As soon as I get back from Quebec, I'm off to see Grandaddy at the Opera House. I have to confess I like Sumday. Songs like "The Group Who Couldn't Say" sound raw and unprocessed, yet manage to also sound sophisticated, at least for this type of rock. And I especially liked "The Final Push To The Sum" and "The Warming Sun," both cute ballads with some interesting effects and synths.

I guess I'd heard enough about Sumday to be a bit careful. "Nothing like Radiohead. Sometimes like the Flaming Lips." But making comparisons won't do justice to this cool album. Unless we compare them to themselves...

And Sumday sounds far more upbeat, at least the lyrics do, than The Sophtware Slump. Not that depressing isn't good. It's just that they do the (sorta) happy thing so well. And it seems that Grandaddy's mix of organic and electronic has changed as well, now featuring some fake sounding (sampled?) strings once in a while, with the synths doing little blippy things here and there. The drums sound like they were done in small rooms throughout. Which is all good by me.

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