A little underrated imo, with 'Ancient Melodies of the Future' Built to Spill delivered a thoughtful and mature release whose sound borders on late '80s/early '90s R.E.M territory in places.

If there was ever a point in time that Modest Mouse and Built to Spill threatened to metamorphose into the exact same band it would have been in 1999 with the release of 'Keep it Like a Secret' - an album that sounds a lot like 'The Lonesome Crowded West' mixed with a dash of 'The Moon and Antarctica'.

This is to say that 'Keep It...' is very listenable album indeed, but there's something uncanny going on. Indeed MM would release the 'dark' version of 'Center of the Universe' one year later ... read more

Often Built to Spill zone in on a herky-jerky kinda rhythm when they get riff-heavy, and the second half of 'I Would Hurt a Fly' is not only the epitome of this particular style, it's the approach in excelsis - the band's very own Sistine Chapel.

That the rest of the album doesn't sound like a huge leap down in comparison says very good things about the consistency on display - again, 'Velvet Waltz' builds up to something gargantuan by the half way point, 'Kicked it in the Sun' is one of ... read more

The way everyone else feels about Mark Kozelek in 2020 is probably close to how I feel about The Microphones in 2020.

'I understood you the first time fella'.

Musically it's like a super earnest AnCo track from 2004, only even longer.

It's ok, NR