Marbles is the solo recording project of The Apples in Stereo singer and chief songwriter Robert Schneider. The project started out in 1993 when Schneider would record his various musical endeavors on cassette for various people he knew, but was somewhat abandoned as the Apples got off the ground. He would later compile some of the songs, many of which featuring backing vocals from Will Cullen Hart of The Olivia Tremor Control, and release them officially in 1997 as an album named Pyramid Landing (And Other Favorites).

Schneider appeared to have largely abandoned the moniker by 2000, releasing sporadic singles and contributing to a compilation. This changed when spinART released the second Marbles full length, titled Expo in January 2005.