I spent a good part of this morning unsuccessfully looking for an old black & white Halo Benders promotional photo from the mid 1990s.  I’ve been working the same type of hustle that I am now for half of my life and, when I was in high school, I spent the majority of my focus on getting companies to send me free shit for my marketing program’s “trade show” projects.  The Calvin Johnson founded, K Records was one of the most helpful and provided me with tons of merchandise and materials, including that Halo Benders photo, which was intended to hype the group’s sophomore effort, Don’t Tell Me Now (1996).  Two years prior, when Johnson (Beat Happening) first started the side project with Doug Martsch (Built to Spill), I had begun hearing the song “Don’t Touch My Bikini” on the local community college radio station.  Both keeping with and ending their pattern of dropping a new album every other year, Halo Benders released their final album, The Rebels Not In, in 1998.  That release contained “Virginia Reel Around the Fountain“, a song that is still a regular feature on Built To Spill set-lists to this day.  Calvin hopped on stage with BTS for a few random cameos throughout the following decade and the group reunited with a slightly altered lineup for a pair of shows in Boise, Idaho.  There have even been some random non-confirmed rumors of a possible new album and/or comeback but, for all intents and purposes, The Halo Benders were a Nineties band.  At one point or another during that initial run, the side-project even made an infamous, yet rarely seen, appearance on a quintessential 90‘s television program.  Thanks to today’s technology, the footage from that fiasco is just one more thing that has managed to resurface in our current times. (more…)

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Exciting and heart breaking, and original, yet familiar; Built to Spill’s new album is everything that I had hoped that it would be.  There is No Enemy is comprised of eleven tracks which were recorded over a span of three years.   I have to admit that, when you love a band as much as I love this one, there is always a huge fear of disappointment that accompanies the anticipation of a new release.  This is especially true when a band has been around for a while and they seem unlikely to produce anything that could out-do what they have already created in the past.  For the many who share these concerns, I am elated to report to you that, Yes, I am in love with this album, and Yes, I do want to marry it.

The band is still based around Doug Martsch and his usual group of cohorts (Scott Plouf , Brett Nelson , Jim Roth, and Brett Netson), but this album also features numerous other guest musicians and past collaborators.  Sam Coomes (Quasi), cellist John McMahon, Scott Schmaljohn (Treepeople), and Paul Leary (Butthole Surfers) all make appearances.  Martsch’s wife, Karena Youtz is even credited with providing “some lyrics”, but this isn’t anything entirely new. She actually helped to write “Cleo“, one of my favorite songs from their 1994 release, There’s Nothing Wrong With Love.

There is no Enemy seems much less abstract than Built to Spill’s previous work, but it is no less profound. (more…)

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15 years ago, a Boise, Idaho music compilation entitled Rotating Tongues was released.  Much like Seattle‘s infamous Deep Six grunge compilation, which was reissued that same year, 1994′s Idaho counterpart worked as a definitive representation of the unique musical climate and artists in the Boise area during that time.  The album featured artists like The Dirt Farmers and Caustic Resin, as well as what is, arguably, the most “successful” band to rise from that scene, Built To Spill.  A decade and a half later, Rotating Tongues 2 has finally been released and, although Built To Spill is not featured on the sequel, frontman Doug Martsch has returned to contribute another exclusive track for the compilation. (more…)

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The sun finally arrived in Seattle.  On Friday, May 29th, I was laying on my couch, most likely in my drawls, and staring, head tilted, at my computer screen.  Neck sweat was accumulating under my beard; grimy and thick, like it was mixed with fruit pectin.  Nothing was happening, and it was the nicest day of the year.  I was still procrastinating about filling out my unemployment paper work when I received an email from our writer, Onsen, telling me about a free show at UW, only a few hours later.  Generally, I wouldn’t be too interested, however, the headliners were supposed to be Built To Spill.

I was skeptical at first, but it seemed to look legit.  The lineup would start with a local band, Smile Brigade, who would be followed by Ra Ra Riot and then, BTS.  I sent a text about the show to anyone that I thought would be interested, jumped in the shower, charged up my camera, and headed out with my girlfriend.  The bus never showed up and, about 45 minutes later, we finally reached Seattle’s University District.  After eating a giant gyro, I headed in to the Upper Playground to talk to the manager, Jen, and let her know about the free event.  No one that I informed about the show had heard anything about it and I was beginning to to wonder if this thing was even really going down.  If it was, I didn’t have any idea about what the set up would be.  There was a possibility that the performance was solely open to UW students and faculty.  If that was true, it also meant that there would be a very likely possibility that I was going to be jumping a fence and/or being chased by security.  I smoke too much and can’t run as fast, but I was set on getting in.  I saw MOS DEF at the UW‘s HUB building 10 years ago and got into to that one by transferring a UV stamp off of some random girls wrist. (more…)

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