Search - Apples in Stereo :: New Magnetic Wonder

Padded glory

Matthew T. Medlock | Cincinnati, OH | 02/12/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It took five years for the Apples to release another studio LP; so was the wait worth it? Well, like their disappointing '99 effort, "Her Wallpaper Reverie," it's about half and half real songs and brief interludes and goofs, but unlike the former effort, there's twenty-four tracks here, so that means about twelve real songs (pretty standard LP count). The first and last tracks (not counting the superfluous shorties tacked on at the end) are the best bets; the former a fairly typical power pop semi-anthem with sunny hooks and solid delivery, the latter a two-part (or technically four, if you consider the song titles) epic that washes over their musical collective with surprisingly little redundancy.



It's a shame then that "Energy" lacks, you guessed it, energy, and "Sun Is Out" is a wasted diddle-do that just makes you want to skip to the next track. The problem once again is padding: if they're going for artsy psychedelic segues and ambiguous cues with all of these sub-minute tracks, they're trying too hard (and pushing into the realm of pretension). Any other reason immediately defines them as pointless; after all, these aren't ambitious concept records or anything. "Vocoder Ba Ba" is precisely what it says it is, "Joanie Don't U Worry" is just a goofy throwaway, and the short vocal, "My Pretend," and the thoroughly anti-climactic "Non-Pythagorean Theorem" simply extend the album's final act, drawing us away from the strength of the "Beautiful Machine" parts. I mean, take away that junk and you've got yourself a mini near-masterpiece here...but they almost ruin it! Thirty-three minutes of excellent music in a fifty-two minute shell. Crack it open, suck out the good parts, spit away the rest. Luckily, the best parts are good enough to forgive the waste, and fans should no doubt adore it.



Best cuts: "Beautiful Machine (all parts)," "Can You Feel It?" "7 Stars," "Open Eyes," "Same Old Drag," "Skyway," "Sunndal Song," "Radiation""