American Don＜Purple Vinyl＞

DON CABALLEROが2000年にリリースしたマスロック史に名を刻んだ大名盤「AMERICAN DON」がTOUCH AND GO RECORDSからカラー2LPで待望のリイシュー!!

アルビニ録音というワードがインディーリスナーにもたらすワクワク感は勿論のこと、レコーディング時の空気感をたっぷり纏わせた正確無比なドラム、緻密に計算しつくされたソリッドなギター、これぞUSインディと言わんばかりの剛腕すぎるベースが絡み合い共鳴する中で産み出された不気味なほどリスナーの内面へと語りかけてくる強烈なアンサンブルは不安定さと優美さを同時に表現しており、彼らしか感じさせてくれないであろうオリジナリティー溢れる煌めきへと仕上がっています。
このアルバムが音楽という唯一無二の芸術に没頭するきっかけとなるための片道切符となることは間違いないでしょう。

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