5 out of 5

Label: Touch and Go

Producer: Steve Albini

I guess it’s proof that I’m not as super cool as my shirt that says “I’m super cool” would claim, but American Don was my first Don Cab album.  It was also my first real exposure to a full-on album of instrumental math rock, something I truly had dreamt about prior to hearing ‘Don’, and something I would probably become over-exposed to later (not only to the glut of bands influenced by Cab but also to Touch and Go and related Chicago acts leading up to and existing around the same time, as this was close to my dawning of access to more music and willingness to actually explore).  So I’m probably, perhaps, bias in seeing this as such a flawless album, something that does no harm for even one note, one beat.  But my ears are pretty discerning, methinks, and my tastes pretty morphing, aware that as you learn more and hear more it teaches your listenin’ holes to spot ups or downs in things you didn’t notice before… and I can still listen to ‘American Don’ and feel like it’s best in show.

Let’s ignore the later Don Cab albums.  I’m with the crowd that considers that a separate band – sorry, Damon Che, but I’ve heard too many stores about your dickishness to see the current version of DC as anything more than a cover band with a talented drummer who needed a spotlight.  (Which isn’t fair, because those albums have good jams, and obviously the dudes on the other instruments can rip my non-existent guitar/bass abilities to shreds, but that feeling that it’s a pretend Don Caballero just can’t be easily shaken…)  Let’s instead say that Battles is the post-comparison point, and all the previous Don Cab and TandG instrumental stalwarts – like Slint – are the pre-comparison points.

I’m totes glad Battles exists, and they are playful in a way that would never have felt right with Don Cab.  But that playfulness robs the band of an element of seriousness or weight, especially with the poppy vocals thrown into the mix.  It rings more true as funky jam sessions than as a trio of geniuses crammed into a room and sweating out brilliance, even though it absolutely takes an equal amount of talent to swing the tightness of Battles.  But – lightweight, or, on their EPs, which felt closer to the spirit of Don Cab, the ambient stuff was interesting but too wandering to feel like it belonged with the other tracks.

And prior Don Cab tended to be either straight-forward rockers or the songs would stretch just a bit too far in one direction or another – something more evident on ‘2’, but still happening on ‘What Burns Never Returns.’  I attribute this, in part, to Damon Che’s showmanship.  He was the driving force in the band, and there’s a bit of flashiness to his playing style on all previous recordings that is nicely absent on American Don, which meshes his sort of ‘calculated loose’ playing style with a sense of comfort that wasn’t there before.  And maybe he was just beaten to this point by Ian Williams and Erich Emm stepping up to the plate to lay down some of the most innovative interwoven jams I have ever heard, almost without ever breaking a distorted-sweat.  That is the majesty of American Don – its tough but kind sound, floating between polish and kindness and aggression, just whipping out effects when punctuation is needed but not trying to blow your speakers out.  This is also what sets the album apart from what came before, as the template for post-rock instrumentals tend to be: angular rock and/or quiet loud builds… a la Slint.  Gather up all your “like Slint or Don Caballero” bands from that era and I guarantee that 99% of them don’t have the balls to try to rock out without getting some fuzz going through the speakers.  (Not to discount how much I enjoy my Slint albums, mind you)

Yar.  So you can see the fanboy love here.  I can call it perfect.  I’d rarely do that, even for my most favoritest bestest albums everest.  But: perfect.  Eat it, America.