Grandaddy to Release Mixtape, Next LP Due in '05

Been a while since a friend, bandmate, lab partner, or possible romantic liaison laid a lovingly compiled mix on you? Don't despair; Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle's here to fill the void, and he's including a little unreleased gem of his own. Below the Radio-- a compilation featuring a host of Lytle-approved deep cuts from Beck, Beulah, Earlimart, Pavement, and many other cool-guy types-- surfaces October 18th on new label Ultra Records.

"After looking back over this list of my favorite songs I've compiled, I can't help but notice how they are not big 'heavy hitters' off of the albums that they came from, or the songs that the record labels would have suggested as being 'singles,'" Lytle said via the official Grandaddy website. "They did, though, end up being my favorite songs from those albums, and this fact has intrigued me since childhood. Why am I usually more smitten with the unobvious hits than the obvious hits? Somewhere in this list lies the answer."

The kicker? The mix climaxes with a brand new Grandaddy track, entitled "Nature Anthem", which is expected to appear on the band's next album, which is slated for release in this spring. "This song is paying tribute to being outdoors (or hopefully a nice version of outdoors)," said Lytle. "I got some help with the singing by a bunch of kids in front of a campfire. Oh yeah... and we were all swaying side to side as we sang it."

01 Beck: "We Live Again"
02 Beulah: "Burned By The Sun"
03 Earlimart: "Color Bars"
04 Snow Patrol: "Run"
05 Golden Boy: "Wild Was the Night"
06 Giant Sand: "Bottom Line Man"
07 Fruitbats: "The Little Acorn"
08 Home: "Comin' Up Empty Again"
09 Jackpot: "If We Could Go Backwards"
10 The Handsome Family: "I Feel"
11 Little Wings: "Sand Canyon"
12 Pavement: "Motion Suggests"
13 Blonde Redhead: "For The Damaged"
14 Virgil Shaw: "Twisted Layers"
15 Grandaddy: "Nature Anthem"