6
Built to Spill
MUSIC
Even though Built to Spill comes through Lawrence regularly, the band had no difficulty selling out two shows at the Bottleneck last week. Why? Variety.
Built to Spill has the remarkable ability to make every tour feel like a completely new show. It could be because the band has a seemingly endless catalogue, or maybe because it can stretch a three-minute song into a 17-minute mini-album. Whatever the reason, a Built to Spill show is as close as it gets to a sure thing.
On Sept. 19 the band emphasized its new material, playing songs from You In Reverse, the group's first new album in five years. While the new songs were well received, most of the crowd's love went to the classics like "Big Dipper."
Frontman Doug Martsch looked detached and reserved throughout the evening, addressing the crowd only to say "thanks" after each song and introduce "Rearrange," a cover of a song done by the Gladiators that echoed John
F. Kennedy's famous "Ask not what your country can do for you..." speech.
It wasn't Built to Spill's only political statement, as the band interspersed video clips into "Bomb Shelter." The clips were of musician and record-label owner Calvin Johnson criticizing the right-wing policy towards eco-terrorism.
The rest of the evening the video projector provided a slideshow of artwork that
livened up the wall behind the band.
To finish the night, Built to Spill played extended versions of "Untrustable" and "Broken Chairs." Martsch and company turned "Broken Chairs" into a 17-minute-long musical adventure, climbing peak after peak, each one seeming to be the loudest and most energetic.
Performing a song for that long did make it difficult for
the band to play lots of songs, and people who were looking for the band to play through its discography would have left disappointed.
However, it appeared that the majority of the crowd was repeat customers. Those fans got just what they were looking for: a solid set from a band that continues to innovate musically.
Built to Spill setlist: Sept. 19, the Bottleneck
1) Randy Described Eternity
2) Dystopian Dream Mind
3) Else
4) Will Work for Food
5) The Plan
6) Traces
7) Goin' Against Your Mind
8) Rearrange
9) Big Dipper
10) Bomb Shelter
11) Conventional Wisdom
12) Untrustable
Encore: Broken Chairs
Welcome to the Drama Club
MUSIC
Everclear
Everclear is still around? Yeah, I guess so, and this is its new album.
After losing two members and adding four, Everclear is back with Welcome to the Drama Club, an album that is pretty much forgettable.
It does have a few good songs such as "Now" and "The Drama King," but you can't help but think you've heard these same songs a thousand times from several different bands. Take "Now," for instance. While listening to it, you might think you accidentally put in a John Mellencamp album, and "The Drama King" brings to mind Everclear's '90s hit "Father of Mine."
The album has a few embarrassingly cheesy songs — the kind your 9-year-old sister would even laugh at — such as "Shine," a song that should be buried in a Sugar Ray b-sides collection, and "A Shameless Use
of Charm", a song that starts with singer Art Alexakis laughing, which proves it's even laugable to the lead singer.
The best way to describe
Welcome to the Drama Club is "OK
at times". The songs are all right,
but lack originality. You might as
well stick to Everclear's So Much
for the Afterflow.
Everclear will be at the Granada on Sept.28.
★★
Chris Brower
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