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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

The Sophtware Slump
by Grandaddy


9.6

based on 11 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 31 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

The Modesto, CA band returns with a concept album reminiscent of Radiohead's 'OK Computer.'

LABEL:	V2
RELEASE DATE:	07 November 2000
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Indie, Rock, Rock

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

All Music Guide

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.

Wall of Sound

The perfect soundtrack for workers clearing out their cubicles and trudging away after their short-lived high-tech careers abruptly ended. The 11 songs capture a bittersweet tone perfectly -- sadly witnessing cultural wreckage and detritus but finding glimmers of beauty.

Pitchfork

The Sophtware Slump manages to sound reasonably fresh, yields its share of unshakable melodies, and excels in production. This is quite possibly the last great entry in the atmospheric pop canon.

Mojo

The use of computers and electronic SFX here emphasises their dark, distorting, disturbing qualities...

Nude As The News

The Sophtware Slump more than makes up for its repetitiveness with sheer atmosphere and brilliance.

HOB.com

What is most striking about The Sophtware Slump, besides the band's resonating compositions, is its subtle approach towards invoking a strong cathartic response. It's at times a sleepy record with songs that only work as an afterthought, or only make sense when you can focus enough attention on what the band is actually saying. But it has just enough on the surface to strike an initial interest that unfolds, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, into the many brilliant aspects of this album and band.

Neumu.net

Singer/writer/producer Jason Lytle has a little bit of Neil Young in his voice and Radiohead in his production style.

Q Magazine

Grandaddy sound like a lo-fi ELO and, in frontman Jason Lytle, possess an admirably unusual songwriter. Sophtware Slump is more coherent than their 1997 debut Under The Western Freeway, Lytle having settled on a theme: knackered electronics.... Cheap, cheerful and utterly charming.

Rolling Stone

Lytle's rigorous, knotty songwriting skills check his band's yen for indie-rock messiness. And when everything coheres at the end, with the outstanding soul and reverie of "Miner at the Dial-a-View" and "So You'll Aim Toward the Sky," Grandaddy can be exhilarating.

Sonicnet

It opens with a nine-minute song. It's a concept album. Worse still, it's a science fiction concept album. With songs about robots. But here's the thing: Every time I listen to it, I don't hate it.... The combination of prog-rock ambition, scrappy sounds and the odd hip reference almost make it feel like Pink Floyd growing up and making a disc in the post-Beck era.

Ink Blot Magazine

Almost every song here seems unfinished, and while the The Sophtware Slump sounds great -- misfiring machines duel elegant pianos, guitars chug and grind, ancient synthesizers burst through the top end - it never goes much of anywhere.

The average user rating for this album is 9.6 (out of 10) based on 31 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Hungerford S. gave it a10:
Masterpiece.. This is the kind of album that is best listened to all the way through. It is greater than the sum of it's parts. Truly unbelievable. Thanks Grandaddy.

Ray W. gave it a9:
wondrous stuff, warm, fuzzy pop masterpiece, it has dated much better than the radiohead or flaming lips albums it's often compared to.

R Skells gave it a9:
This album is beautiful. The songs are original, both in the prodiction and in the subject matter. it is a wonderfully accessible way to introduce yourself to one of America's finest indie bands.

MOSHE K gave it a10:
masterpiece!

amit a gave it a10:
masterpiece!

Joseph L gave it an8:
This is a weaker ok computer. But not really that much weaker, just lacking the crushing swells until late in the album. The vocals completely clone wayne coyne, but that's fine with me. Listen to it on a real stereo though, otherwise the first half of the album sounds flat. Jed's Other Poem and particularly So You'll Aim Toward the Sky are incredible.

Jessica K gave it a9:
I can't listen to the album without feeling the piano in my very soul. It is breath-taking

The Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy

The Sophtware Slump
by Grandaddy