With tired comparisons to Pavement and Radiohead, Grandaddy has fought to establish a distinctive sound, fusing organic and mechanical elements into synth-drenched atmospheric pop. Unfortunately, artistically definitive characteristics lend themselves to becoming irritating idiosyncrasies. While as a whole, Todd Zilla boasts a considerably less pop-centric sound than their previous disc, Sumday, less pop doesn’t necessarily yield more substance, as the disc suffers from over-the-top simplicity. Whereas previously, this sense of sameness formed a dreamy, cohesive quality, on Todd Zilla the concept backfires into the painful realm of extreme repetitiveness. As for the band’s trademark technological quirks, they too become compromised as beeps and melodic clicks are traded in for old-school, grey-box Nintendo sound effects. At least it’s only an EP. If anything, Grandaddy fans will have a 2006 full-length release to look forward to, hoping that through it, the band proves to possess enough raw talent and creative stretch to live up to their lofty counterparts once and for all.
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