originally posted on zunetracks.net
One of my favorite ways to discover new music is by checking out my favorite artists' influences. I discovered Silver Apples while reading about the Silver Jews who have shared members with one of my longtime favorite bands, Pavement.
Silver Apples were a two-piece electronic rock band formed in New York City during the late 60s. Rock duos seem to be the lineup-de-jour but Silver Apples were ahead of their time in more ways than that. They consisted of Dan Taylor on drums with Simeon Coxe III on miscellaneous home-cobbled electronic equipment including 12 oscillators and several sound filters. These instruments were apparently played with hand, elbows and feet.
The homemade instruments are very interesting especially when you think about how easy it is to download software that will do all of that for you today. I think what makes Silver Apples stand out is Taylor's drumming and Simeon's vocals. Taylor establishes the firm foundation with ties all of the beeps and static together. And Simeon's vocals have a tired Buddy Holly quality to them.
That said, they released several top-100 charting albums in the 60s before eventually (and mysteriously) imploding amidst a law suit from Pan-Am airlines. Silver Apples reformed in the late 90s and released their third album (which they'd recorded in 1970). Dan Taylor died of a heart attack in 2005 but Simeon is still doing solo music/art shows today.
For fans of currently electronic and experimental music I cannot recommend Silver Apples enough. You can find more info on their website - www.silverapples.com
If you've got a Zune Pass you can find a 1997 reissue of their first two records called Silver Apples. You can also find MP3s on Amazon and EMusic.
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3 comments:
I've only heard this once, but I was quite intrigued by it, and I'm eager to hear it again. I thought it was really interesting, the things they were doing way back then; many bands are still doing very similar things forty+ years later!
I checked out these guys on You Tube. They have several live videos on there from just a few years ago (this was after Dan died and the other guy was playing solo). I was really impressed with "Oscillator". Very good stuff, and they were way ahead of their time.
Oops, the song was "Oscillations", not "Oscillator".
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