By pledging allegiance to old-time country music, 1960s power pop, and cheesy '70s electronic music, Grandaddy create an unlikely merger that, when it works, recalls the poppier elements of the Flaming Lips ("The Crystal Lake"). At other times ("He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot"), you might hear the rustic charm of Palace shot through with a dose of Kraftwerk. Much like, say, Mark Linkous (who helms Sparklehorse), Grandaddy mastermind Jason Lytle camps out in a remote part of the world (Modesto, California, in his case) and then transmits his off-kilter observations with a minimum of fuss. He can be poignant (the piano ballad "Underneath the Weeping Willow") or too clever for his own good ("Broken Household Appliance National Forest," a love song to technology's grimier half). But then just as Grandaddy mix disparate musical influences, they also jam together in-jokes on top of pathos. --Rob O'Connor
The Sophtware Slump,Grandaddy,V2 Ada,Indie Rock,Neo-Psychedelia,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop
The Sophtware Slump
Average customer rating:
|
The Sophtware Slump
Grandaddy Manufacturer: V2 Ada ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B00004T02T Release Date: 2000-06-06 |
Tracks:
- He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot
- Hewlett's Daughter
- Jed The Humanoid
- The Crystal Lake
- Chartsengrafs
- Underneath The Weeping Willow
- Broken Household Appliance National Forest
- Jed's Other Poem (Beautiful Ground)
- E. Knievel Interlude (The Perils Of Keeping It Real)
- Miner At The Dial-A-View
- So You'll Aim Toward The Sky
Amazon.com
By pledging allegiance to old-time country music, 1960s power pop, and cheesy '70s electronic music, Grandaddy create an unlikely merger that, when it works, recalls the poppier elements of the Flaming Lips ("The Crystal Lake"). At other times ("He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot"), you might hear the rustic charm of Palace shot through with a dose of Kraftwerk. Much like, say, Mark Linkous (who helms Sparklehorse), Grandaddy mastermind Jason Lytle camps out in a remote part of the world (Modesto, California, in his case) and then transmits his off-kilter observations with a minimum of fuss. He can be poignant (the piano ballad "Underneath the Weeping Willow") or too clever for his own good ("Broken Household Appliance National Forest," a love song to technology's grimier half). But then just as Grandaddy mix disparate musical influences, they also jam together in-jokes on top of pathos. --Rob O'ConnorCustomer Reviews:
Leaves a stale taste........2007-04-12
Someweresofaraway.......2007-02-11
Start here and end here. To much to listen about!!!!!
I can't believe this album actually exists..........2006-11-30
From the start, things are good. The 9-minute intro, "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot" starts with an echo-y strumming of a guitar and background noises (birds and electric hums) growing and then cutting off, and then growing and then cutting off. Quite an effect. The intro to the intro ends with someone saying over a radio, "Okay, 1, 2, 3, 4," and then the piece swoops into the fabulous meat of the song, which is lush and full, absolutely packed with electric noises and strumming guitars and the wonderful voice of the lead singer. Somewhere along the 3-minute mark, plinky pianos break the song and suddenly the vocals come through clear and unreverberated, and it's just wonderful.
"He's Simple" carries on for five more minutes, with slow electric violins and the tapping of a cymbal...the piano and the vocals and-...the wonderful orchestration, symphonisation, is just incredible, with backing vocals appearing and flowing over the tune in just the right pitch. I don't think this song could possibly be improved, even after listening to it fourty or fifty times, it just comes off flawlessly every single time. A lengthy synth solo, in the wrong hands, would bring the whole song crashing to the ground, but Grandaddy manages every detail with such finesse, you'd think they were professionals in a multi-million dollar studio with Alan Parsons at the controls.
As the first track fades, "Hewlitt's Daughter" leaps from the speakers, with the singer's voice displaying a sort of Northwestern accent (think Pete Martell, from Twin Peaks, of "Wrapped in plastic" fame). Twangy keyboards bubble along here, supporting the tapping percussion and the happy vocals.
"Jed The Humanoid" fades in with dark piano, electric noises, and a rocket ship taking off through a crackly speaker, it seems. The vocals are softer here than they were in "Hewlitt's". He sings of a robot he and his friends or family built, neglected, and eventually abandoned. The lyrics here are magnificent, with wonderful use of repetition by what sounds like the robot himself. The music here balances on the edge of being distastefully sad, in comparison to the absolutely sunny "Hewlitt's" that precedes. A woman's vocals supplement the strumming and the electric noises beautifully as Jed's owners pay him less attention, and Jed discovers alcohol, and he "Fizzled and popped, he rattled and knocked, fin'lly he just stopped..." Electric noises fade the song to a close.
Suddenly, "The Crystal Lake" pops up from the void and bounces along to happy twinkling keyboards. The way the singer says words like "Duraflames" and "chandelier" in this are just fabulous, and hark back to the "wrapped in plastic" tone of "Hewlitt's". The singer, who's lost his way somehow and somewhere, is accompanied by a splashing brook that's nearly overtaken by the happy guitars and piano and it almost seems as if the sun might burst through your CD player at any moment and shower you with candy and bunnies, even though the lyrics go "I gotta get outta here". The song is just effortlessly wonderful, indescribable. Dark electric guitars flood in towards the end and I wonder how anyone could go through life without hearing this album.
"Chartsengrafs" fades in as "Crystal Lake" fades out, with people crunching through dried leaves and gritty guitars and synthesizer bubbles. Suddenly, the music bursts into your ears and the singer seems angry, without shouting or yelling. Annoyed, perhaps. This song is a defenite grinding shift against the current of the rest of the album, rather like rafting down a fairly peaceful river and suddenly being sucked into rapids. Still, I couldn't think of a Sophtware Slump without Chartsengrafs.
"Underneath The Weeping Willow" fades in with piano noises, everywhere, and the singer comes in...and it's perfectly mellow, sad, wistful. It almost puts the listener right in with the singer, who wants to be able to just fall asleep and wake up happy, away from the sadness he encounters in everyday life.
"Broken Household Appliance National Forest" comes in with happy little electric noises, and until the singer's voice pops up, the song is completely electronic. When the vocals do appear, they're calm, happy, peaceful...with some lovely rhymes about salamanders and conduits. Suddenly, harsh guitars come through and the song shifts from a meadow to Chartsengrafs. The guitars continue for a while, then...they fade, and a second verse about bunnies on toasters fades in, and stays until the guitars make another appearance. I can't say I truly love this song like I do the others. I love the more peaceful parts about the deer in the laundromat, but the guitar bits grate on me...I suppose I'm not too good with such sudden contrast in music. However, once the guitars roll past the three minute mark, it's all good, with a really terrific solo and crashing drums along the way to the end.
"Jed's Other Poem (Beautiful Ground)" (apparently) features lyrics by Jed himself. He sings about drinking, about past regrets, and it's easy to paint a picture of such a sad individual. The music is dark, and has a gritty, hopeless feeling, thanks to the synthesizer's low drone in the background. This is a very minor-key song, and understandibly so...any song about Jed should be. Somewhere towards the end the music fades to a vaguely nautical piano piece with "aaah"-ing vocals, and it's just lovely.
The song shifts to the amazing "E. Knievel Interlude", which features a soft, crackly fire, a tocking clock, extremely low synthesizer noises, and a peaceful, beautiful keyboard bit. One of the most striking pieces of the album, really...sad, wonderful...sometimes, I swear I can hear a TV on low in the background. The song fades out and the next song fades in on the same note, which is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful effect.
"Miner At The Dial-A-View" is relentlessly beautiful. A miner, looking back through the Dial-A-View, cannot find his friends, his beloved...some amazing, amazing vocals and lyrics here, and this song-...knocks me off my feet every time I hear it. Practically a religious experience, listening to it. Also, it features the most Twin-Peaks-ian mood of all the songs...it has interludes with a woman speaking instructions on the Dial-A-View, and somehow, it works. Relentlessly beautiful, just non-stop, amazing. This actually makes me cry, at the end, when I'm focused on it. The very end sends chills up my spine whenever I hear it. A dreamy song...one of the best.
"So You'll Aim For The Sky" picks up where "Miner" ends...and starts with whistling wind, and background radio rocket-related broadcasts, and beeps, and then the song begins, and I just want to die, it's so beautiful. I don't use the term "Heavenly" to describe a lot of things, but in this case, it is. It is completely heavenly, so well-orchestrated, with such grace, such beauty...so utterly wistful, emotional, it sweeps you along, with lush violins and high-flying vocals. So smooth. As it fades out, a small exchange takes place between a man and a woman, and then it is followed by one of the most perfect endings to any song I know, to any album, in fact. Piano, wind...so beautiful...the total deconstruction of mankind.
So all in all?
The album carries the listener over a wide sweeping epic journey in an incredibly short time, with no filler and only one or two blemishes (however, those can change based on the musical taste of the listener). Similarities can be easily drawn to many albums. To me, it reminds me most of OK Computer, as I stated before. Not similar by way of sounding the same, but similar in that they are both epic and speak of the dangers of modern society, and the hopelessness one can feel when lost in it. However, OK Computer is far more polished and glistening than The Sophtware Slump. The latter is very earthy and textured, while the former could slip by if you didn't listen very hard. A difference occurs here, although this is based on my opinion: whereas OK Computer's two ending songs have a sense of tiredness and are somewhat flat, with nothing to really grip for the listener, The Sophtware Slump's two ending songs are two of the best songs on the album, and the deconstruction ending of Slump, in my opinion, is far better than the great-but-not-good-enough triangle ting of OK.
In the end, The Sophtware Slump remains, to me, a pinnacle in modern music and indie rock, with sweeping vocals and wonderful orchestration, and such a down-to-earth texture about it. I can't help but place it among my favorite albums...and I still can't believe this album actually exists...
-Alfred Erickson
a healthy addiction.......2006-08-10
A cool journey to a possible future.......2006-01-13
Average customer rating:
|
The Sophtware Slump
Grandaddy Manufacturer: V2 Japan ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B00004U2QO Release Date: 2000-05-17 |
Tracks:
- He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot
- Hewlett's Daughter
- Jed the Humanoid
- Crystal Lake
- Chartsengrafs
- Underneath the Weeping Willow
- Broken Household Appliance National Forest
- Jed's Other Poem (Beautiful Ground)
- E. Knievel Interlude (The Perils of Keeping It Real)
- Miner at the Dial-A-View
- So You'll Aim Toward the Sky
- Our Dying Brains [*]
- First Movement/Message Sent [*]
Album Description
Japanese version of second full-length album for the American indie act, their follow-up to the 1999 EP, 'Signal to Snow Ratio'. 13 tracks of country tinged alternative rock with electronic flourishes. Includes two bonus tracks, the b-sides that appeared on their recent UK only single 'Crystal Lake'; 'Our Dying Brains' and 'First Movement/Message Sent'. Includes lyrics to all original album tracks. 2000 release. Standard jewel case.Album Details
Japanese Version featuring Two Bonus Tracks: Our Dying Brains, and First Movement/Message Sent. Also features Additional Inlay Illustrations.Customer Reviews:
Just when you thought they couldn't do any better.......2001-03-01
Average customer rating:
|
Sophtware Slump [Limited Edition with Bonus CD]
Grandaddy Manufacturer: V2 ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B00005KC8Z Release Date: 2001-05-29 |
Tracks:
- He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot
- Hewlett's Daughter
- Jed the Humanoid
- The Crystal Lake
- Chartsengrafs
- Underneath the Weeping Willow
- Broken Household Appliance National Forest
- Jed's Other Poem (Beautiful Ground)
- E. Knievel Interlude (The Perils of Keeping It Real)
- Miner at the Dial-A-View
- So You'll Aim Toward the Sky
Tracks:
- First Movement/Message Fade
- Our Dying Brains
- What Can't Be Erased
- Wives of Farmers
- Street Bunny
- XD-Data-II
Amazon.com
By pledging allegiance to old-time country music, 1960s power pop, and cheesy '70s electronic music, Grandaddy create an unlikely amalgam that, when it works, recalls the poppier elements of the Flaming Lips ("The Crystal Lake"). At other times ("He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot"), you might hear the rustic charm of Palace shot through with a dose of Kraftwerk. Much like, say, Mark Linkous (who helms Sparklehorse), Grandaddy mastermind Jason Lytle camps out in a remote part of the world (Modesto, California, in his case) and then transmits his off-kilter observations with a minimum of fuss. He can be poignant (the piano ballad "Underneath the Weeping Willow") or too clever for his own good ("Broken Household Appliance National Forest," a love song to technology's grimier half). But then just as Grandaddy mix disparate musical influences, they also jam together in-jokes on top of pathos. This limited-edition version of the album is fleshed out with a second six-track disc. --Rob O'ConnorCustomer Reviews:
Paranoid Android Meet Yoshima.......2003-04-03
The concept, while done many times before, does not become jaded in Grandaddy's hands. Jed is a Robot. The center of attention when created, but now above the "ice shelves and glaciers...treating water and waste at night" thinking about Hewlett's daughter. He has been forgotten. Left alone. Alienated.
The CD is "peaked" intermittently with faster, more upbeat tracks like Hewlett's Daughter, Crystal Lake and Broken Household Appliance National Forest. The mood changes nicely throughout. The drum roll on Hewlett's daughter, at first listen seems intrusive but works it's way to being an integral part of the song - giving it its character.
In all, the album is a superb piece combining melancholic melodies, upbeat ryhthms and poignant tragic comic lyrics. The Software Slump has the makings of a neat rock opera if given proper treatment.
Review BONUS.......2002-12-11
rocka rolla.......2002-06-06
Wonderfully surreal.......2001-10-13
Dense, Beautiful and Original.......2001-08-16
Average customer rating:
|
DoublePlays: Sumday/The Sophtware Slump
Grandaddy Manufacturer: V2 ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B0009JOPKS Release Date: 2005-05-24 |
Tracks:
- Now It's On
- I'm on Standby
- Go in the Go-for-It
- Group Who Couldn't Say
- Lost on Yer Merry Way
- Caminos in the West
- "Yeah" Is What We Had
- Saddest Vacant Lot in All the World
- Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake
- O.K. with My Decay
- Warming Sun
- Final Push to the Sum
Tracks:
- He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot
- Hewlett's Daughter
- Jed the Humanoid
- Crystal Lake
- Chartsengrafs
- Underneath the Weeping Willow
- Broken Household Appliance National Forest
- Jed's Other Poem (Beautiful Ground)
- E. Knievel Interlude (The Perils of Keeping It Real)
- Miner at the Dial-a-View
- So You'll Aim Toward the Sky
Album Description
The 'Double Play' range features two original albums packaged together in a slipcase at a great price! V2. 2005.Customer Reviews:
Sumday, Slumphow.......2006-04-16
"The Sophtware Slump" opens with a sort of alien banjo, crooning voice and chirping birds. The album quickly speeds up into a series of bittersweet songs that fizzle on the edge with a bit of punk. "Hewlett's Daughter" is actually kind of fun and poppy, while "Crystal Lake" has a keyboard shimmer.
But at heart, these songs are soft, floating, and silvery, with lots of fuzz and sound effects mixed in with piano and some aching synth. Jason Lytle sings about sad robots, crystal lakes, rocketships, and wanting to sleep "underneath the weeping willow/As it cries all night quietly."
That turned out to be a winning formula for Grandaddy. And as a wise band, they didn't fix what wasn't broken in their follow-up album, "Sumday." It's a bit less spacey and more poppy, but has the same kind of robot-rock sound.
It opens with "Now it's On," a catchy little tune that stretches its guitars into long sweeps. But the song that stands out is "I'm on Standby," a charming little song from the viewpoint of a robot who's getting reworked. "Bye bye, I'm on standby/Out of order or sort of unaligned/Powered down for redesign."
They continue with the sparkly, fuzzy rock in poppy "The Go in the Go For It," and the incredibly cheerful "Yeah! Is What We Had," which is almost sweet enough to give you cavities. But they also explore the melancholy side of things in the piano-driven "Saddest Vacant Lot in All the World," and the introspective "OK With My Decay."
Few bands can manage this sort of sound, whether it's the spacier "Slump" or the poppier, robotic "Sumday." Grandaddy specialized in music that was very complex, very out-there, and yet was easily accessable to anyone who doesn't think that MTV is the pinnacle of modern music.
Percussion and bass are usually kept subtle and careful, while the guitars and take center stage. The synths are so integral that you barely notice them; they sound like an addled robot put them in. And as the crowning touch, the sound of crickets, rocketships and wind are all included in these songs.
Jason Lytle has one of those sensitive voices that the best indie rockers have. And he can really sing with feeling, whether being playful or wistful. And the songwriting is beautiful, full of longing and optimism. "I want to sleep/Underneath the weeping willow/As it cries all night quietly... I'll sleep there so soundly/Until I'm allowed finally/To wake and be happy again."
As we bid farewell to Grandaddy, take the time to listen to their best work, "The Sophtware Slump" and "Sumday." A bittersweet, beautiful experience.
Average customer rating: |
Under the Western Freeway/Sophtware Slump
ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B00023XX9U Release Date: 2004-11-02 |
Album Description
Import exclusive two CD set combines the alt-country/electronica act's 1997 & 2000 albums.
Average customer rating: |
Sophtware Slump
Grandaddy Manufacturer: V2 ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B000059HSU Release Date: 2000-12-04 |
Album Details
Includes a Bonus Three Song Disc which Contains the Tracks: 'our Dying Brains,' 'wives of Farmers' and 'moe Bandy Mountaineers.'
Average customer rating: |
The Sophtware Slump
Grandaddy Manufacturer: V2 ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B00020PMBK Release Date: 2000-05-16 |
Tracks:
- He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot
- Hewlett's Daughter
- Jed the Humanoid
- Crystal Lake
- Chartsengrafs
- Underneath the Weeping Willow
- Broken Household Appliance National Forest
- Jed's Other Poem (Beautiful Ground)
- E. Knievel Interlude (The Perils of Keeping It Real)
- Miner at the Dial-A-View
- So You'll Aim Toward the Sky
Average customer rating: |
Sophtware Slump
Grandaddy Manufacturer: Phantom Sound & Vision ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B000BRHSBG Release Date: 2000-11-20 |
Rap Music:
- The Very Best Of J.J. Cale
- This Station Is Non-Operational: Anthology
- Touch
- Unborn [Extra tracks]
- Very Best of MTV Unplugged, Vol. 3 [Limited Edition] [Live] [Import]
- Very Best of Simply Red [Import]
- VH1 Presents the Corrs Live in Dublin [Live]
- Whale Rider (Score) [Soundtrack]
- When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up [Import]
- Without You I'm Nothing
Recommended Music:
Bach: Das Kantatenwerk Vol. 35 (Complete Cantatas)
Backstreet Boys - Greatest Hits: Chapter 1 (+ Bonus Vcd) [Limited Edition] [Import]
A Musical Massacre [Edited Version]
Alan Jackson & Trace Adkins [Karaoke]