Talking to Apples in stereo frontman Robert Schneider is something like sitting around the kitchen table with a few friends and a six-pack while knocking out the screenplay for a new episode of Seinfeld. With Schneider at the controls of this magic-bus ride, he pulls the topics he likes out of thin air like some deranged conjurer, instantly discards and modifies them, apologizes for going off the tracks, backs the engine up to the starting point, begins talking about something entirely different, then excuses himself to take brief notes on some future project while humming a melody that’s just popped into his head. He’s also one of a handful of great songwriters to emerge over the past 20 years, a psych/pop genius whose knack for addictive melodies and memorable lyrics is perfectly obvious on Travellers In Space And Time (Simian/Yep Roc). Schneider will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new Q&A with him.
Schneider: Marci And Max are my wife and son, who are super fun. I want to hang out with them all the time, so this list wouldn’t be accurate if I didn’t include them, even though I realize it comes off sappy. Marci operates a small psychedelic label Garden Gate Records with her brother Craig and makes colorful clothing for herself and Thee American Revolution, the garage band Craig and I are in. Max is nine years old and is into playing piano, hiking and math, among other things. For Fathers’ Day this year, they gave me a Planet Of The Apes boxed set, and this futuristic toy I have been really coveting called Mindflex, where you control the motions of a little ball by focusing your thoughts on it, using these EEG sensors you attach to your head. It is so cool and you use your brain in an unfamiliar way to make the ball move. I’m going to replace the motor in it with an oscillator circuit like in a theremin and turn it into a musical instrument you can play with your mind.
Video after the jump.
