Oscillations

By Silver Apples

“Planet Earth, 1968. Beatles and Rolling Stones were on the top of the worldwide charts, selling millions of records. ”

The electric guitar was growing in popularity, and Jimi Hendrix was already pushing the boundaries of rock music with his Fender Stratocaster. All the teenagers of the era dreamed about becoming rock stars.

Psychedelic Rock was at its peak, becoming the soundtrack of the late 60s countercultural movement.

Music sound was evolving year by year, thanks to new music tools being developed like effects pedals or new and then-novelty musical instruments known as synthesizers. Synths will later revolutionize the music-making process together with computers.

Silver Apples were true pioneers and innovators of electronic music. Synthesizers in 1968 were big, heavy, and incredibly expensive machines usually found in laboratories and used by avant-garde musicians that were not known outside of the music studios. The opposite concept of a Rock Star, basically.

“In 1968 Silver Apples were two Aliens. Their music was out of this world. Too experimental for a rock music aficionado or a pop music lover, and way ahead of its time. ”

"Oscillations" was composed by two American musicians named Simeon Coxe (Electronic instruments and Vocals) and drummer Danny Taylor.

In 1967 Coxe decided to build his new electronic instrument, plugging in multiple audio oscillators together and jamming with a cover band he was part of at the time. Only drummer Danny Taylor was vibing with all those electronic sounds that Coxe was producing, so they decided to form a band together and start recording music and perform live as a duo.

Coxe did not have any musical training and was tweaking knobs, playing atonal chords, and singing, followed by the big drum beats by Taylor. They quickly developed a fanbase among New Yorkers that led the duo to sign a record deal with a small record label named Kapp records.

"Oscillations" has a very minimalistic yet powerful approach to composition. It incorporates voodoo-tribal rhythms accompanied by out-of-this-world esoteric-like electronic pulsations with a beautiful electronic intro and some psyche-mystic vocals. It's like a three-minute acid mantra trip that makes you feel in another galaxy.

Before every live performance or studio session, Simeon used to plug together up to 16 oscillators, piling them up on a table. It took him about 2 hours to assemble all of them every time.

Once everything was connected, he began moving the dials with his right hand on the main oscillators, tweaking the elbows up and down on some telegraph keys, and using his forearm to move some more oscillators that had been previously tuned to different notes.

Underneath all of those oscillators, he had a set of switches, playing a bass line with his feet and singing all at the same time while Taylor played drums.

“This one-of-a-kind synth was named “The Simeon,” a tribute to his creator. It was a heavy machine weighing around 10kg! ”

"Oscillations" was released in the duo's first album and as a single, but it obviously did not chart, as it was too experimental. After the first album, they recorded another full-length LP called "Contact."

A third album named "The Garden" was recorded in 1970 but released only in 1998. The band disbanded shortly after recording "The Garden."

The Silver Apples were too ahead of their time and too experimental, but they made beautiful music rediscovered in the 90s, so they started touring again.

"Oscillations" is a beautiful, unconventional classic. It anticipated bands like Spacemen 3, Suicide, and Chemical Brothers.

The song reminds me of the British duo, with its banging beats and electronic sounds. It's similar to what the Chemicals were doing in the 90s… but recorded decades before, still sounding fresh more than 50 years later!

If you have not listened to this fantastic song yet, I recommend doing it now. Sit down, close your eyes, press "play," and start your space trip.

Let us know what you think about the song in the comments below!