Playlist: Built to Spill

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"You will come alive to something real / Then realize you're built to spill / This is how you'll always feel / It's no big deal." Doug Martsch sang those words on the eponymous track of their debut album, meekly willing his own perceived future into the world: the idea that he'll come so close to achieving something, to holding greatness within him, only to realize that he's tragically destined to let it pour out. Fortunately, that ill-fated reality never materialized. Built To Spill are one of the most famous, influential, and talented indie-rock bands of all time, even though they never had a radio hit and the band's frontman/ringleader Doug Martsch is, outside of his incredible musical abilities, an extremely average guy. But his everyman demeanor is part of the band's appeal, roping anyone who's anyone into their mystical world of mountainous guitar music.
Compared to the frenetic drumming of their to-be radio compatriots Modest Mouse (who also originated from the Pacific Northwest in the early 90s), or the toothy slackerism of Pavement, or the thoughtful poeticisms of David Berman's Silver Jews, Built To Spill were always obsessed with making the guitar sound cool as hell. Even when they were writing Weezerish pop songs in their early days, or delving into psych-rock in their later (present) years, Martsch has always been a guitarist above all else. That's a unique dynamic for an indie-rock band, most of which are characterized by witty, earnest lyricists and finding unconventional paths to attain rock melody. Martsch, who writes all of Built To Spill's songs and lyrics, is all of those things as well, but more than anything he's a tremendously talented axeman who's only got more adept at writing unexpectedly catchy riffs as he's aged.
Whether you've been an indie-rock fan for years or you're just getting acquainted with the genre's overwhelmingly vast lexicon, Built To Spill are a crucial band to be familiar with. These 17 songs, which span their entire catalog, will help you get started. © Eli Enis / Qobuz

Ultimate Alternative Wavers (1993) "Nowhere Nothin' Fuckup" "In America / Every puddle, gasoline rainbow" goes the bridge of "Nowhere Nothin' Fuckup." This lyric from their full length debut is a perfect distillation of the beauty in the muck that is early Built To Spill. It's the first instance of them really latching onto a melody and steadily pulling at the thread until it unspools into a groovy, shreddy, gorgeous piece of amateurishly sung and scrappily recorded indie-rock that's brimming with technical prowess and melodic potential.

There's Nothing Wrong With Love (1994) "Big Dipper" There's Nothing Wrong With Love is often mistaken for BTS' debut, and understandably so, as it's a massive step-up from Ultimate Alternative Wavers>. Although the band has continued to tinker with their songwriting approach over the last 25 years, this album remains an essential entrypoint to their catalog. "Big Dipper" is not only their most straightforward pop song, it's the best hook they've ever written. That rubbery, twangy, crunchy main riff never gets old, either.

"Distopian Dream Girl" One of Martsch's greatest appeals as a songwriter is his ear for turning down and turning up at just the right moments. "Distopian Dream Girl" is a great example of the band's lighthearted lyrical approach (Martsch sings that his philistine step-dad looks like David Bowie despite hating his music) being paired with palm-muted bridges that rumble before erupting into joyous bursts of bouncy rock.

"Stab" Fittingly, There's Nothing Wrong With Love ends in the direction Built To Spill would take on every album that followed. "Stab" is an ecstatically dynamic indie-rock song with epic, jammy, post-rock ambition. This is the most similar BTS would get to their comrades in Modest Mouse (who they're often compared to), as this track remains jangly and loose despite its cresting composition. However, it was just a faint glimmer of the refined grandiosity that the band would accomplish going forward.

Perfect From Now On (1997) "Made-Up Dreams" Many Built To Spill fanatics will argue that Perfect From Now On is their magnum opus, others will ride or die for the record that would follow. Regardless of where you stand, the obvious budget increase they received for this album yielded a much cleaner and honed-in output. The songs are slower, longer, and less punctually melodic. For instance, "Made-Up Dreams" sanctions the hook to its first half and then wanders off into a hazy bout of indie ambience.
"Velvet Waltz" In a song like "Velvet Waltz," Martsch's guitar leads carry the hook, and you gotta sit through all eight-and-a-half minutes to fully appreciate its mighty resolve. About halfway through, the guitars just open the sky above with beauty and grace as the westerny rhythm section thumps away in the background. Perfect From Now On is a more lethargic and less energetic record than any that come before or after. It's a sound they dabbled in again on You In Reverse nearly a decade later, but not with the level of unflinching patience and restraint as they exhibit here.

Keep It Like A Secret (1999) "The Plan" Although every Built To Spill album is worth a hefty visit, Keep It Like A Secret is the quintessential piece in their discography. When it dropped in 1999, Built To Spill were one of the most lauded indie-rock bands in the game, and this album closed out their formative decade by blending everything they'd done up until then into one gorgeous conglomerate. "The Plan" has all the components of a fabulous intro track: drawly refrain; fist-pump-inducing drum bashes; euphoric guitar solo.
"Carry The Zero" "Carry The Zero" contains one of Martsch's best vocal performances, as he stretches his nasally range and practically snarls during its lyrical climax. Once he reaches his limit he astutely steps back and lets his guitar take over, ripping a winding, endlessly hummable lead that keeps morphing into catchier and catchier shapes as the rhythm switches into a headbanging jounce. It's a perfect encapsulation of the sheer excitement in a Built To Spill song. There's a reason why it's their most popular one.
"Broken Chairs" The title of KILAS's closer, the near-nine-minute "Broken Chairs," is a warning for what's bound to happen if you listen at your desk. Perfect From Now On may have been an album-long dedication to the most heroic rock songs they could write, but "Broken Chairs" is the Hercules of their songbook. The track begins with a swinging rhythm and a few verses that are buried slightly beneath the guitars, which grab the wheel about a third of the way in and squeal over the remainder of the song. Even when Martsch's vocals come back in and he builds up tension by repeating the words, "Well alright," louder and louder, it eventually culminates in cascading sheets of screaming psych shreds. It's orchestral indie-rock, if ever there was such a thing.

Ancient Melodies of the Future (2001) "Strange" How do you follow-up a run of albums like that? Some say Built To Spill never have, but it's important to view 90's BTS and post-90's BTS as two separate eras. They absolutely nailed everything they'd been working toward on KILAS, so for Ancient Melodies of the Future they began their 15-plus-year stint experimenting with the confines of their genre. "This strange plan is random at best," is the first line of the record, and the buzzy, psych-poppy "Strange" sounds just as dazed and happy to be there as Martsch would appear to be both then and now.
"Happiness" Ancient Melodies is also the shortest album in the Built To Spill discography, and it seems like a deliberate exercise in cutting the fat that Martsch typically loves to chew on (long-ass brilliant guitar passages). "Happiness" is structured around a roaring blues rock lick that's dunked in flanger effects, and here Martsch sounds a lot more relaxed and loosey-goosey than he did on the hyper-focused (for good reason) KILAS. It's nice to hear him just kick out the jams.

You in Reverse (2006) "Goin' Against Your Mind" For whatever reason, it took Built To Spill five years to follow up Ancient Melodies, and from here on out they'd forgo the standard two-year album cycle and drop records whenever they felt good and ready. However, the intro track of You in Reverse proves right out the gate that they aren't slouches. "Goin' Against Your Mind" is a live staple for the band, as its driving bassline pumps for the full eight minutes while Martsch and then-drummer Scott Plouf bring the song down to a whisper and then back up to an electrifying gallop.
"Liar" As Martsch and his rotating cast of bandmates aged, they became more interested in guitar acrobatics and drawing melody out of instrumental builds than writing the pop hooks. However, "Liar" is proof that Martsch has never lost his ability to churn out a catchy tune, as this is one of the most lackadaisical, coffee-shop-ready songs he's ever written. It's odd for a Built To Spill song to be this light, carefree, and fluttery sounding, but it's a welcomed changeup.

There Is No Enemy (2009) "Oh Yeah" It's been a running half-joke since their earliest days that Built To Spill are a jam band, and on their last two albums they've really leaned into the psychedelic side of their sound. "Oh Yeah" features a trippy, kaleidoscopic intro before the fuzz pedals come in and Martsch just paints solos with woozy strokes over top. Although there are plenty of standard fare tracks on There Is No Enemy, the ones that sound the least like Built To Spill are the most interesting.
"Pat" The two-and-a-half-minute punk blast, "Pat," is a total curveball that comes booming in during the middle of this record. It's a total garage-rock stomper with blaring guitars, Martsch spitting the words, "Pat we know you fucked up / But we don't care you fucked up, everybody's fucked up." It's an uncharacteristically aggressive tune from a guy who's been participating in his own magical mystery tour for over a decade. But again, it just reinforces how versatile Martsch continues to be as both a songwriter and a player.

Untethered Moon (2015) "All Our Songs" Untethered Moon will likely be the only Built To Spill album of the 2010s, a decade that's been relentlessly associated with the "death" of rock music. The album opener, "All Our Songs," is a heartwarming ode to the generations of rock that inspired Martsch and the countless other guitar lovers who've come before and after him. It even contains the line, "Rock 'n' roll will be here forever," which Martsch sings boisterously over the crunchiest and heftiest guitar tones he's ever used. Compositionally, this is a classic Built To Spill song, and in its vivacious execution it sounds like a band with a bright future still ahead.
"When I'm Blind" "When I'm Blind" is the bookend to "All Our Songs," and it features the most virtuosic guitar playing that Martsch has ever captured on recording. The entire record has much more of a classic rock feel to the tones and production, and here Martsch relishes in the jagged edges and bluesy chord progressions. Hitting their sweet spot (somewhere in the eight-minute range), Martsch rains down a heaven's worth of fuzzy, mouth-wateringly shreddy guitar squeals. Epic is an understatement, and if Martsch ever does go blind (as the title suggests), he'll still have those ten-of-a-kind fingers. © Eli Enis / Qobuz
Photo courtesy of Warner Records