FOR RESPECT

Muscular and bottom-heavy first album from the Pittsburgh mathies with drummer Damon Che firmly in command, a debut that brims with confidence and power. The guitars of Mike Banfield and Ian Williams provide intelligent and bold chord progressions that run between crushing metal and atonal inventions, Pat Morris' bass rounding off a range of calculated demolitions and carefully planned chaos. The Dons challenge, of that there is no doubt, not only in structure but texture and sonic limitations. But this debut is perhaps more listenable than their later releases and for that reason is an excellent intro for the virgin Don Cab fan, or those curious about this fascinating and forward-thinking style of progressive rock. The band tips its metallic hand as in 'New Laws' and angled munch-fest 'Rocco', Che absolutely shining, a drummer like no other currently in music-- a power to be respected and who leaves a mark on modern rock not unlike John Bonham did. 'Subdued Confections' shows the beginnings of their trademark sound and the voracious 'Our Caballero' devours us with beautiful chunks of machinery. 'Bears See Things Pretty Much the Way They Are' reminds of Metallica's complexities but with more of a taste for the abstract and implied, quick sketches that suggest and portray rather than blurt out their secret desires, a love of imperfect lines where flaws are relished and accidents strangely at home. One of the most important bands of the modern era, and For Respect is a great starter.

And so this epic tale of Math-Rock started. Don Caballero, mighty mafia godfather has helped this genre to gain prominence, might not by corrupting police officers, but by turning not so clever noise into something more complex, more enjoyable. Of course, through this record, there can be heard influences of Post-Rock, but ambient parts are very rare. Also, if we part this record on two halfs, then second half would be more subtle one, while first half is where most chaos lies (even the very last track Belted Sweater truly returns to noiseland. But it's organized chaos, calculated (as is tradition in Math Rock).

It's not flaw at all that all these tracks are instrumental (except Got a Mile, Got a Mile, Got an Inch which features some samples of TV programmes), actually I think it's (not tits, sorry for this pun, it was irresistible) far better this way.

4(+), for diversity, for not playing the same over and over again (these tracks are progressing forward) and for helping to set the genre.

And most importantly, for enjoyable record.

This is the debut album for the post/math rock band named after an SCTV sketch that was a parody of The Godfather. This particular album is somewhat chaotic and unorganized compared to their later albums. The music is full of tricky, ever-changing meters, is all instrumental and extremely heavy. The music is also based around the drummer Damon Che, who is known by the band's fans as "The Octopus" because of his style of attacking the drums with his arms flying around and looking like the animal he is nicknamed after.

The music throughout the album is quite hard and heavy, but surprisingly not dark like the band "Pelican". Most of the tracks here are rather short, seven of the 11 are under 3 minutes. On the first listen, the tracks seem to sound similar, but with subsequent listenings, they take on their own personalities. One of the longer tracks, "Got a Mile, Got a Mile, Got an Inch" features the audio track from the SCTV sketch that they were named after played under the music. The heaviness continues through most of the tracks and is only interrupted by a few less chaotic tracks, namely "Subdued Confections" (which is named after a line from another SCTV sketch) and "Well Built Road". Of course, these stand out initially because of the change of atmosphere.

The musicianship is quite amazing, but even at 37 minutes, this can seem like it churns along for quite a while to the novice listener. Because of this, it probably isn't the best of The Don's albums to start with. You should probably initiate your listening experience with "American Don" or "Don Caballero 2" which offer more of a variety. Their last two albums "World Class Listening Problem" and "Punkgasm" are a different style than the other albums and feature a revised line-up with some vocals among the tracks.

Rather thick and heavy, yet remaining mostly upbeat, this album needs to grow on you. Some listeners will appreciate the talent at work here, but most will find it too chaotic at the first few play throughs and some will just never understand it at all. I call it good, but non-essential for myself personally, knowing that better stuff is on the horizon. If you love heavy music, you will probably rate it higher, but I would rather have a little more variety. 3 stars.