SMC ~ Grandaddy: The Sophtware Slump
alobar
Posts: 310
*uploaded on Sunday at 7:30pm (Pacific Time)*
Here's an album that came out in early 2000 and was quickly hailed as a contender for album of the year. This may be a little too well known for the SMC, but just from lack of mention of their name around here, I figured I'd just go for it.
A lot of critics' slammed this album for its' similarities to Radiohead's OK Computer, it being a concept album about technology and the future, and it's blend of rock and electronica. But I find this album to be compelling and unique in its' weightlessness and tender brilliance.
For me, the album was sort of a sleeper, in that I'd listen to it sparingly, but liked it more and more each time until I listened to it regularly all the way through and knew every word.
So, I suggest giving this album a worthwhile listen (perhaps again), and please post any thoughts you have on this album or Grandaddy in general.
Here's an album that came out in early 2000 and was quickly hailed as a contender for album of the year. This may be a little too well known for the SMC, but just from lack of mention of their name around here, I figured I'd just go for it.
A lot of critics' slammed this album for its' similarities to Radiohead's OK Computer, it being a concept album about technology and the future, and it's blend of rock and electronica. But I find this album to be compelling and unique in its' weightlessness and tender brilliance.
For me, the album was sort of a sleeper, in that I'd listen to it sparingly, but liked it more and more each time until I listened to it regularly all the way through and knew every word.
So, I suggest giving this album a worthwhile listen (perhaps again), and please post any thoughts you have on this album or Grandaddy in general.
"I wanna believe in the mercy of the world again."
WAR + MAGIC BEANS = PEACE
WAR + MAGIC BEANS = PEACE
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~it is shining it is shining~
i guess it's still a sleeper for me...
but i'll make sure to wake it up again...
Some days you wake up and sit on a park bench next to an eighty year old Russian architect, and some days you don't. I think this is my new life philosophy.
http://epplehausradio.blogspot.com/
pearl jam @ the astoria, london, 20/04/06
I knew there were a few out there who had this. Thinking back, I think was given this album in '01 and I didn't really appreciate it 'til a year or two ago.
I forgot to give the song list:
1. He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot
2. Hewlett's Daughter
3. Jed The Humanoid
4. The Crystal Lake
5. Chartsengrafs
6. Underneath The Weeping Willow
7. Broken Household Appliance National Forest
8. Jed's Other Poem (Beautiful Ground)
9. E. Knievel Interlude (The Perils Of Keeping It Real)
10. Miner At The Dial-A-View
11. So You'll Aim Toward The Sky
I love "Broken Household Appliance" and "Jed's Other Poem."
WAR + MAGIC BEANS = PEACE
Here's the review from allmusic.com, where they make references to OK Computer.
Picking up where their Signal to Snow Ratio EP left off, Grandaddy's wittily named second album The Sophtware Slump upgrades the group's wry, country-tinged rock with electronic flourishes that run through the album like fiber-optic lines. Arpeggiated keyboards sparkle on "Hewlett's Daughter" and "The Crystal Lake," and wind, birds, and transmissions hover around the songs' peripheries, suggesting a Silicone Valley landscape. Jason Lytle's frail, poignant vocals provide a bittersweet counterpoint to the chugging guitars and shiny electronics that envelop him like a cockpit or a cubicle on "Chartsengrafs" and "Broken Household Appliance National Forest" and set the tone for melancholy ballads like "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot," "Miner at the Dial-a-View," and "Jed the Humanoid," the story of a forgotten, alcoholic android. Lost pilots, robots, miners, and programmers try to find their way on The Sophtware Slump, an album that shares a spacy sadness with Sparklehorse's Good Morning Spider and Radiohead's OK Computer. Though it's a little more self-conscious and not quite as accomplished as either of those albums, it is Grandaddy's most impressive work yet and one of 2000's first worthwhile releases.
And here's the review from pitchforkmedia.com drawing many correlations with OK Computer and Sophtware Slump.
Yesterday, information came to me. It arrived in the form of a sentence, spoken by one of the esteemed Pitchfork writers. It told of big-time music critics calling Grandaddy's The Sophtware Slump "album of the year." Now, pardon me if I sound disturbed, but it's fucking March. Consider all the great bands with albums in the 2000 pipeline: Radiohead, The Wrens, Bj�rk, The Beta Band-- do we really want to limit ourselves to Grandaddy this early on?
Atmospheric pop has dominated Critics' Lists for too long. How long ago did Mercury Rev issue Deserter's Songs? Is this all we can aspire to in the future? Where's the goddamn rock these days? Isn't anyone interested in volume? While no one may ever step up to answer these questions, one thing is for certain-- time is running out for this genre, and I have a feeling it's not exactly going to age like wine. However, even at this late hour, The Sophtware Slump manages to sound reasonably fresh, yields its share of unshakable melodies, and excels in production. This is quite possibly the last great entry in the atmospheric pop canon.
The lyrical content of The Sophtware Slump focuses largely on failed industrial machinery-- crashed airplanes, malfunctioning androids, and abandoned appliances-- returning to the earth, or just lying around broken. Undeniably, this is that blasted Radiohead influence rearing its twitchy eye. Yeah, since OK Computer, everyone wants to be them. Really, you can't blame people for attempting their own variations on the theme. OK Computer is, after all, one of the greatest albums our generation has experienced in its time. But bands need to realize that they're not Radiohead, and that no one ever made it into the history books by trying to do what another group had already done better.
The Radiohead influence seems obvious here, coming from a band whose last album, the 1996 (pre-OK Computer) debut Under the Western Freeway, was comprised of light-hearted, Weezer-inspired sing-alongs. But surprisingly, Grandaddy inject the album with an air-tight cohesiveness, and enough of their own personality, emotion and creativity to warrant looking past the fact that someone's already succeeded in recording the ultimate anti-technology album.
But Grandaddy do manage to stir up raw emotion and genuine sincerity over songs that are far hookier and more immediately accessible than Radiohead's. The album's anthemic opener, "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot" gives a glimpse into the album's multi-layered, airy, Godrich-esque production techniques, as well as its general disheartened feel and epic tendencies (the track runs almost nine minutes long).
For the most part, the album's songs are solid to the point that they'd have the potential of becoming indie rock classics if frontman Jason Lytle wasn't content to beat you over the head with them. Out of the gate, these melodies are all enjoyable to an almost surreal degree. And most of them remain that way. The problem arises when Lytle plays the same bars repeatedly without relying on choruses or bridges (as in the almost torturous third track, "Jed the Humanoid"). A few of these tracks also drag on just a little too long.
There are few upbeat tracks on the album, and most of them come toward the beginning. After the heavy-hearted weight of "He's the Pilot," the bouncy "Hewlett's Daughter" serves as a nice breather. "The Crystal Lake" stands as one of the album's highlights with its driving chorus and preprogrammed Cars-inspired keyboard scale. "Chartsengrafs" follows close behind, fueled by buzzing guitars and drawn-out harmonies. And finally, we come to the radio-ready "Broken Household Appliance National Forest," a track about "air conditioners in the woods."
But that's where the happiness ends. The rest of the album wallows in a depression so deep, it'd make your grandparents stock up on canned foods and dress in rags. The Radiohead influence really becomes apparent on the last four tracks. "Jed's Other Poem (Beautiful Ground)" resurrects a verse of "Jed the Humanoid," sung a cappella, before launching into a sparkling, glossy epic and finally settling into the menacing "Knievel Interlude (The Perils of Keeping It Real)." "Miner at the Dial-A-View" kicks in after two minutes, encapsulating the entire album with longing, regretful lyrics ("I dream at night/ Of going home someday/ Somewhere, so far away"), distant melodic beeping, and a female voice giving instructions on the proper usage of the "dial-a-view."
The Sophtware Slump comes to a close with "So You'll Aim Toward the Sky," a spacious five-minute epic that opens with discordant guitar lines over subtle technology-related sound effects. The song repeats four lines over dramatic strings, chimes in the vein of "No Surprises," and Jason Lytle's best Thom Yorke impression. And surprisingly, it's more effective and believable than derived and cloying. When the songs winds down, you're left with a feeling of genuine impact.
Now, I'm not saying The Sophtware Slump even comes close to touching OK Computer, though I can see what about it might drive someone to call it "album of the year" this early on. But we have nine months to go! If we'd said Built to Spill's Keep It like a Secret was the album of the year in January, 1999, we wouldn't have been taking the Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin and the Dismemberment Plan's Emergency & I into account.
So, watch yourself now, 'cause it looks like there's gonna be some pretty crazy hype surrounding The Sophtware Slump this year. And yes, the record is good, but as music fans, we have a duty to expect more from bands than recreations of albums past. We need innovators, not imitators, goddamnit! Think of the children!
WAR + MAGIC BEANS = PEACE
I've never got round to getting any of the studio albums I heard Under The Western Freeway was the best they have done, would anyone agree with this?
me too
~it is shining it is shining~
Sophtware Slump has that extra edge.....maybe a more artful, experimental side to it than the others. I still need to pick up Fambly Cat. Would you say it's better than Sumday?
WAR + MAGIC BEANS = PEACE
no song stands out because they are all really really good.
;
thanks alobar
~it is shining it is shining~
After several spins of this, it is obvious where the comparisons come from. Jed's Other Poem, So You'll Aim Towards the Sky, middle part of He's Simple..... is straight up Radiohead and the spacey keyboards and Hewlett's Daughter is very Dismemberment Plan-ish.
What I do find interesting is that with a simple tweak of his voice, he sounds nothing like Yorke, it is almost as though he could avoid the comparisons if he wanted to. Not saying he should of course, but he had to know that the CD would draw comparisons. Musically it is a beautiful sounding disc. This overall does not take away from the enjoyment of it. It is a fine recording.
Broken Household Appliances made me laugh (not like ha ha) in that if you spend anytime in National Forests you inevitably run across a broken down washing machine, dishwasher or the like which always leaves me with a head scratch. I really like the song though.
So that one plus Miner At the Dial-A-View and Crystal Lake are my favorites here. Definite mix-worthy.
Jed the Humanoid is the only one I really don't care for.
7.0 out of 10.
That is exactly why my favorite song on this album is Broken Household Appliance National Forest. The images he sings of like "Meadows look like showroom floors/owls fly out of oven doors" just make me crack up.
This album probably got skipped over by many just because of the comparisons to OK Computer. I wonder how many people were influenced negatively by the last paragraph of the Pitchfork review.
WAR + MAGIC BEANS = PEACE
I just have to point out the greatness of that first track. That robotic voice in the background makes that song totally amazing.
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And I think I'm up next. I got some mellow jazz funk for you folks.;) (Don't sigh, it's good! lol)
If you can't get high on purely music and the sounds that you hear, you're missing out on something.
I wanted to like this- it sounded like something I would like, but I just couldn't get into it. Sorry, alobar.
I've been meaning to check out Grandaddy anyways, so this was a great introduction.
I'll give it an 8.5 out of 10.