03/22/12: Don Caballero - What Burns Never Returns (1998)

03/22/12: Don Caballero - What Burns Never Returns (1998)

1. Don Caballero 3
2. In the Absence of Strong Evidence to the Contrary, One May Step Out of the Way of the Charging Bull
3. Delivering the Groceries at 138 Beats Per Minute
4. Slice Where You Live Like Pie
5. Room Temperature Suite
6. The World in Perforated Lines
7. From the Desk of Elsewhere Go
8. June Is Finally Here

     Background for Don Caballero and my reason for choosing this album can be found in my writeup of their album "Punkgasm". This album is their third album and was their first after a 2 year hiatus. It includes the entire original lineup including Ian Williams who would go on to form Battles. I haven't listened to their first 2 albums yet, but this album apparently marked the first time that Ian Williams experimented with pedals and effects a significant amount. that fact alone makes me curious what Don Caballero sounded like before this album.
     The album was very enjoyable on my couple listens. The production is well done. The audio is very clear and well mixed. It is all instrumental and very much math-rock. I say math-rock in a respectable way. This album is almost 15 years old and sounds a lot like many bands I've become fans of in the last few years. There are similarities between the sound on this album as opposed to the later lineup as well as some serious differences. I think Ian Williams was very important to their early sound. They are one of the originals in a style of music I am a big fan of. If you like bands like Battles you owe these guys a listen because Don Caballero is Battles godfather. (082)

03/09/12: Don Caballero - Punkgasm (2008)

03/09/12: Don Caballero - Punkgasm (2008)

1. Loudest Shop Vac in the World
2. The Irrespective Dick Area
3. Bulk Eye
4. Shit Kids Galore
5. Celestial Dusty Groove
6. Pour You into the Rug
7. Challenge Jets
8. Lord Krepelka
9. Why Is the Couch Always Wet?
10. Slaughbaugh's Ought Not Own Dog Data
11. Dirty Looks
12. Who's a Puppy Cat
13. Awe Man That's Jive Skip
14. Punkgasm

     Don Caballero is a math rock band. I had always been meaning to listen to more of them due to the fact that their former guitarist Ian Williams went on to be a member of Battles after Don Caballero broke up in 2000. I was doing my research and apparently this album was not a good starting point. The band released five albums from 1993-2000 with the original lineup that included Ian Williams. The Drummer, Damon Che reformed the band in 2003 with himself as the only remaining original member. This version of the band has released 2 albums with "Punkgasm" being the most recent release and from what I can tell, they are still together. I didn't realize there were 2 versions of this band until I had already listened to it a couple times. I meant to listen to the band that included Williams but oh well, I'll visit earlier albums from the original lineup soon.
     All of those details aside, this was still a really cool album. The mathy compositions throughout this album make it very easy to see why Don and Battles are connected. This album sounds like a more organic version of the music Battles plays. Less electronics and more strange drumming. There were a lot of guitar parts that took me by surprise in the grand scheme of the album because they were much more metal sounding than I expected within this genre.  I can see where the title Punkgasm comes from as well. The album does have a lot of punk rock parts littered in to their proggy mathiness. They were enjoyable changes of pace that give the album a unique feel. This album also has a couple songs with vocals throughout which I guess was a first for the band even with the second iteration of the group. A couple of the songs with vocals ended up being highlights of the album while the concluding title track Punkgasm was very meh. I enjoyed my couple listens of the album, but I look forward to seeing what the original lineup was doing because from what I've read Punkgasm is mellow in terms of their full career yet it was still a really rocking album. (069)