Though I’d never call them legendary, the Silver Apples are certainly of a particular cult; a one-of-a-kind pop experiment that’s as confounding and disorienting today as it was when the beats and hipsters first heard their debut and Contact in the late 60’s. Somewhere between Stockhausen and Suicide, HG Wells and HR Pufnstuf, Simeon Coxe and Danny Taylor concocted a truly original musical experience using only drums, voice, and the Simeon, which 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.” Got that?
For once, the machine controlled the music and the Apple’s melodies and directions seemed to be arbitrarily guided by a number of sound alternators/inhibitors. The results are rather surreal, if not beautiful in their abstract composition. Take for instance the last song of Contact (“Fantasies”) where we’re amused by Simeon barking his various/involuntary sonic changes towards his drummer. Or “You and I” from Silver Apples that pits some wondrous love poetry against an army of obstinate wavelengths. Keep in mind this was only one year after Pet Sounds. After Contact though, the band disappeared for almost thirty years.
Simeon has found a moderate renaissance for the band through various spurts in the 90’s with infrequent tours and the release of the third unheard (and incredibly vital) The Garden finally issued in 1998. So it’s almost an anomaly that he lands at Bourbon St. promising to play a slew of old songs and to take others on a journey they never though they’d see live in the flesh.
Geeks of the band may want to click here for a fairly comprehensive interview with Simeon for Terrascope.
If you’re not one of the geeks like me, it’s imperative that you show up early, if only to see locals Deathly Fighter or maybe the Moon Upstairs whom have the distinction of opening for Simeon on all of Silver Apple’s upcoming tour dates.