Built to Spill is one of these bands - like Animal Collective and Interpol - where I feel like I just totally missed the boat. I missed them when they first hit the scene, and have been playing catch-up ever since. And you know what? I've really tried, guys, but something just isn't clicking.

Maybe it's the expectations that have been raised over years of critical praise, and maybe that's why I find myself liking Portland's Foxtrot, despite the clear influence of Built to Spill. Finding them online, I had absolutely no expectations.

Like Built to Spill, Foxtrot has a way of making somewhat difficult songs that eschew the conventions of normal pop songcraft. They sort of sound backward or upside-down. The guitars, the drums, the bass - they're all there, but being used in a way that sounds slightly foreign to the ear. Yet somehow it works for me.

"Maybe a handful of our songs have a chorus," says Cain Stoneking, Foxtrot's percussionist. "But normally we just try to make it like four or five distinctly different parts."

During the songs, the individual instruments have a way of remaining separate, as if the players are performing in rooms adjacent to one another. The songs are cohesive, but the threat of collapse always looms overhead, as one keeps anticipating the tempo to shift off into its own direction, or the guitar to go solo and never return. It's kind of exhilarating.

One more strange note: While searching for contact information for Foxtrot, I found another Foxtrot based out of New York City. On their page, they say "Oregon Foxtrot u suck."

"They stole our logo, and it was really weird," says Stoneking with a laugh. "We didn't really care or anything, but they got really upset that we noticed, I guess."

I find the idea of an East Coast vs. West Coast indie rivalry really charming, and I'm happy to stoke the flames. Let's get it on.

Foxtrot

with The Razzberry Jam Band and Future Ranger
Wednesday, Aug. 4, 9 p.m., Cover TBA
Bob's Java Jive, 2102 S. Tacoma Way, Tacoma
253.475.9843