Based on their records, you might expect Apples in Stereo's live show to be polished and polite -- somewhat retro, echoing Electric Light Orchestra, Todd Rundgren, Brian Wilson and other vintage pop acts. But if you come to the Apples' Saturday night show at Spark Con expecting that, you might be in for a surprise.

"Throughout the history of the Apples, people have been shocked to discover we're this loud rock band," says Apples bassist Eric Allen, calling from Lexington, Ky. "They'd hear one of our albums and think, 'That's nice, really pretty.' Then they come to the show and it's this loud roar. I don't know why there's such a disconnect, we've always sounded way different live than on record. But some people are just mortified at it."

The dynamic continues with the Apples' latest album "New Magnetic Wonder" (Yep Roc Records), a psychedelic masterwork with songs and sound-effect interludes sequenced into a seamless 24-track tone-poem ode to the glory days of albums as grand statements. And tucked in at the end of the first track is the sound of ambient negative commentary, credited to "London audience" for "anger due to Apples' overly loud guitars" (which Allen just happened to record at a show in London two years ago).

"Our guitars started feeding back, intentionally, as guitar players have done throughout the history of rock," Allen says of the incident. "And people in the audience were shouting, 'It's feeding back, too loud, turn it down!' It was really aggravating. We were ready to brawl with these people who wanted their money back because it was too loud.

"You know, stop being wussies," Allen concludes with a laugh. "It's a rock show in a bar. Whaddaya want?"

Allen's tenure in the band dates to the mid-1990s, when he joined up with Apples frontman Robert Schneider in Denver. Two band members still live in Denver, Allen and guitarist John Hill. But by now, Apples are scattered across the country, as far south as Texas and as far east as Kentucky. That complicates logistics a bit.

"When we were all in Denver, rehearsals were easy to blow off," Allen says. "'My, um, mom needs me to do something. Yeah, that's it.' But once you've driven 1,200 miles to do it, you're gonna rehearse."

Living and working in different places also figured into "New Magnetic Wonder," which is the Apples' first new work in five years. One reason it's the group's most ornate album to date is that the band had more time to spend on it.

"We spent about three weeks in Brooklyn doing basic tracks, then scattered to work in various home studios," Allen says. "And it kind of snowballed to the point where we got the idea, 'Let's make this seamless with no pauses, one long piece of music with all these interludes.' We spent a year and a half on this record, and with that much time to stew on it, things began to expand. A couple of songs started out very acoustic and minimal before turning into these big sprawling things with Mellotrons and bass and sound effects going on and on.

"Giant productions out of little acoustic songs," he concludes. "Maybe next time, we'll do a straight-up live record with no overdubs, just four people playing."

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