''The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone'' is the fourth album from

The Apples in Stereo The Apples in Stereo, styled as The Apples in stereo, are an American pop/rock band associated with Elephant 6 Collective, a group of bands also including Neutral Milk Hotel, The Olivia Tremor Control, Elf Power, Of Montreal, and Circulatory Sy ...

. It received generally good reviews as a showcase for the band's experimental/psychedelic pop. The album is the band's first major change in production style compared to earlier albums. Up until ''The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone'', producer and band leader Robert Schneider would usually implement a

Wall of Sound The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of session m ...

style of production on his records whereas on this album he chose to pursue a more "raw" sound. This was to portray a sound more similar to how the band sounded during live performances versus a typically more orchestrated quality of sound. In an interview

flexi disc The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet, Sonosheet or Soundsheet, a trademark) is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntable. ...

, included on the vinyl-LP version of the album, Schneider remarks: "That was a lesson I learned from

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

and from

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

—is that one guitar can go a long way. I used to take a

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

approach which was that a lot of guitars can go a long way. Now I’m kind of going more for the feeling of the way we sound." In addition to change in production style, the style of genre itself is also something of a departure from the usual 1960s psychedelic pop sound trademarked by earlier Apples in Stereo records. In songwriting, Schneider took more of an influence from R&B artists such as

Sly & the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band from San Francisco. Active from 1966 to 1983, it was pivotal in the development of funk, soul, rock, and psychedelic music. Its core line-up was led by singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi-i ...

and early artists featured on the

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

label. Schneider also wanted the songs to sound more disconnected and unique to themselves than on previous albums. He stated, "I wanted every song to be self contained...on our other records we always had our songs run together. On this record we left big spaces between all the songs so you have a place to put your needle down on the record." This was influenced by records such as ''

The White Album ''The Beatles'', also referred to colloquially as the White Album, is the ninth studio album and only double album by the English Rock music, rock band the Beatles, released on 22 November 1968. Featuring a plain white sleeve, the cover conta ...

'' by the Beatles. The title is from a book written in 1638 by English clergyman

John Wilkins John Wilkins, (14 February 1614 – 19 November 1672) was an Anglican clergyman, natural philosopher, and author, and was one of the founders of the Royal Society. He was Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death. Wilkins is one of the fe ...

Track listing

All tracks written by Robert Schneider except where noted.

Side one

# "Go" - 3:14 # "The Rainbow" - 2:39 # "Stream Running Over" - 3:44 # "20 Cases Suggestive Of..." (

Hilarie Sidney Hilarie Sidney is an American musician best known as the longtime drummer for The Apples in Stereo. She was previously married to Robert Schneider, the band's frontman and Elephant 6 co-founder. Their divorce was announced in 2004. She was ha ...

) - 2:53 # "Look Away" - 3:25 # "What Happened Then" - 2:10

Side two

"I Can’t Believe" - 4:23 # "Submarine Dream" - 4:30 # "Allright/Not Quite" - 2:54 # "The Bird That You Can’t See" - 3:56 # "Stay Gold" (

) - 4:04 # "The Afternoon" - 3:12

Bonus track listing

Bonus 7" The vinyl edition of ''The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone'' comes with a bonus 7"

flexidisc The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet, Sonosheet or Soundsheet, a trademark) is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntabl ...

with the following tracks: * "Interview" * "Hold on to This Day" Japanese version The Japanese version of the album contains the following bonus tracks: * "Hold on to This Day" * "The Oasis"

Personnel

The Apples in Stereo

- drums, percussion, lead and backing vocals, electric guitar *

Chris McDuffie Chris McDuffie is an American musician. A keyboardist, he performed with the Elephant 6 band The Minders and appeared on their 1996 debut EP ''Come On and Hear''. McDuffie later became a member of The Apples in Stereo, first appearing on the al ...

- synthesizers, piano, organ, backing vocals, mellotron, percussion *

Eric Allen Eric Andre Allen (born November 22, 1965) is an American football coach and former cornerback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints, and Oakland Raiders from 1988 to 2001. A six-time ...

- Fender bass guitar, backing vocals *

John Hill John Hill may refer to: Business * John Henry Hill (1791–1882), American businessman, educator and missionary * John Hill (planter) (1824–1910), Scottish-born American industrialist and planter * John Hill (businessman) (1847–1926), Austral ...

- electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals *

Robert Schneider Robert Peter Schneider (born March 9, 1971) is an American musician and mathematician. He is the lead singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer of rock/pop band the Apples in Stereo and has produced and performed on albums by Neutral Milk Ho ...

- electric and acoustic guitar, piano, organ, mellotron, synthesizers, percussion, lead and backing vocals

Additional players

*Rick Benjamin - trombone *Merisa Bissinger - flute, piccolo, alto saxophone *Jon Hegel - tenor saxophone *Rob Greene - cello *Dane Terry - bongos *Ron Marschall - handclaps, backing vocals

Production

''The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone'' was produced and mixed by Robert Schneider. The album was engineered by The Apples in Stereo with Ron Marschall, Robert Christiansen and Jim McIntyre. The album was recorded between May 1999 and February 2000 at Pet Sounds Recording Studio (

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

) using a 16-track tape machine and the Elephant 6 Mainframe Computer. Jim McIntyre acted as executive producer for

The Elephant 6 Recording Company The Elephant 6 Recording Company is a loosely defined musical collective from the United States. Notable bands associated with the collective include the Apples in Stereo, Beulah, Circulatory System, Elf Power, the Minders, Neutral Milk Hotel, ...

. Album art for the album was created by Star Keene (architectural drawings),

Steve Keene Steve Keene (born 1957) is an American painter known as a prolific creator of affordable art. Early life and education Originally from Charlottesville, Virginia, Keene earned a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and a MFA from Yale Un ...

(interior paintings) and Richard Peterson (photographs). Layout by Joel Marrowitz.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Discovery Of A World Inside The Moone, The 2000 albums The Apples in Stereo albums SpinART Records albums The Elephant 6 Recording Company albums