Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla

Artist: Grandaddy
Label: V2
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: EP
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1
EAN: 5033197352923
ASIN: B000ARHNKI

Release Date: 2005-10-11

Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla

Related Categories:

General

| Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock

| Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Neo-Psychedelia

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock

| Pop | Styles | Music

Rock

| Imports | Stores | Music

Tracks:

Pull The Curtains
At My Post
A Valley Son (Sparing)
Cinderland
F**K The Valley Fudge
Florida
Goodbye?

Album Description

When bands go a few years between albums, it's sometimes nice to know what they've been up to before that next LP comes out. And now we can thank dear ol' Grandaddy for squeezing out a little taste of what's to come with a new EP entitled Excerpts From the Diary of Todd Zilla. Recorded at Lytle's home studio in Ceres, Calif., on older equipment - none of that "glitzy 24-track" business - its eight tracks will not appear on the band's forthcoming fifth full-length. Tracks: 'Pull My Curtains', 'At My Post', 'A Valley Son (Sparing)', 'Cinderland', 'Fu*k The Valley Fudge, 'Florida', 'Goodbye?' and 'Hidden Health Announcement'. V2. 2005.

Customer Reviews:

Go west, young Lytle.......2005-12-10

Fans of Grandaddy, listen hard to "Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla," because the band might not be around much longer.

The California space-rock band hits a transition point in this EP, the precursor to their forthcoming fifth album, and the feelings of the frontman are printed all over in neon letters. In short: Jason Lytle wants out of Modesto.

The EP opens with a pair of their signature delicate, dreamy rock songs -- acoustic guitar, gentle piano, schizophrenic synth, with Lytle droning merrily over the festive noise. I think he's singing about drinking all the beer, but I'm not entirely sure. That sound carries over into the quietly cold "F*ckk the Valley Fudge," and the ghostly ballad "Goodbye."

And if "Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla EP" had been only four songs long, it would have been an uncontestable winner.

Unfortunately, Lytle tacked on a pair of songs that clash horribly with the rest of his music: the raucous "Florida," which sounds like a misguided attempt to go punk, complete with Lytle's hoarse screamo yells in the middle of it. And "Pull the Curtains," while excellent musically, simply doesn't fit in with its roiling guitars and laser-sharp synth.

Dissatisfaction is at the heart of "Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla" -- to be precise, dissatisfaction with Modesto. With Lytle planning to relocate to Los Angeles, it's not surprising that his feelings would come out in his music. Including the sense of change that accompanies moving.

And there's no problem wkith a musician changing and growing. But unfortunately these growths don't suit Lytle. Not his voice, his music, or much else. The fuzzy, surreal "Cinderland" is the kind of experimentation that suits Lytle -- it explores new territory, but it's still very weird and pretty. And the spacey acoustics harken back to his prior albums' style.

Music Album:

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Rat Pack by Request ~ Bobby Zee & Zoe

Turk Murphy's San Francisco Jazz Band ~ Turk Murphy

Fantastic Outstanding Incredib

Dazzling Days ~ Yosuke Yamashita

The Dig ~ Larry Finn & Anthony Vitti

A Songs that Won the War, Vol. 5: Wing and a Prayer ~ Various Artists

Musics of the Earth ~ Various Artists

Origin's Hesitation ~ Fushitsusha (Keiji Haino)

50th Anniversary Zenkyokushuu ~ Akira Kobayashi

Die Hutte Brennt V.2 ~ Various Artists