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Tracks:
He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot
Hewletts 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

Performer Notes:

Grandaddy includes: Jason Lytle.
Recorded at Little Portugal, Modesto, California.
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.

Professional Reviews: Rolling Stone (6/8/00, p.124) - 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 (6/8/00, p.124) - 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..."

Spin (p.51) - Ranked #6 in Spin's 'The Top 10 Reissues Of 2011' -- "[A] mini-epic about how technology didn't destroy us like we thought it might; ELO and Pink Floyd writ small."

Spin (1/01, p.76) - Ranked #6 in Spin's "10 Best Records You Didn't Hear Of The Year [2000]" - "...Obsessively melodic snatches of indie pop..."

Spin (1/01, p.76) - Ranked #6 in Spin's "10 Best Records You Didn't Hear Of The Year [2000]" - "...Obsessively melodic snatches of indie pop..."

Entertainment Weekly (6/23/00, p.102) - "...Their melodies, earthy but otherworldly, infiltrate your head before retreating into space..." - Rating: A-

Entertainment Weekly (6/23/00, p.102) - "...Their melodies, earthy but otherworldly, infiltrate your head before retreating into space..." - Rating: A-

Q (1/01, p.91) - Included in Q's "50 Best Albums of 2000".

Q (6/00, p.106) - 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 (1/01, p.91) - Included in Q's "50 Best Albums of 2000".

Q (6/00, p.106) - 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."

Magnet (p.55) - "[E]verything about the California quintet's modestly epic exploration of technological and societal breakdown reeks of uncanny prescience -- especially lyrics."

Magnet (1-2/01, p.45) - Included in Magnet's "20 Best Albums of 2000".

Magnet (6-7/00, p.77) - "...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 (1-2/01, p.45) - Included in Magnet's "20 Best Albums of 2000".

Magnet (6-7/00, p.77) - "...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..."

CMJ (1/08/01, p.12) - Included in CMJ's "Best of the Year" for 2000.

CMJ (5/00, p.61) - "...Poignant and peculiar....suggesting a stoned...version of [the Flaming Lips'] eccentrics..."

CMJ (1/08/01, p.12) - Included in CMJ's "Best of the Year" for 2000.

CMJ (5/00, p.61) - "...Poignant and peculiar....suggesting a stoned...version of [the Flaming Lips'] eccentrics..."

Melody Maker (5/9/00, p.52) - 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 (5/9/00, p.52) - 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..."

Q (Magazine) (p.121) - 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."

Mojo (Publisher) (6/00, p.100) - "...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 (Publisher) (6/00, p.100) - "...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..."

NME (Magazine) (12/30/00, p.77) - Ranked #12 in NME's "Top 50 Albums Of The Year" - "...The finest LP made by men with beards..."

NME (Magazine) (12/30/00, p.77) - Ranked #12 in NME's "Top 50 Albums Of The Year" - "...The finest LP made by men with beards..."

Record Collector (magazine) (p.93) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "THE SOPHTWARE SLUMP's themes of technological decay, alienation and the beauty of nature had been hinted at in Grandaddy's previous work, but here were rendered in Technicolor; radiant and often beautifully, desperately sad."

Uncut (magazine) (p.103) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t's the sense of oddly euphoric sadness that lingers most powerfully."

Format: CD (1 Disc)

Studio/Live: Studio

Release Date: 2 June, 2008

Label: Unbranded