2009 compilation from the Indie Pop veterans. The shiny pop centerpiece of the famed Elephant 6 collective, The Apples In Stereo was born of Robert Schneider`s infatuation with recording and his near-pathological compulsion to write the perfect Pop song. Citing Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys as their root text a decade before it was en vogue, Schneider and former and future band members used their basement-D.I.Y. beginnings as a launching pad into a kaleidoscopic galaxy of sound. Constantly mutating from debut album Fun Trick Noisemaker through recent opus New Magnetic Wonder, that galaxy has expanded from 4-track recordings made in Schneider`s bedroom to 100-track sonic experiments complete with new musical scales. Collecting the Apples` most well-known songs, #1 Hits Explosion reminds us that Pop music is the art of the song, the art of sounds assembled in a pattern designed to give joy. For over fifteen years The Apples in stereo have taught us that three minutes can change your life. #1 Hits Explosion will make sure we don`t forget it. "The Apples` sound has been remarkably consistent over time; aside from the ELO tendencies and digitalisms that turn up on the four songs here from 2007`s New Magnetic Wonder, this set could just as well document a single year in the life of a band, and it wouldn`t be clear what year. (The unfancy crunch of 2002`s "Please" is the only real nod to their .38 Special-ish live sound.) What`s missing from #1 Hits Explosion is a sense of why a hitless, consistent album act needs a retrospective. If it were the only Apples record, it`d be a shock and a delight. Given that there`s been only one new album by the band in the past seven years, though, it feels like a time-marking gesture-- a mixtape whose only argument about the Apples is how reliable they are." - Pitchfork Media.
 Song #1 - mp3
Song #2 - mp3
Song #3 - mp3 | 
