Name: American Don
Brand: Touch & Go Records
SKU: 191658
Price: 12.71 USD
Availability: InStock

Performer Notes

Personnel: Ian Williams (guitar); Eric Emm (bass); Damon Che (drums).
Recorded in Electrical Audio A Room, Chicago, Illinois.
Personnel: Ian Williams (guitar).
Recording information: Electrical Audio A Room, Chicago, IL.
Before, listening to Don Caballero felt similar to being beaten over the head with a huge baseball bat of pure audible genius: often too overwhelming and complicated for your average music listener to listen to for very long, much less understand. With American Don, it seems that the baseball bat has been traded in for a pillow, and instead of beating they are slowly smothering. Much of the aggressive bite of the music has been simmered out: distortion is much more rare, time changes have been minimized, even the notoriously breakneck drumming of Damon Che has been sedated. The only piece that seems most similar to the styles they had established before is the extremely quirky and choppy "Details on How to Get ICEMAN on Your License Plate"; the rest only briefly moves through familiar places, instead choosing to uproot and shapeshift in listeners' collective faces. Those familiar with Ian and Eric's other band Storm & Stress might also notice a bit of flowing over from the techniques and styles on their records.
As always, innovation, progression, and surprise seem to be a significant part of the Don Caballerian musical mindset; something is always surfacing out of unexpected dimensions and throwing you miles from where you thought you were heading. This is complicated and explosive. This is American Don: an eloquently stuttered statement of instability and grace all at once. ~ Blake Butler

Professional Reviews

Spin (12/00, p.230) - 7 out of 10 - "...Lovely, complex stuff. This is post-rock in the most literal sense: another Midwestern art band abandoning brawn for beauty."

Alternative Press (12/00, p.95) - 4 out of 5 - "...The planet's greatest all-instrumental rock band....[hey] not only make 3 instruments sound like 9, they pack more 'oomph' into this meager space than most bands twice their size..."

Album: American Don
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Fire Back About Your New Baby's Sex	More Info...
2)	The Peter Criss Jazz	More Info...
3)	Haven't Lived Afro Pop	More Info...
4)	You Drink a Lot of Coffee for a Teenager	More Info...
5)	Let's Face It Pal, You Didn't Need That Eye Surgery	More Info...

Album: American Don
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Fire Back About Your New Baby's Sex	More Info...
2)	The Peter Criss Jazz	More Info...
3)	Haven't Lived Afro Pop	More Info...
4)	You Drink a Lot of Coffee for a Teenager	More Info...
5)	Let's Face It Pal, You Didn't Need That Eye Surgery	More Info...