Show Review: Built to Spill

BTS frontman, Doug Martsch. Photo Credit: Chris FoitoThe doors for Built to Spill opened at 7:00 PM at the State Theater in Ithaca, NY.  A handful of enthusiastic fans that had gathered outside of the building immediately swarmed to the very front of the theater to ensure their front row views. 

Shortly after 8:00, the first opening band played an energetic thirty-minute set, complete with 80's metal hair.  Violent Soho is a 4-piece garage rock band from Queensland, Australia.  Their polite, mild-mannered demeanor between songs was an enormous contrast with their head-banging and spirited performance. 

At around 9:00, Disco Doom played a less lively, but still engaging, forty-five-minute set.  To end their first song, the entire band repeated a simple three-note riff for around five minutes while the guitarist layered noise and distortion on top, creating a pulsating wall of noise.  The result was incredibly atmospheric and almost hypnotic.  The opening bands were enjoyable - Disco Doom provided some especially outstanding moments - but it was clear that everyone was eagerly awaiting the main event. 

When Built to Spill finally took the stage a few minutes past 10:00, the first fans through the door had been waiting for over three hours.  This didn't seem to dampen the crowd's enthusiasm, however, as Doug Martsch and company started into a set filled with a little bit of everything.  With a new album, There is No Enemy (2009), released to generally favorable reviews only two days previous to the show.   The band managed to play at least one song off of each of their seven albums, making sure to maintain a balance between new and old material.

Martsch is the main creative force behind Built to Spill, writing the songs and lyrics as well providing the distinctive vocals and guitar playing.  The rest of the band includes Brett Nelson on bass, Jim Roth on guitar, and Scott Plouf on the drums.

Built to Spill broke into the indie world with their sophomore album, 1994's There's Nothing Wrong with Love.  Standouts such as "Car" and "Big Dipper" prove without a doubt that Martsch is an outstanding songwriter and lyricist.  While There's Nothing Wrong with Love is crammed full of concise three-minute pop gems, their next album, Perfect From Now On, released three years later in 1997, proves that Built to Spill is not a one-trick pony.  The songs are much longer and more complex, with many long instrumental passages.  Martsch takes his cues from Dinosaur Jr. front man J Mascis for the sprawling guitar solos that frequent the album.  It is partly Built to Spill's ability to balance these two different aspects - a catchy pop sensibility and a more epic, guitar driven sound - that distinguishes them from the masses of indie rock bands playing today.

The show opened with "Traces," a track from 2006's You in Reverse.  From there, the band delved into its other albums, with the first five songs all coming from separate albums.  Only two tracks ("Hindsight" and "Done") were played from their most recent album.  Built to Spill provided the crowd with several fan favorites such as "Big Dipper" and "Carry the Zero," although quite a few of their most popular songs - most notably "Car" and "Liar" - were conspicuously absent

It was a shame that the vocals were so hard to understand in a live setting, seeing as Martsch's thoughtful lyrics are a major part of Built to Spill's appeal.  The majority of the audience appeared to have most of the songs completely memorized, but for anyone present with a less impressive knowledge of Built to Spill, an incredibly important element might have been missing.

With the exception of a few over-zealous fans who thought it would be a good idea to climb up on the stage, the crowd was relatively docile (and those that were a bit too excited were promptly sorted out by security).  Martsch would exchange the occasional comment or "thank you" with the audience, but mostly he requested lights to be turned up or down or for changes to be made to the volume of the instruments.  For "Nowhere Nothin' Fuckup," Built to Spill's semi-cover of The Velvet Underground's "Oh, Sweet Nuthin'," Martsch asked for the lights to be turned on over the audience.

After the long wait for the band to begin, it was a bit disappointing to see them leave the stage after a mere hour and ten minutes.  Built to Spill returned several minutes later for a two-song encore, to the delight of the eager audience.   The band seemed happy to be there, however, and the shortness of the set in no way turned the show into a disappointment.

Sixteen years after the release of their first album, Built to Spill shows no sign of slowing down.  More importantly, the quality of their output remains as high as it has ever been.  It is this consistent high standard that has come to be expected of Built to Spill that made their first visit to Ithaca's State Theater a success.

5 Built to Spill Essentials:

1. Big Dipper Poppy, short, and unbelievably catchy, "Big Dipper" is a great introduction to the more conventional side of Built to Spill.

2. Randy Described Eternity The opening track of Perfect From Now On demonstrates the evolution of Built to Spill's sound.  A 6-minute epic about... it's not really clear, but Martsch's lyrics never take on an obvious meaning. The abstract, space-oriented lyrics only serve to make it more memorable.

3. Carry the Zero An upbeat track off of Keep it Like a Secret, and a good example of the aforementioned balance between the two aspects of Built to Spill's sound.

4. Car With its intriguing lyrics ("I want to see movies of my dreams"), simple yet catchy musical structure, and strings, "Car" might be the best way to get acquainted with Built to Spill.

5. Hindsight Arguably the strongest moment from their new album, There is No Enemy, "Hindsight" is a good starting point to start appreciating Built to Spill's more recent output.

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