''Now You Know'' is the debut solo album by American musician

Doug Martsch Doug Martsch (born September 16, 1969) is an American singer and musician. He is best known for his distinctive vocals and guitar playing style in the band Built to Spill. Career Martsch's first band was Farm Days, with Andy Capps and Brett Nels ...

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band Built to Spill. Unlike Martsch's

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

-oriented work with Built to Spill, the album touches on

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

in addition to rock. ''Now You Know'' was released in 2002 on

Up Records Up Records was a Seattle based independent record label founded in 1994 by Chris Takino and Rich Jensen. Some of the label's best known artists were 764-Hero, Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, Quasi and Tad. Chris Takino died of leukemia in 2000 ...

label.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Doug Martsch; except where noted. Karena Youtz contributed lyrics. # "Offer" # "Dream" # "Gone" # "Window" # "Heart (Things Never Shared)" # "Lift" # "Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind on Jesus)" (

Fred McDowell Fred McDowell (January 12, 1904 – July 3, 1972), known by his stage name Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American hill country blues singer and guitar player. Career McDowell was born in Rossville, Tennessee, United States. His parents were f ...

) uncredited # "Instrumental" # "Sleeve" # "Impossible" # "Stay"

Personnel

*Doug Martsch - vocals, all other instruments *Travis Ward - bass *Daren Adair - drums *John McMahon - cello

Critical reception

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

says the album has "a

Delta blues Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the s ...

sound-- a style closer to the point in musical evolution where country/western and

went their separate, segregated ways" and also called it "Blooze for Dummies." The reviewer also noted that most of the songs begin "with bluesy intentions, but only a handful (... "Offer"... and... "Stay") stick with that dynamic for their duration." The reviewer seemed mostly not to enjoy the departure from the Built to Spill sound, remarking that "the more familiar-sounding material is what really sticks amongst these eleven tracks."

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

calls the album "bare-bones folk blues that recalls '' O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' more than anything by... Built to Spill." The reviewer sees the album as being influenced by "such Delta bluesmen as

" as well as by " Ralph Stanley and

J Mascis Joseph Donald Mascis Jr. ( ; born December 10, 1965), better known as J Mascis, is an American musician who is the singer, guitarist and main songwriter for the alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. He has also released several albums as a solo arti ...

References

Now You Know Doug Martsch albums {{2000s-indie-rock-album-stub