained further visibility when Schneider performed his tribute “Stephen, Stephen,” celebrating the appeal of Stephen Colbert, during the “Green Screen Challenge” installment of The Colbert Report. New Magnetic Wonder, the Apples in Stereo’s inaugural Yep Roc release, reached stores in 2007 and was followed in 2010 by their seventh studio album, Travellers in Space and Time.
Albums
