S
OUNDTRACK: BUILT TO SPILL-There is No Enemy (2009).
It took only three years for Built to Spill to release this, their seventh full length. I have mentioned this disc before, and I loved it then. And I love it now.
“Aisle 13” starts with some echoed sounds and then big echoing chords which quickly resolve into a great BtS song. And after the lengthy songs of the previous records, it’s amazing to hear a song (or several) tha are under 4 minutes. The album is also full of some great (if odd) lyrics like: “one day I’ll come home to find you covered with ants because you are so sweet.”
“Hindsight” has two separate great riffs in it (and the great line: “is that grass only greener because its fake”). “Nowhere Lullaby” is a slow ballad with a great vocal line (and strings). “Good Ol’ Boredom” is almost a dance song—a fast drums beat and echoey guitar intro (although there’s a signature BtS guitar riff over the top). I like the slide guitar solo in the middle and the lengthy jam section which trades off guitar solos (this song lasts 6 and a half minutes). “Life’s A Dream” slows things down and even includes a section of “ahhh”s and “la la las” in beautiful harmony. And then there’s a surprise inclusion of horns.
“Oh Yeah” opens with a slow picked guitar and slowly builds up with more instrumentation, although it never really gets any faster. But it has some great lyrics:
And if god does exist
I am sure he will forgive
Me for doubting for he’d see
How unlikely he himself seems
“Pat” zooms out off the gates with one of the fastest, most punk songs they’ve ever done (live it was even more so). And at under 3 minutes it’s a nice blast of excitement. “Done” is a slow song with one of my favorite end soloing sections—tons of echo (once again, this was amazing live). It seems like it should end the disc, but “Planting Seeds” comes out of that song with a great catchy riff. And as the bridge comes in there’ an even more catchy riff. It also has some great lyrics:
when bullies grow up they get meaner
yeah they really get it down
they think that they get it but they always get it wrong
they’ll play your favorite song
just to sell shit to you
I’ve heard that they’ll sell anything and I think they might
I think Bill Hicks was right
about what they should do
and just because you love something doesn’t mean it’s yours to buy
been selling it so long that no one even knows the reason why
you’ve been messing with our minds
gettin’ rich wasting our time
“Things Fall Apart” slows things down and even adds a trumpet solo before unleashing a lengthy guitar solo. “Tomorrow” ends the disc slowly with keyboards. It seems like a downer ending but this 7 minute song has a lot packed into it. After about 90 second the guitars kick in and the song builds. At 2 and a half minutes the song takes a sharp turn into a slower, darker section with a great solo. It jumps back and forth and ends with a lengthy solo that fades just as some interesting feedback squalls start to build.
This continues the progression of great Built to Spill records.
[READ: August 30, 2015] The Eradication of Schizophrenia in Western Lapland
This play was created by a theater group called Ridiculusmus, who I know nothing about.
The premise of this play was quite interesting.
Audience members are seated on either side of a wall. Act One and Act Three are performed simultaneously on either side of the wall. So you can watch Act One and hear Act 3 or vice versa. The Acts overlap and are connected, so it’s not like a nonsensical experience.
Act One is between a mum and her two sons, while Act three is is between a psychiatrist and one of the sons, set some years in the future. That’s pretty interesting.
But what happens is that after you see Act One/Three, the audience switches sides and you listen to it all over again, this time seeing what you missed last time. But unlike a farce like Noises Off, where what you see is all the stuff that’s going on behind the scenes, you can hear everything that is being said behind the wall, I don’t think there’s anything new visually that will change the fact that you have just heard all of this dialogue a few minutes ago. It feels terribly redundant to me.
After both of these performances, act two is staged. (more…)
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I have enjoyed David Cross since the old days of Mr. Show, and the as Tobias on Arrested Development and even in Alvin and the, well, actually I’m just happy for him that he got a lot of money for it.
I’m updating this post in July of 2020, because Aparna Nancherla deserves her own post. When we saw her, she was hilarious. Since then she has gained some noterirty and I am always pleased to see her on TV shows (most recently in the Steve Carell-created Space Force).
