These apples are infested by worms

In just five songs, the Apples in Stereo manage to demonstrate why the only logical response to the Elephant 6 consortium is praising them to the sky while simultaneously beating them upside the head. A collection of bands united by friendship and a dedication to screwing with sweet '60s pop, Denver-based Elephant 6 teeters between innovation and shameless musical theft. Apples in Stereo albums lean toward the latter, and the Look Away EP is no exception.

If your knowledge of rock goes back more than two months, you've heard the title cut. It's generic power pop with lazy vocals, kind of like Neutral Milk Hotel without guts. It's a chorus cribbed right from the Stones' "She's a Rainbow" and a dopey horn interlude that the sound technician for Austin Powers left on the cutting room floor. "Look Away" is what happens when six musicians try to copy every pop song in the world. If the music business had any justice, the Apples in Stereo would have to charge full price for this EP just to pay their royalties.

The disc's next song, "Behind the Waterfall," is a step up. It opens with the sound of bubbling liquid and slow acoustic guitar, nicely complemented by Rob Schneider's languid vocals. Unfortunately, this beginning leads to a chorus that rips off the Smashing Pumpkins ripping off the Pixies. "Behind the Waterfall" is fun but not memorable. Next in line is "Everybody Let Up," which was a great song when Weezer called it "Buddy Holly."

"Her Pretty Face" is the EP's high point. Drummer Hillarie Sidney coos "Her pretty face is just for show/Her pretty faces is all you know" over a background of maracas and a simple guitar line. Sidney's other vocals are artfully underdubbed and fade to a quiet, jealous lament. The song demands attention for its minimal arrangement and relative authenticity, but it is still an Apples in Stereo track and can't help being a little derivative. Listen a few times and shades of St. Etienne and Versus' vocalist Fontaine Toups show through. As for the closing track, "The Friar's Lament," a simple statement is in order. The first time somebody recorded a tuneless drawl over intentionally bad instrumentation was low-fi genius. At this point, Schneider sounds like a Naples patron singing "The Piano Man." Enough with the faux-drunken vocals.

Look Away costs $8, and so does a pitcher of Bud-weiser. The recording does not include any beer, but the beer includes a song remarkably similar to this album's closer. In fact, almost all the musical rip-offs a person could ever want are readily available from the crowd at Naples. Sure, there won't be any fake St. Etienne, but there are always plenty of songs to pique nostalgia for early adolescence. Considering that a trip to Naples holds the possibility of human interaction and maybe even a trip to B&K, Look Away is an absolute scam. Save your money for drinks, go to a bar, meet people, and leave this album on the rack where it belongs. Or better yet, scare up another $7 and buy the Olivia Tremor Control's Black Foliage or Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Both are tremendously innovative albums that explain why Elephant 6 can release drivel like the Apples in Stereo without going bankrupt. (spinART)

—Nathan Littlefield

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