BUILT TO SPILL

BUILT TO SPILL
KEEP IT LIKE A SECRET (1999)
320 KBPS

This is an album I love and respect each time I listen to it. I respect it because Doug Martsch engages in some self-abnegation in order to produce more finely crafted, balanced songs. Much like guitar myth Richard Thompson, who saves most his guitar heroics for live performances, Martsch largely abstains from the astounding solos at which he excels in live shows in order to keep the focus on the songs. This isn't to say that he doesn't plan some amazing guitar on the album; indeed, the album stands almost as an encyclopedia of the uses to which a guitar can be put in a song. But it is to say that instead of solos or instrumental breaks that showcase his formidable skills as a guitarist, he opts instead for using his instrument as a means of texturing and coloring each songs. Martsch largely achieves this by magically synthesizing a host of predecessor guitarists. Contrast him with Thompson again for a moment: Thompson constantly plays guitar parts that sound like no one else in the history of guitar. Martsch constantly plays bits that sound like earlier guitarists, but the genius comes from the way he seamlessly blends them together to achieve a magical synthesis. He can sound in the span of a few songs like guitarists as varied as Johnny Marr of The Smiths, Neil Young, Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd of Television, J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., Greg Sage, Richard Quine, Robbie Robertson, Bob Mould, and even the Edge. But it is Martsch's ability to spin on a dime to channel some guitar trick he picked up from somewhere and blend it with something else he learned in another place that can make this album so sonically exhilarating.
Thanks to Martsch's genius on guitar, these songs are perfectly crafted entities, but that doesn't mean that the album as a whole is perfect. As much as I adore Martsch as a musician and writer, he isn't the most compelling vocalist on the planet, and if you were to search for the album's weak link, it is his singing. He isn't a bad vocalist; he simply doesn't sing as well as he does everything else. Also, I don't care for the way the voice is balanced with the rest of the band's elements. The voice is way back in the mix, and barely stands out from the multi-tracked guitars, bass, and drums. Compare him again with Thompson, who always has his voice (admittedly a bit stronger than Martsch's) at the front of the mix. On nearly every song the band tends to obscure what is happening vocally, which is a shame because the lyrics are frequently quite interesting.
Still, this remains one of the finest alternative albums of the late nineties, and a must-own for anyone who loves great music or a master guitarist. The songs are all absolutely brilliant, veritable kaleidoscopes of sound.

1. The Plan
2. Center Of The Universe
3. Carry The Zero
4. Sidewalk
5. Bad Light
6. Time Trap
7. Else
8. You Were Right
9. Temporarily Blind
10. Broken Chairs