Features Disc of the day
Built To Spill
Perfect From Now On
(City Slang/Warners, 1997)
Boise, Idaho guitar hero’s nerve-shattering third album.
This week sees singer/guitarist Doug Martsch bring Built To Spill back to the UK to play the band’s third album in its entirety at one of ATP’s inspired Don’t Look Back shows. Released in 1997, Perfect From Now On became a turning point for the band in more ways than one. Their first album for Warner Brothers, sonically it was a triumph of indie dream-realising. A set of epic, articulate essays in which Martsch’s stream of consciousness ideas are stitched seamlessly together with just enough studio gloss to sound impressively otherworldly but never disjointed. Though they have much in common with Pavement’s meandering aesthetic, the songs are more psychedelic and less abrasive, though they successfully juggle with similarly complicated arrangements and jagged guitar play. And while Stephen Malkmus addressed the indie nation knowingly, tongue in cheek, Doug was a more fragile soul. An emotional dreamer, gazing into space from the back row while Malkmus led the indie underclass in revolt. On nifty six-minute opener Randy Described Eternity he’s a small, plaintive voice shouting into a hurricane (“stop making that sound!”) while Untrustable Part 2 closes the album with Doug concluding sadly that “God is whoever you perform for”.
Someone, somewhere must have thought that, like Pavement, Built To Spill could go overground, but a tour with Foo Fighters the year this came out pushed Martsch over the edge and the breakthrough turned to breakdown. Though the follow-up was if anything more pop (1999’s irresistible Keep It Like A Secret), Martsch couldn’t face overseas touring and resigned from the international fame game. These days, Built To Spill’s records rarely even get released in the UK, though the fervour of their cult following remains undimmed. See you down the front.
Jenny Bulley
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 04/11/2008
Further Listening
Pavement – Slanted And Enchanted (Cargo, 1992)
Dinosaur Jr - Where You Been (Blanco Y Negro, 1993)
Built To Spill – Keep It Like A Secret (Warner Bros, 1999)
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Being a grade A pavement fan I heard the comparisons here and thought I better go check it out. Very glad I did and I'm now wondering how I'd never managed to hear of them before!
On top of Pavement there's a line of Neil Young/Dinosaur Jr type skronk sound running through this in the guitars and the wounded vocal style. Thanks for the tip, now one of my faves! If you're into any of the other bands mentioned here you should find this lot out too.
Posted by Krist at 10:18 AM GMT 01/12/2008 Report Abuse
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