Grandaddy

And where the fuck are all the songs about Alan Parsons?

I hadn't thought about them for a long time until last week and I listened to all their records.

then I wondered what they were doing nowadays.

I think I'll have a look on imesh.

Hmmm... several songs with robot analogies...

This new one is initially disappointing mostly because it lacks what I loved about The Sophtware Slump: an unsubtle veneer of anachronistic electronics and synths. I'm a sucker for that retrofuturistic quasi-'70s stuff, especially in a pop context; "The Crystal Lake" and "Chartsengrafs" are what Weezer wish they could still be but hijacked by The Cars' junkyard band electronic-surplus-raiding Atari addict kids. This new one sounds like Wilco, which wouldn't be such a bad thing if (a) there weren't a Wilco already and (b) they hadn't lured me in a couple years ago with BLEEP BO-DOOP WHIRRRRRRR.

(Note: I am lying to a ridiculous degree.)

They were all right opening for Gorky's but I wanted to see Gorky's and not them, dammit.

(Also, at least "Now It's On" fills that whole robo-pop niche pretty well)

True, but then there are all the sentimental songs not about robots.

They also encouraged me to grow a beard. Rock on.

oh, well, they split up

a real shame.

Suxxor that they likely won't tour for their swan song. Although there's no tellin' if Fambly Cat will be Sumday II or a return to Sophtware and/or ...Freeway form. If the former perhaps we should just immerse ourselves in the latter and thank Lytle & Co. for sharing the two with us.

All in all, Grandaddy'll be missed.

this question is somwhat ridiculous as there are zillions of people that know what Sophtware Slump is as opposed to 50 who know what P&J stands for

SEARCH: A friend of mine turned me on to "MGM Grand," which is a great direction for their sound, more uptempo, lyrics less cloaked in dumb metaphors and just concerned with telling this kind of freaky, dream-like story of some kids throwing a sick lion off the roof of a building. The one track by them that I'll be putting on mixtapes twenty years from now, and for which I'll really mourn their breakup, is "Protected From The Rain," a very simple, affecting (somewhat emo-y) ballad.

DESTROY: All album titles. Maybe those were why it was hard to get really excited about a Grandaddy album coming out. I mean... "Just Like The Fambly Cat"?

their beards were what were so great about them! they didn't even remotely look like the kinds of guys that would be making soaring ELO inspired synth epics! they looked like a bunch of skaters!

http://www.stewdio.org/jed/

-- kyle (akmonda...), Today 1:05 PM. (akmonday)

Jason Lytle was a pro-skater prior to blowing his knee to bits and taking up music.

To you folks unfamiliar with Grandaddy's hometown/base, they were from MODESTO, CA. I don't know how many of you have ever been there, but guys, this is not Los Angeles, San Francisco, or San Diego... it's the backward suburban central valley that Steve Malkmus paid tribute to with "Take me down from the ridge where the summer ends/We'll watch the city spread out just like a jet's flame"... and unlike Pavement (SM in Portland/Spiral in Seattle), Grandaddy were lifers.

I hadn't seen them since their record release party for Sophtware Slump at the Cafe Du Nord in June 2000 (it was a great show). I actually only heard one song of their's since then ("Now It's On" which I think is a great song!) but I often see members around (friends of friends) and they're always been really cool, mellow dudes, dudes.

Steve

http://jasonlytle.com/famblydemos.php

sorry for the bare link, but it's all explained there :-)

Not even seen the link.
Just saw the thread.

If you old timers were there.Leeds Festering.1964. or ws it 2004? Jase having a pop at the so called punkers on the mainstage? He called it quits shortly after.

How could the fat old bearded skater compete with all that make up and gloss?

And ZERO tunes

To clear it up. not that anycnt is listening
GRANDADDY= ELO

Grandaddy = Class

Hmm. Fambly Cat is the only Grandaddy album I haven't heard, and I'm not sure if I want my first listen to the songs to be demo versions. Then again, although I like Grandaddy alright, I haven't listened to them in a few years and probably wouldn't pick up Fambly Cat unless it was $3 or something, so it's likely I won't hear it for several more years anyway.

This is the most difficult decision anyone has ever faced.

Another Grandaddy obscurity (Sophtware Slump era) my friend Dave turned me on to: "Our Dying Brains," which has a really effective/affecting cut-n-paste job on the wordless chorus vocal.

not a huge loss really having missed the boat on 'fambly cat'

grandaddy's relative success now seems like a long-distant surreal dream...how could it have happened?

the possibility i may one day hear one of this band's songs again is somehow very depressing

The instrumental hooks from one of their songs (no vocals) is featured in a new car ad - for a Dodge SUV, I think. It came on the TV, and it was driving me nuts. I knew it was something I'd heard before - maybe even something I used to own - but I couldn't place it. Some internet searching revealed that it is in fact Grandaddy's "AM 180".

http://stereogum.com/archives/commercial-appeal/grandaddys-am-180-defuses-bombs-walk-marathons-sel_009098.html

I didn't even own the album - but I guess I'd heard the song somewhere.

it was also the theme for charlie brooker's screenwipe in the UK (which surprised me) and something else i can't remember (some radio show?)

ah, grandaddy. how i loved "under the western freeway" and "the sophtware slump". how disappointed i was by everything that came after. how i wept tears of boredom watching them live at the QMU.

very, very strange band.

"Just Like The Fambly Cat" is a wonderful, wonderful album. "Where I'm Anymore" is Grandaddy's best song (unless the last two of Sophtware Slump count as one). The closing track is one of the saddest things ever. Wow.

Wow, this whole time I thought the line from AM 180 was "We'll defuse bombs, walk 'round in thongs..."

Listening to "Go Progress Chrome" today and loving it all over again. Great sound. I wonder whether the Homestarrunner guys were listening to this when they came up with the voice for Strong Sad, though.

http://www.prefixmag.com/news/grandaddy-reforms/62660/

huh that's cool. they were surprisingly good live.

gotdamn, theres like 6 grandaddy threads...

Jason Lytle's new shit has some hot jams. "Your Final Setting Sun" especially.

only heard the new one once, but it sounded kinda blah to me? will give it another go, my wife loves this dude, so i'll probably be hearing it a lot.

I started with that one song (track 10) because it was recommended. It's not an even album but the standouts are as good as Grandaddy.

Summer festival tour dates in August 2016 are being made public - there's been a new album in the works for a while now, probably ready?

New song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v50LoackQM0

lovely stuff ty

Blimey. Not thought of this band in years but quite like that.

Looking at Discogs, is it right that this will be their first recorded output in 10 years?

Yes, first in ten years and very promising it is.

There was a live set on one of the torrent sites yesterday. I thought I hadn't heard of the band being active in years.

The album's been delayed to next year, btw. Recent live set:

http://concert.arte.tv/fr/grandaddy-au-cabaret-vert

Cabaret Vert festival, 26 Aug 2016, Charleville-Mézières, France

Hewlett's Daughter
El Caminos in the West
Laughing Stock
The Crystal Lake
My Small Love
Chartsengrafs
Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake
Disconnecty
Now It's On
Way We Won't
Summer Here Kids
A.M. 180
He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot

Now It's On is a jam.

Nice!

Not wowed by the new track. Sounds to me like a slightly sluggish amalgam of the go in the go for it and OK with my decay. I wasn't so keen on post-sumday material but this seems like a weary retreat.

Tragic news:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/kevin-garcia-grandaddy-bassist-and-co-founder-dead-w480373

Damn. RIP Kevin.

GoFundMe page set up to help his family pay for medical/funeral expenses, etc.

whoa, RIP. I hung out for an afternoon on Grandaddy's tour bus a million years ago and they were all super friendly guys.

Wow, just found out about this. He recorded one of my band's first studio session probably a good million years before tylerw was on their bus.

New interview (and, separately, new song video) with Jason L.

http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2017/06/20/533045354/with-new-video-grandaddy-finds-humor-in-grief

new Grandaddy song, released last Month

https://www.facebook.com/jasonlytle/videos/vb.64053877826/450247192595652
https://jasonlytle.bandcamp.com/

I like the new song.

Sounds nice enough, haven't quite decided whether I'd throw Lytle $10 though ...

https://jasonlytle.bandcamp.com/album/the-sophtware-slump-on-a-wooden-piano

(That sounds really snarky of me, it's not really meant to).

awwww

Whoa.. This is good! He'll get my $10 no problem.

Oh, it's happening as a physical item now.

http://eustore.dangerbirdrecords.com/products/677628-grandaddy-the-sophtware-slump-on-a-wooden-piano-cd-bundle

don't give in 2000 man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZxvjMPZeZE

they kill me every time <3

should never have left the crystal lake

hope there's some sad robots on the album. but I'll buy it either way, it's what they deserve.

Blu Wav is out there and it's very nice.

such a lovely album yeah

bought it, listening now, suddenly feeling really depressed. coincidence?

it's more melancholy than depressing to me but I can see it could be, yeah

I am very late to enjoying Grandaddy. I never connected with Sophtware and honestly never even noticed each time they put something out after that, nor did I realize they’d broken up or reunited. But I’ve been gradually making my way through their discography and it’s all pretty nice. Not mindblowing but consistently enjoyable. Just getting to the new album this week and I’m really liking it.