Indie rock guitar god. Boy does that read funny. What's it supposed to mean? Even the term "indie rock" is tough to nail down. Sort of like "emo", but louder? Or more serious? Or something?

I wrested with these issues back when I first listened to Built To Spill's Time Trap compilation. It turns out that Doug Martsch is my kind of guitar hero. Sure, the man's got the chops, but it's his conceptions that really get me going.

Unless you're thinking about the music that's been labeled "post-rock" (Godspeed You Black Emperor, and others), one element usually missing (or more likely: avoided) from indie rock is the long song form. While bands from the art rock era loved to extend things to well beyond ten minutes, the "modern rock" crowd tends to stick to shorter songs, tighter construction.

Doug Martsch and company manage to split the difference with their music. While there are some shorter, more "traditional" tunes ("Just A Habit" and "Saturday"), what makes this record stand out are the epic, sound-shifting, almost suite-like songs. "Wherever You Go" (6:10) begins at a dark and loping, Crazy Horse tempo and builds the intensity from there. "Conventional Wisdom" (6:21) launches with an almost happy distorted guitar hook that the verses are then hung on. Midsong there's a bridge of short unison lines that introduce a blistering and majestic guitar solo. "Goin' Against Your Mind" (8:42) plays with a bunch of different textures including interlocking arpeggios, slide guitar, feedback on the verge of meltdown, and monstrous power chords. "Gone" lets the guitar slowly give way to keyboards, giving the rest of the song a completely different feel.

What I'm saying here is that Built To Spill does not often (or maybe ever) play "verse, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, chorus, chorus, fadeout"-type tunes.

My pick with the highest PlayedTooLoudlyInTheCar™ potential is "Mess With Time" (5:43). Not since the introduction to Cream's "White Room" has a bolero been set against mind-melting guitar. Just when you're sure that the wall of guitar is going to cave in on itself, the whole band downshifts into a reggae skank that carries on the the end — with Martsch's eastern-tinged guitar riding on top. Built To Spill updates "Miserlou", sort of.

None of this is to imply that the shorter tunes are without merit. No, You In Reverse ends with "The Wait", a song that encapsulates what I find so interesting about this band. Within the span of just a few minutes, the song transforms from a sparse, acoustic sorta-folk tune into a full-on, wailing electric guitar and psychedelic skronk freakout. Very satisfying.

Toss the labels (and your expectations!) out the window and allow yourself the pleasure of hearing some well-executed and rich musical expressions. Doug Martsch may tire of the "guitar hero" status that's been forced upon him, but he's got to know that it's his ideas that really matter.