Customer Reviews

Signal to Snow Ratio

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This EP is the precursor to "The Sophtware Slump", Grandaddy's sweeping, brilliant second full-length album, and marks the bands continued maturation into one of the premier indie rock bands of our day. Although the band wisely held back its best material for TSS, this EP is certainly a worthy effort, and the stunningly beautiful "Protected From The Rain" makes this an absolute must-own for all Grandaddy fans. A reflection of a love lost, singer Jason Lytle sings of how "I come to these places/just to see the girls/with hair like hers/with clothes like she wore/with smells like hers/with handwriting like hers." He goes on to recall the simple yet deeply meaningful acts of his lost lover: "..you brought me lunch/that time at my work/and that poem you left/on my windshield/wrapped in plastic/to protect it from the rain". The simple eloquence of these words is remarkably evocative, and when sung against a stark piano melody, the results are devastating and heartbreaking. But all is not shadows, there is also light here, in the fuzzed out guitar and synthesized bleeps and blips of "Hand-Crank Transmitter", and the punky toss-off "MGM Grand". Rounding things is out is "Jed's Other Poem", a putative creation from the vocoder-voiced robot built of cast-off appliance parts, who features prominently in TSS.

Before Grandaddy released its hit indie album "Sophtware Slump," there was the EP "Signal To Snow Radio." Aside from being a good EP, it's a good sampling of the band's work -- the slow stuff, the fun stuff, and the sort of folkie-psychedelic melodies that they do so well.

The psychedelic-folk strums of "Hand Crank Transmitter" kick off the EP, followed by the fizzling piano-violin ballad "Jeddy 3's Poem." A poppier sensibility crops up in the catchy "MGM Grand" before dipping into the reminiscence-filled love ballad "Protected From The Rain."

Rippling electronic flourishes mix with gentle piano and violins in songs like "Protected." At the same time, slightly fuzzy guitars and bass can swirl, strum and resonate in "MGM" and the more monotonous "Hand Crank Transmitter." At one point, it even sounds like there is a jackhammer in the background.

The Grandaddy sense for the strange and wondrous is alive and well in these songs, but mixed in with more plaintive, heartfelt songs about lost love ("You wrote me little letters and/you brought me lunch that time/at my work and that poem you left/on my windshield wrapped in plastic/to protect it from the rain...")

Pretty or poppy, the songs of Grandaddys pre-"Sophtware" EP "Signal To Snow Ratio" are a collection of nicely-done psychedelic songs.

Short but very sweet, this EP contains no duds, all gems, everything you would expect from a solid EP (like those wonderful EP's by Durutti Column, Cocteau Twins...) I bought this via a recommendation from the magazine Ptolemaic Terrascope, who didn't use any name-dropping to describe the band's sound...and I can say here that I really can't do that either...but elements of bands occasionally pop up like the High Llamas-esque "Hand Crank Transmitter" (...)...love "MGM Grand"...the synthesizer is so well used on this EP...everything is...SO much more than the rest of that power-pop stuff out there...it's TRULY fresh and new, though timeless. and at $4, you can't lose. you just can't.

This is a terriffic ep. I found it randomly at a record store, bought it based on their work on Sophtware Slump, and was pleased to discover an excellent blend of their dense arrangements with a poppy-er feeling than that other masterpiece. Every song here is perfectly hummable ("At the MGM Grand" has been stuck in my head for days). Speaking of MGM, what an incredibly surreal and bizzare song, what with the flying dead lions and all! If I was trapped on a mountain, I think this would be my ideal album to listen to while waiting through the night to see if my rescuers would arrive. Beautiful, funny, catchy, disturbing, lonely and warm, all at the same time.

this ep is excellent and if you like the unusual lyrical melodies of grandaddy, then buy this ep for the song "MGM Grand" alone. Fantastic. they're the best band going today.

I've noticed everyone headed straight to The Sophtware Slump. While that's fine, and a great album, don't forget their first full-length "Under the Western Freeway" which is just as good.

In summary, get:
Under the Western Freeway
The Sophtware Slump
Concrete Dunes
Sumday
Signal to Snow Ratio
The Diary of Todd Zilla
and be on the lookout for their 2006 full-length farewell album

Hey Ross you never told me you finished recording. I'll call you at City Skates some time.