Grandaddy
http://www.grandaddylandscape.com

styles: indie rock, wooz-rock with lotsa blips, bloops, an' flutters adding texture
others: The Flaming Lips, Electrelane, Audio Ovni, Marbles, Evening

Just Like the Fambly Cat
V2, 2006
rating: 3/5
reviewer: grantpurdumthegumshoe

At this point, with Grandaddy reportedly put to pasture, it's go time. Sumday was a pleasant ride for what it was worth. That said, the endless digital-age references and mid-tempo breeze-a-longs dug Grandaddy's fourth full-length into a creative trench. The band that had always stayed out of focus could now be hit with the right kind of zoom; suddenly they were predictable, if not intolerably so.

Now that Grandaddy Slim have been around long enough to inspire a new generation of technology-zapped fuzzpoppers – Midlake, Umbrella Sequence among their ilk – expectations remain high for the Killafornians. Excerpts From the Diary of Toddzilla EP sated the thirst somewhat, but to fully slake those smitten by The Sophtware Slump, Daddy needed to shout their farewell from the mountaintops. If you're gonna go out, why not go out on top? Too bad, so sad, as Just Like the Fambly Cat is appreciably better than its predecessor, but a far cry from the bliss we've all come to expect.

With their guitars still sporting tickets to the gun show on numbers like "Jeez Louise," the five-piece prove their quasi-grunge/faux-metal mettle is locked into place. That could've been predicted, but more enigmatic tracks like "The Animal World" would have been enough to keep the Fambly Cat well-fed. Built upon a stump of light synth and an ongoing loop of a plane landing, "Animal World" casts upon Grandaddy a spotlight we haven't seen in a few moons.

But said track is anathema to the majority of Just Like the Fambly Cat, on which Grandaddy fumble for a switch that might light the way to a fresh perspective. They dabble, but not enough; they diddle, but not in the right spot. The result is less than orgasmic. Jason Lytle's lyrics are perfunctory at best. Although he earns higher marks for not relegating himself to the rote personal observations of Sumday, his newly found vagaries are just as stale and twice as dry.

The zip of the uppity "50%" and "Skateboarding Saves Me Twice" go a long way to quenching the doubts left by contrived – for Grandaddy – yawners like "Where I'm Anymore" and "Campershell Dreams," and carbon copy "Summer... It's Gone" makes concessions for its repetitive verses and choruses with a sensational mid-song cleansing. It's not enough. "Good enough" has never been a descriptor worthy of Grandaddy, but with another fair, nondescript effort, the quintet inch toward an identity far removed from the time when an indie-rock discussion couldn't be held without them as a keynote topic.

I'll be honest: this record hit me hard initially and tailed off drastically with repeated listens, and that likely has something to do with this reviewer having spent a lot of time in Daddy's musical matrix, maybe too much. Thus disclaimers must be staked. It must be mentioned that by almost any post-Radiohead band's standards, Just Like the Fambly Cat is a peak to aspire to. Conversely, by Grandaddy's standards it's a step up only because Sumday took them two rungs down. Rarely does it seem not only necessary but advantageous for a band of relatively young musicians to part ways. However, rock's biggest digital goofball chompers might have run out of new, refreshing trips to Komputerland. Perhaps we should let sleeping dogs lie, or, in this case, die.

1. Whatever Happened
2. Jeez Louise
3. Summer...It's Gone
4. Oxygen/Aux Send
5. Rear View Mirror
6. Animal World, The
7. Skateboarding Saved My Life Twice
8. Where I'm Anymore
9. 50%
10. Guide Down Denied
11. Elevate Myself
12. Campershell Dreams
13. Disconnecty
14. This Is How It Always Starts

Sumday
V2/BMG, 2003
rating: 4/5
reviewer: wolfman


I’ve been waiting for this dreadful moment for a long time now. My stomach has been in knots, my mind feeling numb and a sense of depression has filled my entire state of being. I have put myself in a position that I wish I would be able to avoid. I unfortunately must go forth, due to my overachieving character and face this horrific task that I have graciously volunteered to do. Let me tell you exactly why I feel this way.

Approximately one month ago, I swiftly e-mailed the editor-in-chief of our wonderful and beloved site and reserved my spot as the individual to review the new Grandaddy album Sumday. Perhaps I paid no mind to this decision because I have always been a fan of Grandaddy and their previous records. Under The Western Freeway and The Sophtware Slump are still in heavy rotation at home and may be two of the best albums I have ever heard in the last five years. So the decision was easy to make; I will review the new album and it will get top marks on the site. This is where things get difficult and beyond comprehension. I acquired Sumday a month ago and after repeated listens, I have yet to believe that this album is worth anymore than the rating I have graced upon it.

First of all, I don’t despise Grandaddy for what they seem to be reaching for with this release. Gone are all of the awkward moments that were so beautiful and stunning from previous releases. This album is purely pop music. There is nothing surprising on the album other than the surprise of not being surprised (if that did not make any sense at all, read it again). Every song is like an open letter to our pop charts to embrace this wonder and creation called Grandaddy.Like one of our finest writers at TMT once said, “by the time you get to song seven, every track on the album sounds the same”. 

Don’t get me wrong, there are some standout tracks on the album. The opening track “Now It’s On” is spacious and grandiose alt-pop. “Lost on Yer Merry Way” is a stunning display of Jason Lytle’s vocal capabilities. He may have the most sultry, smooth vocals in all of the indie pop market. His ability to make any song sound beautiful is truly a gift that he shares with us on Sumday. That may be the only highlight of the record. Unfortunately, The accompanying instrumentation can be sluggish and down right monotonous. The sampling effects are still there but they are overlapped and seemingly appear absent due to the linear musical accompaniment. 

Sumday is not a bad album. It just isn’t an achieved and realized album for Grandaddy standards of alt-pop music. Song titles like “O.K. with my Decay” and “Lost on Yer Merry Way” may best describe where Grandaddy is right now with their musical approach. So nowadays, as I reach in my Grandaddy collection for some charming and inventive pop rock to wind down a busy day, I will tend to stay away from Sumday and reach for some of their previous, more polished albums like Under the Western Freeway  or The Sophtware Slump. As for Grandaddy in the future, ‘sumday’ they may return to their old collective form. For now, I have plenty to choose from their early work to keep me on stand-by. 

1. Now it’s on
2. I’m on standby
3. The go in the go-for-it
4. The group who couldn’t say
5. Lost on yer merry way
6. El caminos in the west
7. Yeah is what we had
8. Saddest vacant lot in the world
9. Stray dog and the chocolate shake
10. The warming sun
11. O.K. with my decay
12. The final push to the sun

Sophtware Slump
V2, 2000
rating: 4/5
reviewer: mr p


The Sophtware Slump is the aptly titled second release from this Modesto, California-based band -- a magical album that creates amazing textures of sound via reverb-drenched guitars, keyboards, tape loops, studio effects, and other electronic goodies, a surreal look at our (post?)modern world and its need for technology, with lyrics about robots, air-conditioned TV lands, microwaves, toasters, and other household appliances all sung by a Coyne-esque Jason Lytle. Grandaddy's sound since their freshman effort Under the Western Freeway has grown and matured somewhat. This album features less concentration on guitar dynamics and more emphasis on soundscapes. Grandaddy still stomp on their distortion pedals, which sometimes works, but at times disrupts the flow and mood of the album. But what's amazing is that if you take out all the electronic pops and squeaks and just leave Lytle with an acoustic guitar, you will be left with an album that's just as touching and inspiring.

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...
10. Miner at the Dial-A-View
11. So You'll Aim Toward the Sky