Pitchfork

Remember the hubbub when the Apples in Stereo released New Magnetic Wonder? A lot of the chatter surrounding the record was your standard stuff for a veteran band: decent disc, super catchy, return to form, etc. etc. But the thing about New Magnetic Wonder that really made them protractors pop was its use of the "Non-Pythagorian Musical Scale," some sort of Pynchonian craziness that gave the record its deceptively complex internal structure. You remember all the chatter about that, right? No?

Well, the Mathematics Association of America (link clearly NSFW) caught wind of Apples frontguy Robert Schneider's use of the scale and invited him for both a sitdown chat and a standup performance at their annual MathFest event, happening in San Jose, California August 2-5. Schneider's chat and pop-rock show sounds exciting enough, sure, but attendees will be all aflutter for James Sellers' "On Euler's Partition Theorem Relating Odd-Part Partitions and Distinct-Part Partitions" chat a few days later. Who needs rock n roll when you're talkin' 18th century Swiss math?

The Apples have a few slightly less heady dates scheduled, including a stop in their native Denver and one at Seattle's Bumbershoot festival. There's also Athens, Georgia's twee-as-fuck Popfest, where Schneider will join Ideal Free Distribution's Craig Morris as American Revolution August 10. You know we've got dates after the jump, right?

Eggheads in Mono:

08-31 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
09-02 Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot