To call Apples in Stereo front man Robert Schneider an eccentric guy is an understatement. His entire career has been built about the progression and exploration of pop music and the way it operates in human existence.

For the band’s last effort, 2007’s New Magnetic Wonder, Schneider induced wet dreams for music geeks everywhere by developing a non-Pythagorean musical scale, which broke from of the traditional 12-tone chromatic scale used in almost every musical composition ever written.

The Apples’ latest album, Travelers in Space and Time, will continue to please those who love Schneider’s wacky ways. The album, which will be released on April 20 on Yep Roc Records, is a self-proclaimed pop music message through time.

“I wanted to make a futuristic pop record, to reach out to the kids of the future. It is what I imagine their more highly evolved pop might sound like: shiny soul music with robots and humans singing together,” said Schneider.

He delivers. The albums opener, “Dream About the Future,” starts with horns and a classic pop piano rhythm that is sure to induce naked ass-shaking in the bedroom on a Friday night.

Although the album is a great choice for a crazy night out on the town, songs like “Hey Elevator” lack serious energy and come off as a more subdued, sober, Scissor Sisters.

Songs like “Dance Floor” and “Vacation” are littered with plenty of pulsing synth and danceable bass lines, but Schneider’s vocals seem like he could be holding something back. Instead of getting lost in the song, he sounds like Elton John still hiding in the closet.
But for all it could be, Travelers is still a record worth spending time with. “Dignified Dignitary” opens up with a classic rock guitar riff and enough cowbell to give Will Ferrell a run for his money, and even amongst all the dancing and singing, Schneider still finds time to appease music theorists by actually utilizing his non-Pythagorean scale in an actual song.

The album’s fourth song, “C.P.U,” is the first pop song built around the scale. (Two songs on New Magnetic Wonder were mere explorations of tone) It’s fuzzed-out guitar riff still pulsates over melodic keyboard tones and robotic background vocals. It’s the first song on the album to really mix in guitars instead of relying on heavy keyboards and synth to carry the groove.

Most importantly, pop lovers of the future and present will appreciate this album with repeated listens. Songs like “Next Year About the Same Time” showcase Schneider’s gift for timeless, catchy melodies.

In fact, he may even be acknowledge his past by reaching for the future. “It’s All Right” finds him begging “Simone/come home/ you went across the sea to get away from me baby” over sickeningly sweet pop piano that will remind long time fans “Ruby” from 1999’s Her Wallpaper Reverie.