Rock of Ages: Built to Spill - "Time Trap" (1999)

The end of the 90's as stated before was kind of weird. But luckily a lot of the music that was hidden under the surface or was popular amongst the indie community and college rock radio was still of stellar quality and was pointing towards the future of music. Built to Spill is an interesting indie rock band. They have all the qualities of what would be a perfect 70's rock band. Sprawling guitars, catchy hooks and fantastic poetic lyrics. It took time for me to hear of them even though by the point their magnum opus Keep it Like a Secret dropped in 1999, they were already well into their career. "Time Trap" is kind of the theme song to a new millennium looming. It opens with easily one of my favorite bass lines in all of modern rock music and slowly builds into this wafting surge of guitars. It's a haze of sound that washes over you and makes you force your pedal to the floor and as you hit 88 miles per hour at the peak of this sound, it cuts back and you are in a new place. The lyrics come in, the guitars hush up a bit and the rhythm section lays back only yo be posed for another all out assault on the senses. It's a truly riveting experience that Built to Spill create.

When "Time Trap" opens up again, we get this woozy, swooping guitar solo over a frenzied outro of bass and drums that slowly fades out to the end. It's a fade out that could just be an extended jam as the riff swoops and swirls and the beat kicks in large and fast. "Time Trap" is a song you never want to end so when it finally fades away, it's likely you will skip back and play it again. Luckily the rest of Keep it Like a Secret is fantastic so even if you want "Time Trap" to end, you will get treated to some of the best guitar rock around. Built to Spill continues to release solid records to this day and their new record is due out soon. I'm excited.



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