The Rebels Not In
Are there two musical personalities with less in common than Calvin Johnson (Beat Happening,Dub Narcotic Sound System, K Records) and Built to Spill's Doug Martsch? In the hands of Martsch, a tune floats like a prismatic shower of shattered glass. His music can be pretty, grand, and moving, yet the words he sings are harnessed directly to the heart. Calvin Johnson works at the other end of the solar system, stripping every song, every moment, of all but its most forward-moving parts. For Johnson there is bass, there are drums, there is the black hole of his voice. In the lines that Johnson sings--the puns, the nonsense, the rhymes--nothing needs a reason, nothing needs to be explained. In the Halo Benders, these two worlds meet, held together by some unseen gravity--invisible, improbable, and infectious. Tilting between Martsch's schoolboy-sweet tenor and Johnson's basso profundo,The Rebels Not Instrikes a precarious balance between retro goof-pop ("Devil City Destination," "Do That Thing") and the sentimental ("Lonesome Sundown," "Love Travels Faster") without watering down either impulse. Sparks fly, tears flow, all is well.--S. Duda