Grandaddy

The concept behind Below the Radio is that you — the independent music consumer and/or poseur — admire Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle so much that you’re willing to pawn your bowling shoes for a K-Tel collection of his favorite songs. Hyped as a “mix tape,” the compilation includes Lytle-picked tracks from up-and-comers Fruit Bats, Earlimart and Snow Patrol, as well as graying icons like Beck, Pavement and Giant Sand. There’s even one new Grandaddy track — the hold-hands-and-sway indie gospel sing-along “Nature Anthem. “ For maximum marketability and cross-selling appeal, most of the fifteen tracks tread musical ground very similar to that tilled by the Modesto beard farmers: spaced-out, sad-sack rock with a vaguely Americana flair. It could be called Now! That’s What I Call Indie Rock! The good news is that Lytle chose to champion a number of criminally underexposed odes and artists. The bad news is that this is not a new Grandaddy disc.