Pitchfork

[Posted Monday, September 22nd, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Since the unofficial dissolution of the musical leviathan that is (or was) Elephant 6, one thing has become abundantly clear-- it doesn't necessarily mean all that much. All of the principals that founded the damn thing in the first place continue to make very similar music. The worship of Brian Wilson and '60s pastiche pop continues unabated, and bands influenced by, and related to E6, continue to form and develop around the same ethos championed by the original Elephant 6-ers. Such is the case with the latest entrants in the canon-- separate side projects from the Apples' Robert Schneider and Hilarie Sidney. Pitchfork spoke with both Schneider and Sidney about their new bands, the future of the Apples In Stereo, and the (California?) demise of Elephant 6.

With The Apples on temporary hiatus, Schneider is putting his efforts into a new project, Ulysses, as well as launching a label, Optical Records Mfg., with good friend Amanda Burford. Schneider, who relocated to Lexington, KY last year, was impressed by local band Big Fresh and tapped two of its members for his latest project. "Big Fresh is really amazing, and these two kids just seemed like they'd be perfect for Ulysses. John [Ferguson, Ulysses' drummer] is a great singer, and he writes incredible harmonies. I'm kinda singing in a lower register, and John comes up with all these great parts." Ulysses' other member is Ben Fulton, who provides the synthesizers and bass.

Schneider says the focus and sound of the band is significantly different from the Apples. "Without going into it too much, I had just been going through a lot in my life, and a lot of these songs come from that. It kind of forced me to dig deeper, emotionally, and it's really taken my lyrics to a new level." During the conversation, Schneider name-checks influences like The Velvet Underground, My Bloody Valentine (!), The Cars, and Pavement's Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain-- not your typical Apples source material. "I got tired of writing songs with chords, and I was playing around with lots of open tunings, or just a couple of fingers on the guitar at a time, where the other strings ring out and create cool harmonics. The sound is a lot more sad, spacey, droney, and clean [than the Apples]-- it's new wave, basically. I'm trying to do everything differently with this band."

Although Schneider writes the majority of songs for Ulysses, some are collaborative, and Ferguson has also contributed a couple of original songs. The band is concentrating on practicing right now, although they will be playing a few shows in New York to coincide with this October's CMJ festival. Schneider says they intend to track much of the album live-to-tape, possibly with Jason Falkner (Jellyfish, TV Eyes) at his home studio. Schneider hopes to have Ulysses' debut out by spring 2004, though at present he's not sure what label might be releasing it. Some tracks being considered for the album (in no particular order) include:

Evening Star
Silver Flight
Vacant
The Falcon
Frustrated
Burning You
Mission in Moonbeams
Glacier
Her Silver Veil
Seven Seizures
Television
Change

First up, though, will be a seven-inch single on Optical, with the cuts "Push You Away" and "Castles In Spain." Optical, in fact, will concentrate on seven-inchers for the moment: Schneider prefers the DIY aspect, for one thing, and the relative speed and ease of release. "I'm just really excited about starting up, finding cool acts to sign, and getting their music out there," Schneider told Pitchfork. He's also got single releases from Von Hemmling, Palermo, The High Water Marks (Sidney's project, more on that tomorrow), Hair Police, and Oranger in the works.

Of course, that's not the only project on the burner, as Schneider's Marbles moniker continues to provide an outlet for his assorted solo recordings. To somewhat confuse the matter, the next Marbles release will be called Orchestre Fantastique, which had previously been the name under which he had recorded some soundtrack music, and was expected to be the band name for his collaboration with Andy Partridge of XTC. However, according to Schneider, that project is on indefinite hold. "Andy is an amazing songwriter, and we worked really well together, and I had a great time with it. It just seemed like it was taking a really long time, which may have been frustrating to him. We wrote like thirty or thirty-five songs together, incredible songs, and we may come back and finish it, but right now it's just sitting there."

Schneider also elaborated on the status of Elephant 6. "As far as an actual functioning entity, yeah, it's pretty much over. There's just no one putting effort into it, and the logo isn't on any of the newer releases, so officially that's it, but you know, obviously the ethos is still there, the DIY, the home recording, the focus on just making great records. And I think a lot of the bands feel more free to focus on their own stuff that way, and not spread themselves so thin. I was doing so much producing, and playing on other bands' stuff, and I just wondered what would happen if I could focus all that energy and all those ideas on my [own] stuff, and make it that much better." He also confirmed that a final E6 compilation is in the works, but didn't have any further details on a possible release date or the contents.

However, Pet Sounds (Schneider's home studio) is up and functioning in Kentucky, and The Apples are still together and planning for the future, although the remaining members still live in Denver. They're planning to head into the studio in early 2004, possibly following a U.S. tour at the beginning of next year. No decision yet on who they'll record their next album with, or where.

In tomorrow's Newswire we'll be back with complete details on Sidney's new project with members of Palermo, Oranger, and Von Hemmling: The High Water Marks. According to Sidney, their debut album is complete and should be released next spring on Los Angeles-based indie Eenie Meenie. Stay tuned!