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: I like to have the TV on when I am recording. I like the flashing light and random sounds in the background, unless the microphone is on, of course. At my old studio in Denver, when we were making the Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control, Minders and other records, sessions would stop for Simpsons reruns between 5 and 7 p.m. Favorite programming: Simpsons, Adult Swim, South Park, Mr. Show, Seinfeld, Fringe, Daily Show, Colbert, shows about UFOs and ghosts. My wife hates it when I watch pseudo-scientific documentaries in bed because the spooky music makes her have bad dreams.
Video after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IgP0JXqa_A
