SILVER APPLES

This synthetically shimmering rare metal duo was certainly ahead of their time, pioneering the droning beats for meditative space rock pulsars, trance techno electronics and monotonic psychedelic dronings. On the time of recording this album, Third Ear Band were searching their own path to autistic ecstasy from archaic primitivism and Fifty Foot Hose projected their electronic fields as evocative textures among their hippie compositions, but Danny Taylor's and Simeon's duo Silver Apples relied to foreign mechanical perspectives granted by self-constructed audio oscillator, counterbalanced with human touch of drums and singing voice.

As a Finnish listener a first association from the constructed audio generator monster "Simeon" is the electronic quartet machine built by Erkki Kureniemi, the tonal aesthetic shimmering the humanism equal to post-second world war computer's brutal processing of analogue tapes and information cards. The compositions on this first album of the duo implements the scale of sonic variations of quite limited possibilities quite well, overall feeling being stoned, distressing and alienating. The vocal lines follow the paths of meditative choruses and machine sounds fulfil vast array of pitch dimensions, creating a convincing but foreign sound realms. The union of mechanical and man played rhythm instruments unite as enchanting dreamy pulse sequences, and the contrast of tender vocals and brutal machines are quite powerful, certainly beating with pulse of an unique record artifact. Tracks like "Program" also introduce use of sampled loops of other records, from their own part predicting the birth of dj culture, mixing classical music and radio broadcasts to the hypnotic and relentless rhythmic drive of the song. Also quite impressionistic soundscapes are introduced along with reciting like "Dust", and "Dancing Gods" floating to hypnotic spheres of American Indian drumming rituals.

I believe the album has also quite much historical value, and those interested of the development of electronic music or cosmic causeways of Hawkwind related bands might be interested to hear this album. As a listening experience I found this innovative material interesting, but not enchanting, forcing me to preserve listening time for this stuff in notable measures.