Christian Hoard returns to host his “Christian Rock” segment of the New Music Report this week. His pick: Built to Spill’s latest album, There Is No Enemy. The long-running Idaho band led by Doug Martsch refused to be interviewed on camera when Hoard was covering All Tomorrow’s Parties for RS last year, and Martsch strikes Hoard as a shy, a small-town guy who likes to shoot hoops and hang with his kids when he’s not cooking up guitar riffs. His songs project a grounded daydreaming — he’s not afraid to indulge idle thoughts about Canada’s beauty, but he knows how to construct a straight-forward song, too.
This new set of 10 tracks is BTS’ strongest album in a decade. Hoard’s a fan of “Life’s a Dream” and “Nowhere Lullaby” which are slow but not lethargic. The guitar work isn’t as spectacular as on Built to Spill’s remarkable 2000 live album (pick it up to hear what an indie guitar hero sounds like), and this album has a little more Grateful Dead than Crazy Horse in the jams — guitars wander and play off each other. In short: it sounds like solid Built to Spill.
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...Article Source: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily