Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My all time favourite album, 26 May 2004
The most distinguishing feature of this album is it's pure, almost naive, optimism. Whilst previous Don Caballero albums focused on an angular, distorted drive, this record consists of almost entirely clean and clear tones giving it much buoyancy.Guitarist Ian Williams skillfully uses looping techniques so that his guitar lines build upon themselves until a hedonisitic swirl, sometimes akin to a swarm of bees, floats gracefully in the air. A solid but always interesting bass adds great depth and Damon Che's drumming, always amazing, adds an astonishing rythmnic drive that is unique to this band. This is a very free spirited record, strongly embracing jazz styles but maintaining Don Caballero's particular feel. The listener experiences an impetuous euphoria of sonic jauntiness. This is quite simply happy, carefree music. Sometimes chaotic, always interesting, this props up the spirit like nothing else. It doesn't reach epic, soaring heights, but rather points to simple eccentricities and quirks, as if celebrating the everyday things in life.
|
|
|
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT LP, 18 Jan 2001
By A Customer
beautiful timings with perfect cross-rhythms and very abstract sounding guitar and bass.this is veen more complimentd by the unbelievable drum beats.it all just ties in and its magical.BUY THIS LP!!
|
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Essential Don Caballero Album, 6 Oct 2008
Like a number of listeners, I only came across Don Caballero via Battles. Having now devoured the rest of their output (with the exception of their latest release, "Punkgasm"), I can honestly say that this is my outstanding favourite. It is also the last to feature the "classic" Don Cab creative partnership of Damon Che and Ian Williams: the last two releases under the Don Cab name are effectively a completely new band formed by Che.
So, why is this the essential Don Cab album? Well, lets start at the beginning. Don Cab's sound seems to have evolved over a number of years from the heavy metal-infused riffage of "Don Caballero 2" through to the more neutral, clean, almost naïve palette of "American Don". It's instructive to note that post break-up, Don Cab Mk2 appear have reverted back to a heavier rock template, whereas Williams has taken his guitar work to greater technical heights with his next band, suggesting that Williams was mainly responsible for this shift. Having said that, the beating heart of the band is Che's dextrous drumming - he dictates off kilter rhythms, which are always just that right side of total collapse. Williams' tapped guitar darts nimbly in and out amongst the clatter of fills, whilst bassist Eric Emm provides the perfect low register counterpoint. Each makes ample use of sampler guitar peddles to build a series of crystalline melodic scaffolds, only to rapidly deconstruct and reform them on a whim (or the clap of a hi-hat).
As with a lot of instrumental music, it's unhelpful to describe Don Cab as having "songs" in the traditional sense of verse-chorus-verse, but at the same time, they never revert to the formulaic postrock quiet-loud-quiet build-up (ala GY!BE) either; nor is there a hint of the self-regarding proggy noodling of "The Mars Volta". Indeed, there's a quiet humility to the way Don Cab make their arrangements - guitar heroes they most certainly ain't. The closest contemporary analogue would probably be the track "Glass Museum" from Tortoise's 1994 classic "Millions Now Living Will Never Die" and perhaps the first Battles EP, albeit with a much more chaotic, organic feel, partly thanks to the lo-fi production. Fans of Albini will instantly recognise his trademarks; the drum tombre (is that just a single mic he's using?) and his preference for natural room reverb, although its far less trebly and abrasive than some of his more celebrated work (e.g. Sufer Rosa). To an inattentive listener, some of this chaos might sound like improvised jams - its only after several listens do you begin to appreciate that every guitar lick and cymbal crash on the album is entirely and deliberately intentional.
Between 6 and 7 minutes into "Haven't Lived Afro Pop" there's a truly sublime moment: imagine a kaelidoscope of interlocking guitar motifs chiming along happily to a hi-hat clap when suddenly, the bassline changes, flipping the whole melody and rhythm inside out - the first time I heard it I was knocked off my seat. Its moments like that (and believe me, the album is full of them) which motivate me to award this the full 5 stars. Do your ears a favour and seek out some truly progressive music in the form of "American Don". Highly Recommended.
|
|
|
|
~ Mogwai
![Crack the Skye [Special Edition]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/612WaYgYVRL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
~ Mastodon
~ Don Caballero
~ Oxes
~ TV on the Radio
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). 
Make sure you always get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk 
Amazon Home