Track Listing
DISC 1:
1. He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot
2. Hewlett's Daughter
3. Jed the Humanoid
4. Crystal Lake, The
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
DISC 2: THROUGH A FROSTY PLATE GLASS EP:
1. First Movement / Message Fade
2. Our Dying Brains
3. What Can't Be Erased
4. Wives of Farmers
5. Sweet Bunny
6. XD-Data-II
| Details | | Producer: | Jason Lytle | | Distributor: | BMG (distributor) | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Includes bonus disc THROUGH A FROSTY PLATE GLASS E.P.
Grandaddy: Jason Lytle.
Recorded at Little Portugal, Modesto, California.
THE SOPHTWARE SLUMP is a kick in the pants for anyone who believes that indie-rock is, after a notable creative peak in the mid-'90s, dying a slow and stupefying death. Not with underground sounds like these around. Guided by Jason Lyttle's vision of spacey, mid-fi country-rock, Modesto, CA's Grandaddy unites a mess of guitar-based, late-90's fringe-musics into coherent statements about humanity and technology--and if it at times sounds a lot like OK COMPUTER or a lower-fidelity SOFT BULLETIN, that's partly the point.
As the band has grown, the classic indie sound of Pavement has ceased to be its sole touchstone. Sparklehorse's studio-created ambient-Gothic bleeds have taken a strong hold, as has Radiohead's symphonic balladeering. But, mixed in an unselfconscious manner, these influences underline Lyttle's desire to have the music convey the era's confusion. So the epic mid-tempo opener "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot" recalls the stilted pace of "Paranoid Android," "Broken Household Appliance National Forest" is a metaphorically lumbering rocker whose sounds spill over like punky stoners doing Black Sabbath, and "Chartsengrafs" rocks out in first-rate VIVADIXIE fashion. SOPHTWARE is the sum of its grand parts.
Editorial Reviews
3.5 stars out of 5 - ...Exhilarating....a loose indie-rock suite about how sad and funny and fleeting technology actually is....[frontman Jason] Lytle's rigorous, knotty songwriting skills check his band's yen for indie-rock messiness...
Rolling Stone (06/08/2000)
Ranked #6 in Spin's 10 Best Records You Didn't Hear Of The Year [2000] - ...Obsessively melodic snatches of indie pop...
Spin (01/01/2001)
4 stars out of 5 - ...This year's chosen chunk of cosmic Americana...sounding like a lo-fi ELO and...possesses an admirably unusual songwriter....Cheap, cheerful and utterly charming.
Q (06/01/2000)
...Works within a tradition of records that owe as much to the Echoplex as they do to impending nervous breakdowns and squandered cash advances. And that's what makes it a keeper...
Magnet (06/01/2000)
3 stars out of 5 - ...Low-budget artwork, fuzzy synths and utterly bizarre song titles...all ring large, Pavement-sounding alarm bells....[the] opening track 'He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot' [is] one of the most perfectly crafted songs you'll hear...
Melody Maker (05/09/2000)
...Warm and sunny (though unsettlingly so)...like the eels fronted by a young, easily-breakable Neil Young....The use of computers and electronic SFX emphasizing their dark, distorting, disturbing qualities...
Mojo (06/01/2000)
...Their melodies, earthy but otherworldly, infiltrate your head before retreating into space... - Rating: A-
Entertainment Weekly (06/23/2000)
...Poignant and peculiar....suggesting a stoned...version of [the Flaming Lips'] eccentrics...
CMJ (05/01/2000)
Included in Q's 50 Best Albums of 2000.
Q (01/01/2001)
Included in CMJ's Best of the Year for 2000.
CMJ (01/08/2001)
Included in Magnet's 20 Best Albums of 2000.
Magnet (01/01/2001)
Ranked #12 in NME's Top 50 Albums Of The Year - ...The finest LP made by men with beards...
NME (12/30/2000)
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