On another thread, I referenced a comment that Scott made about wanting to do a no-frills album with few overdubs. This actually might be the time period that you've indicated above. If so, I do remember something like that. Furthermore, "All In The Suit..." doesn't sound anything like SLDD-stylistically and was originally supposed to be on the Spider-Man soundtrack, but was pulled because it wouldn't be the lead single (if I remember the rumor correctly). Spider-Man was 2002.
The fact that Atlanta dates back to Tiny Music days, among other song ideas, they probably used some ideas for AoA and S/T.