_turks+soda

In the sea of music that floats around the interweb, blogs, ipods and whatever the hell else we use to drown out the sound of our own shitty lives, good songwriters seem to be far and few between. Recent years has shown that Indie music is trending towards a fuller, more synth-tastic sound, less concerned with the lyrical content that the music is supposed to help deliver. It is what it is, and I'm not saying its necessarily a bad thing, but Casio's, 808's and Autotune on everything can frag-out my brain. (For more on Fragile-X syndrome, follow here).



Taking a step back, I have dived back in to my lyrical heros: Stephen Malkmus (of Pavement), David Bazan (of Pedro The Lion), Jonathan Richman (of Modern Lovers), and finally Jason Lytle (of Grandaddy).



Well, just like the fambly cat, Grandaddy died a couple of years ago. Frontman Jason Lytle, the primary driving force behind the back, flew off the radar for a few years, going back to Modesto to do whatever it is you do in Modesto to keep from killing yourself. I would gather it involves cheap 12-packs, small firearms, and varments/neighbors' pets.

Jason Lytle is back, a little less somber and seemingly no worse for the wear. Playing all the instruments on the records, Lytle opens with the title track explaining "Last I heard I was left for dead/ I could give two shits about what was said/ I may be limping, but I'm coming home". Feeling all too forgotten, he seems to fight against the odds (most likely imposed by himself) and come out swinging.

Lyrically, Lytle's schtick is his voice. High, calm and drained, he delivers sad, bleak portraits of life, but with a very subtle sense of humor and optimism that makes him night and day when compared to Debby-Downer, Bon Iver.

On Yours Truly, he sings of talking to the ghosts of his old pets, reflecting on "how things got so bad", and pretty much emotionally kicking the shit out of himself. Believe it or not, it's a good summer album. It plays like the Traveling Wilburies and sounds like it too if you don't stop to pay attention to the lyrics, but that's the rub.

Read his interview with NPR here.