The debut EP Noise by Austin’s Built By Snow has been glued in my car cd player, a spot that was long enjoyed by the new Kanye album. It has lots of heart and plenty of something that Graduation doesn’t have- Analog Synth! (Although no- T-Pain…) Built By Snow picks up where the Impossibles left off- solid pop songs with an affinity for Weezer choruses, Fugazi screaming plus plenty of Rentals keyboards. The band of Matt Sharps has their aesthetic down to a rocket science- embrace the nerd- ahem- pardon me “smart kid, weird kid… and NASA engineer” in all of us. The imagery of the old school cassette of course strikes a chord with us and MS-DOS type set isn’t too shabby either. If you ever liked an Ozma song you will like Built by Snow. Although I don’t care to see the Ozma reunion tours because they seem to be making a victory lap in order to pay some mortgages- Built By Snow is a phenomenally energetic live band who is 100 % earnest and will have you singing along to choruses you didn’t even know that you knew.
John Gross (Party Ends)