EELS' Mark Oliver Everett is a loner who lost his parents, family and friends too young.

This has left this American analyst of fate in a humour that is both mordant and morbid, and with a fixation for the role of the outsider that goes deeper than the act of wearing pyjamas at his Grand Opera House show in York. Unless you know otherwise, there are no new obituaries to report in E's world since 2001's Souljacker but his mood has not changed. The wit is still sly and cynical yet can tear at the heart; the music is lived in and whimsical, warped folk that accommodates tartness and sweetness.

E writes of love and death and fellow loners, be it the stalker in Restraining Order Blues, the lonely in the lovely Love Of The Loveless or a child with time to fill before his parents awake on Saturday Morning. He is in danger of repeating himself, of not progressing with Beck's gift for surprise, but two more Eels records are in production, so maybe E will stand for experimentation next time.

Grandaddy are outsiders too, desert folk from Modesto, California, who gaze on this call-centre age with heavy-bearded resistance. After 2000's expansive The Sophtware Slump, songwriter, producer and sound astronaut Jason Lytle has cut back on the other-worldly synths and noodling, making a less scientific third album on his antediluvian quest for happiness. All the while, he is looking to say goodbye to "the season of the old me" yet fears change, lamenting "the fast pace is too much, here at the final push to the sum". Should you share his sentiments, in the words of the entry sign to Ripon, "Stay awhile amid its ancient charms".

Updated: 16:16 Thursday, June 05, 2003