AMERICAN DON

Don Caballero has come to be known as one the most interesting, unique, and wildly complex bands out there. With American Don, the group has been reduced to a trio. This trio provides us with Don's least aggressive output, focusing more on textures than arithmetic. There is hardly any distorted guitar to be found. The music is still extremely intricate, and it clocks in at about 55 minutes long. Frankly, it is difficult to make an album of instrumental music this complex and seemingly a-melodic intersting for such a length of time. It takes a lot of time and focus for the listener to fully realize all the qualities here, but the growth rate of this disc is exponential once you get through it a couple of times. For new listeners, the key here is to get through the 10-minute second track, "The Peter Criss Jazz." After such an exhilerating and enjoyable opener ("Fire Back About Your New Baby's Sex"), this one really kills the momentum and drags for a bit. This track is really the only slouch on American Don, as "Haven't Lived Afro Pop" delivers a peppy, even catchy medium-paced return to form and then sends us off into musical euphoria for the remainder of the disc. Those who are already familiar with the other Don Caballero albums are more likely to appreciate this one, but I'm sure any open-minded music fan can get into this. For me, this is Don Cab's finest output and I can't call it anything other than a masterpiece.