Grandaddy has announced a new studio album Blu Wav set for release on February 16th, 2024 via Dangerbird. As a preview, bandleader Jason Lytle has shared the lead single “Watercooler.”
Lytle got the idea for Blu Wav — a mash-up of “bluegrass” and “new wave” — while he was driving through the Nevada desert listening to the classic country radio station. Patti Page’s “Tennessee Waltz” came on, and Lytle found himself mesmerized, thinking about what a classic bluegrass waltz would sound like with a new wave spin. It marks the first time Grandaddy have fully embraced a true country sound, while still staying true to their lo-fi roots.
Complete with a healthy dose of pedal steel (a Grandaddy first), “Watercooler” has the same sort of sublime melody you might hear on a classic country radio station, though it’s doused in some more contemporary, dreamy production. Its lyrics poke fun at Lytle’s dating history,...
Lytle got the idea for Blu Wav — a mash-up of “bluegrass” and “new wave” — while he was driving through the Nevada desert listening to the classic country radio station. Patti Page’s “Tennessee Waltz” came on, and Lytle found himself mesmerized, thinking about what a classic bluegrass waltz would sound like with a new wave spin. It marks the first time Grandaddy have fully embraced a true country sound, while still staying true to their lo-fi roots.
Complete with a healthy dose of pedal steel (a Grandaddy first), “Watercooler” has the same sort of sublime melody you might hear on a classic country radio station, though it’s doused in some more contemporary, dreamy production. Its lyrics poke fun at Lytle’s dating history,...
- 10/25/2023
- by Abby Jones
- Consequence - Music
Grandaddy return from an over half-decade recording hiatus with “Watercooler,” the first single from the indie rockers’ upcoming album Blu Wav.
The album gets its name from combining the genres “bluegrass” and “new wave,” with those two sounds clashing somehow seamlessly on the introductory track, which was accompanied by a typically (for the band) lo-fi and strange karaoke video:
“Most of my relationships have involved girls who worked in office settings,” frontman Jason Lytle said of “Watercooler” in a statement. “This song is about the end of one, or perhaps a few,...
The album gets its name from combining the genres “bluegrass” and “new wave,” with those two sounds clashing somehow seamlessly on the introductory track, which was accompanied by a typically (for the band) lo-fi and strange karaoke video:
“Most of my relationships have involved girls who worked in office settings,” frontman Jason Lytle said of “Watercooler” in a statement. “This song is about the end of one, or perhaps a few,...
- 10/25/2023
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Later this year, we’ll get to hear Bird Machine, a posthumous album from Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse. Before it’s out in full September 8th, a new single called “The Scull of Lucia” is available now, and it features guest vocals from Jason Lytle of slacker rockers Granddaddy.
Though Linkous was largely the main force behind Sparklehorse, Bird Machine was a group effort. Linkous was almost finished with his fifth album under the moniker before tragically taking his life in 2010; his brother Mark and sister-in-law Melissa, both of whom had been involved with Sparklehorse previously, pored over demo tapes and notes to bring the record to life.
“From the very first seconds of ‘The Scull of Lucia,’ I was transported to a different time,” the album’s producer Joel Hamilton said in a press release. “The recipe is unmistakably Sparklehorse: The pace, the sounds, the overall texture of the voice.
Though Linkous was largely the main force behind Sparklehorse, Bird Machine was a group effort. Linkous was almost finished with his fifth album under the moniker before tragically taking his life in 2010; his brother Mark and sister-in-law Melissa, both of whom had been involved with Sparklehorse previously, pored over demo tapes and notes to bring the record to life.
“From the very first seconds of ‘The Scull of Lucia,’ I was transported to a different time,” the album’s producer Joel Hamilton said in a press release. “The recipe is unmistakably Sparklehorse: The pace, the sounds, the overall texture of the voice.
- 7/11/2023
- by Abby Jones
- Consequence - Music
‘Witches of the Orient’ Review: Colorful, Thoughtful, Cinematic Essay on a Legendary Volleyball Team
Three years ago, filmmaker Julien Faraut, a documentarian attached to France’s Institute National de Sport, took a trove of John McEnroe footage and crafted the dazzling “In the Realm of Perfection,” a foundational text in the emergent micro-genre of the sports-documentary-that’s-not-really-about-sport. His new film, “Witches of the Orient,” may substitute volleyball for tennis, and loosely sketch out the Japanese women’s team that dominated the sport in the early 1960s, but it shares many of the hallmarks: a dreamy, glitchy, immersive soundtrack, a crackling editing style and a facility with 16mm archive footage that practically puts you inside its gorgeous grain.
But where the focus of “Realm” was so narrow that its peculiar thesis — that tennis and filmmaking are somehow analogous — emerged with thrilling clarity, “Witches” never quite finds its own unifying principle. And so for all the film’s playful artistry, the effect is more scattershot. Sometimes it’s almost self-contradictory,...
But where the focus of “Realm” was so narrow that its peculiar thesis — that tennis and filmmaking are somehow analogous — emerged with thrilling clarity, “Witches” never quite finds its own unifying principle. And so for all the film’s playful artistry, the effect is more scattershot. Sometimes it’s almost self-contradictory,...
- 7/7/2021
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Three years after debuting with the exhilarating essay film In the Realm of the Perfection (2018), about American tennis icon John McEnroe, French filmmaker Julien Faraut returns with a sports-related feature that dives even further into the well of cultural history. In The Witches of the Orient, Faraut looks east, to the story of a women’s volleyball team that became a sensation in Japan on their way to capturing Olympic gold in 1964. Formed in 1953 at the Nichibo Kaizuka textile factory, the team comprised a group of day laborers who by night practiced under the tutelage of a notoriously demanding coach to become an unstoppable force in the world of women’s volleyball, inspiring legions of fans and spawning untold numbers of manga comics and anime television programs in their likeness.Charting the team’s rise from their quaint origins in Osaka to their Olympic victory in Tokyo, Faraut—whose day...
- 3/1/2021
- MUBI
Steve Earle shared a trio of songs from his new album, J.T., on his second appearance on Rolling Stone’s In My Room series.
J.T., which was released earlier this month, finds Earle paying tribute to his son, Justin Townes Earle, who died from a probable drug overdose in August at the age of 38. Setting up in the kitchen of his New York City home, Earle spoke earnestly about the devastating loss, but said making J.T. — which features covers of 10 Townes Earle songs — turned out to be...
J.T., which was released earlier this month, finds Earle paying tribute to his son, Justin Townes Earle, who died from a probable drug overdose in August at the age of 38. Setting up in the kitchen of his New York City home, Earle spoke earnestly about the devastating loss, but said making J.T. — which features covers of 10 Townes Earle songs — turned out to be...
- 1/19/2021
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Aimee Mann celebrated the 20th anniversary of Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo by playing tracks for Rolling Stone’s In My Room.
Released in 2000, many of the album’s songs were featured in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. On Friday, Mann will honor the album’s anniversary with a vinyl-only reissue via Record Store Day’s Black Friday event.
Sitting down with a guitar in Los Angeles, Mann performed “Nothing Is Good Enough” and “Save Me.” She closed with “Philly Sinks,” off her most recent album,...
Released in 2000, many of the album’s songs were featured in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. On Friday, Mann will honor the album’s anniversary with a vinyl-only reissue via Record Store Day’s Black Friday event.
Sitting down with a guitar in Los Angeles, Mann performed “Nothing Is Good Enough” and “Save Me.” She closed with “Philly Sinks,” off her most recent album,...
- 11/23/2020
- by Angie Martoccio
- Rollingstone.com
To celebrate Friday’s release of Grandaddy’s The Sophtware Slump ….. on a wooden piano — a 20th anniversary-celebrating, piano-only reworking of the band’s classic 2000 LP — frontman Jason Lytle plays a trio of Grandaddy tracks for the latest installment of Rolling Stone’s In My Room series.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Lytle discussed The Sophtware Slump reissue as well as rerecording the album on his titular “wooden piano,” a decision made in part due to the coronavirus quarantine.
“Luckily I have a piano here in my living room which is my beloved,...
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Lytle discussed The Sophtware Slump reissue as well as rerecording the album on his titular “wooden piano,” a decision made in part due to the coronavirus quarantine.
“Luckily I have a piano here in my living room which is my beloved,...
- 11/20/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
It was an album created in isolation and, 20 years later, rerecorded under quarantine: The Sophtware Slump — the sophomore album by Modesto, California alt-rockers Grandaddy — arrived in 2000; the byproduct of frenzied sessions where frontman Jason Lytle recorded on (as the story goes) music equipment he had to return to the electronics store before the refund window expired.
Two decades later, faced with another deadline — the album’s impending 20th anniversary — Lytle, freshly relocated to the Los Angeles area, once again found himself alone in a room, revisiting the songs under similarly isolated circumstances.
Two decades later, faced with another deadline — the album’s impending 20th anniversary — Lytle, freshly relocated to the Los Angeles area, once again found himself alone in a room, revisiting the songs under similarly isolated circumstances.
- 11/19/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Grandaddy have shared their “wooden piano” version of “Underneath the Weeping Willow” from the band’s upcoming 20th-anniversary reissue of The Sophtware Slump.
For the reissue, frontman Jason Lytle rerecorded the entire LP during quarantine on a “wooden piano,” scaling back the LP’s songs to capture “the totality of that original vision.”
“Underneath the Weeping Willow,” The Sophtware Slump’s midpoint, was already a piano ballad in its previous incarnation, but here Lytle removes the song’s electronic undertones to give it a warmer feel.
The four-lp The Sophtware Slump 20th-Anniversary Collection,...
For the reissue, frontman Jason Lytle rerecorded the entire LP during quarantine on a “wooden piano,” scaling back the LP’s songs to capture “the totality of that original vision.”
“Underneath the Weeping Willow,” The Sophtware Slump’s midpoint, was already a piano ballad in its previous incarnation, but here Lytle removes the song’s electronic undertones to give it a warmer feel.
The four-lp The Sophtware Slump 20th-Anniversary Collection,...
- 10/23/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Grandaddy have shared their “wooden piano” version of “The Crystal Lake” off the band’s upcoming 20th-anniversary reissue of The Sophtware Slump.
For the reissue, along with the beloved 2000 album, frontman Jason Lytle recently rerecorded the entire LP on a “wooden piano,” stripping down each song to capture “the totality of that original vision”; the piano version of “The Crystal Lake” puts emphasis on its melancholic lyrics. Lytle previously shared “Jed’s Other Poem (Beautiful Ground” from the companion album.
Lytle recorded The Sophtware Slump… on a Wooden Piano at home during the Covid-19 quarantine.
For the reissue, along with the beloved 2000 album, frontman Jason Lytle recently rerecorded the entire LP on a “wooden piano,” stripping down each song to capture “the totality of that original vision”; the piano version of “The Crystal Lake” puts emphasis on its melancholic lyrics. Lytle previously shared “Jed’s Other Poem (Beautiful Ground” from the companion album.
Lytle recorded The Sophtware Slump… on a Wooden Piano at home during the Covid-19 quarantine.
- 9/25/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Grandaddy will reissue their beloved 2000 LP The Sophtware Slump this fall with a 20th anniversary edition that features the original album, a collection of rarities and a newly recorded rendition of the album that frontman Jason Lytle recorded solo on a wooden piano.
The 4Lp The Sophtware Slump 20th Anniversary Collection, available to preorder now via Dangerbird prior to the reissue’s November 20th release, will include The Sophtware Slump ….. on a wooden piano, a solo version of the entire album that Lytle recorded at home during the Covid-19 quarantine.
The 4Lp The Sophtware Slump 20th Anniversary Collection, available to preorder now via Dangerbird prior to the reissue’s November 20th release, will include The Sophtware Slump ….. on a wooden piano, a solo version of the entire album that Lytle recorded at home during the Covid-19 quarantine.
- 8/28/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Grandaddy have unveiled their sprawling new song “Bison on the Plains,” the band’s first new music since releasing their reunion album Last Place in March 2017.
The synth-heavy song was inspired by the Cars’ 1984 single “Drive,” frontman Jason Lytle said in a statement. “Setting out with the intent of replicating the ‘feel and vibe’ of the song ‘Drive’ which is one of my favorite Cars songs …I got a little of the way into “Bison on the Plains” (Botp) and realized I had failed,” Lytle said.
Unable to finish the...
The synth-heavy song was inspired by the Cars’ 1984 single “Drive,” frontman Jason Lytle said in a statement. “Setting out with the intent of replicating the ‘feel and vibe’ of the song ‘Drive’ which is one of my favorite Cars songs …I got a little of the way into “Bison on the Plains” (Botp) and realized I had failed,” Lytle said.
Unable to finish the...
- 11/20/2018
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
As his freshly reunited band preps for a few California dates, Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle has announced a new solo record. Dept Of Disappearance will be released Oct. 16 on Anti- and will be supported by a series of solo dates this fall. The album’s title track is streaming over on Pitchfork. According to a label press release, Dept Of Disappearance “plays like an emotionally resonant soundtrack for a nonexistent cinematic masterpiece,” meaning it’s probably not all that different from other Grandaddy and Lytle solo records—not that that's a bad thing. Lytle’s last solo effort ...
- 7/30/2012
- avclub.com
Perhaps consider this a bit of a spoiler post, at least musically. So if you want to go in blind to John Hillcoat's prohibition drama "Lawless," we suggest you divert your eyes now. For the rest of you still with us, man, the soundtrack to "Lawless" is just one more reason to get excited for the film which lands on August 29th. By now you know it boasts an incredible cast including Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain, Guy Pearce, Mia Wasikowska, Gary Oldman, Shia Labeouf and Jason Clarke. You also know that the score was written by longtime Hillcoat collaborators Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, who wrote the haunting scores for "The Proposition," "The Road" and "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (the multi-hyphenate Cave, an author, also wrote the "Lawless" screenplay).
What we didn't know was that their musical contributions to the film would be...
What we didn't know was that their musical contributions to the film would be...
- 5/24/2012
- by The Playlist
- The Playlist
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