The Sophtware Slump : Deluxe Edition

CMJ - "...Poignant and peculiar....suggesting a stoned...version of [the Flaming Lips'] eccentrics..." NME - Ranked #12 in NME's "Top 50 Albums Of The Year" - "...The finest LP made by men with beards..." Q - Included in Q's "50 Best Albums of 2000". Mojo - "...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..." Magnet - "...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..." Entertainment Weekly - "...Their melodies, earthy but otherworldly, infiltrate your head before retreating into space..." - Rating: A- CMJ - Included in CMJ's "Best of the Year" for 2000. Q - 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." Spin - Ranked #6 in Spin's "10 Best Records You Didn't Hear Of The Year [2000]" - "...Obsessively melodic snatches of indie pop..." Q - Included in Q's "50 Best Albums of 2000". NME - Ranked #12 in NME's "Top 50 Albums Of The Year" - "...The finest LP made by men with beards..." Magnet - Included in Magnet's "20 Best Albums of 2000". Melody Maker - 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..." CMJ - Included in CMJ's "Best of the Year" for 2000. Q - 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." CMJ - "...Poignant and peculiar....suggesting a stoned...version of [the Flaming Lips'] eccentrics..." Rolling Stone - 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..." Entertainment Weekly - "...Their melodies, earthy but otherworldly, infiltrate your head before retreating into space..." - Rating: A- Spin - Ranked #6 in Spin's "10 Best Records You Didn't Hear Of The Year [2000]" - "...Obsessively melodic snatches of indie pop..." Melody Maker - 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..." Magnet - Included in Magnet's "20 Best Albums of 2000". Rolling Stone - 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..." Mojo - "...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..." Magnet - "...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..." Q - 4 stars out of 5 -- "It's the third in a trilogy of Great American Albums....THE SOPHOMORE SLUMP is ensured a glorious glowing half-life." Uncut - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t's the sense of oddly euphoric sadness that lingers most powerfully." Magnet - "[E]verything about the California quintet's modestly epic exploration of technological and societal breakdown reeks of uncanny prescience -- especially lyrics." Record Collector - 4 stars out

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. ~ Heather Phares|