Silver Apples: self-titled [JACKPOT]

Why you'll love it

This Jackpot reissue comes from a new 24-bit transfer of the original master tapes, in a silver foil tip-on jacket with a colour printed inner sleeve. "Oscillations" made Pitchfork's list of the top 200 songs of the 1960s.

This edition

• Transferred from the original master tapes
• Silver foil tip-on jacket
• Printed inner sleeve
• Lyrics included

About the album

In 1968 most New York bands plugged in guitars. Silver Apples plugged in a stack of audio oscillators, telegraph keys and foot pedals, wired them into a contraption Simeon Coxe called simply "The Simeon," and let drummer Danny Taylor lock it all into a hypnotic, looping beat. Two people, no guitars, and a sound nobody else had. Kapp Records put the album out in 1968, and the band built a devoted following on the New York club circuit.

"Oscillations" opens the album with a pulsing, whirring groove that feels decades ahead of its time, "Seagreen Serenades" and "Lovefingers" lay Simeon's dreamy vocals over buzzing drones, and "Velvet Cave" and "Dancing Gods" lean into the trance. Stanley Warren and Eileen Lewellen share writing credits, and the whole record moves like a machine dreaming of a rock band. Nothing on it sounds like 1968, which is exactly why it still sounds fresh.

Krautrock, synth-pop, techno and half the indie bands with a modular rack owe this duo a thank-you card. Simeon's homemade rig took up most of a stage, which should comfort anyone who thinks their own record collection takes up too much room.

Also at Kops: more Silver Apples on vinyl · browse Electronic

Tracklist

Listen

On Jackpot / Kapp (cat# JPR-034), a reissue of the 1968 album.