On the Shelf 182: Granddaddy
May. 14th, 2017 02:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedsitter23Granddaddy possibly arrived at the wrong time in music. The industry was moving from CDs to MP3s, albums to singles, major labels to self released, and the end of a glory time for indie rock.
They did make enough effect on indie rock that they ultimately get their due. Indeed, even bands that arrived at the right time had to wait years like Jawbreaker before getting due recognition.
At this point, I doubt anyone but me remembers, but they arrived in that so important Kid A era and they were lumped in with bands like Elbow, Travis, Muse, Coldplay and many other bands that in hindsight weren't very similar at all. The band broke up in 2006, though Jason Lyttle has kept busy with solo work and projects like Admiral Radley and BNQT, as well as Jim Fairchild's All Smiles, so it has felt like they never completely went away.
It is exciting to see them back, though with some hesitation. For me, they reached their peak with The Sophtware Slump, and although all their albums are good, I doubt it can be replicated.
That said, their reunion record Last Place is welcome.
I am struck by how it sounds so effortlessly like the band's heyday. It's a knack that certain bands seem to hit. I am thinking mainly of Dinosaur Jr, and the Old 97s recently. Do they just go to the studio and it comes out? Is it Lyttle's unique voice and the Mercury Rev-style atmospheric guitars. Certainly not, or everyone would do it. If it was so easy, the Pixies and others would be able to just hit record. Indeed, if it was so easy Lyttle could do it himself(though his records have been pretty good)
So Last Place is deceptively easy sounding, but it wouldn't be so good if the band hadn't done something special. I compare it to Dinosaur Jr in terms that the past is so great, that it is seemingly impossible to put it into some historical artistic context, so all you can do is simply listen to the record over and over.
They did make enough effect on indie rock that they ultimately get their due. Indeed, even bands that arrived at the right time had to wait years like Jawbreaker before getting due recognition.
At this point, I doubt anyone but me remembers, but they arrived in that so important Kid A era and they were lumped in with bands like Elbow, Travis, Muse, Coldplay and many other bands that in hindsight weren't very similar at all. The band broke up in 2006, though Jason Lyttle has kept busy with solo work and projects like Admiral Radley and BNQT, as well as Jim Fairchild's All Smiles, so it has felt like they never completely went away.
It is exciting to see them back, though with some hesitation. For me, they reached their peak with The Sophtware Slump, and although all their albums are good, I doubt it can be replicated.
That said, their reunion record Last Place is welcome.
I am struck by how it sounds so effortlessly like the band's heyday. It's a knack that certain bands seem to hit. I am thinking mainly of Dinosaur Jr, and the Old 97s recently. Do they just go to the studio and it comes out? Is it Lyttle's unique voice and the Mercury Rev-style atmospheric guitars. Certainly not, or everyone would do it. If it was so easy, the Pixies and others would be able to just hit record. Indeed, if it was so easy Lyttle could do it himself(though his records have been pretty good)
So Last Place is deceptively easy sounding, but it wouldn't be so good if the band hadn't done something special. I compare it to Dinosaur Jr in terms that the past is so great, that it is seemingly impossible to put it into some historical artistic context, so all you can do is simply listen to the record over and over.
