Albums by this artist

Singles Breaking Up (1999)

Don Caballero II (Recommended) (1995)

Don Caballero

Singles Breaking Up

---

» MARK T.R. DONOHUE | STAFF WRITER

Don Caballero Singles Breaking Up Touch & Go, 1999 RiYL: Shellac, Storm and Stress, Jesus Lizard, Helmet, Sonic Youth

You probably think it's easy being Don Caballero. It must be a real chore, you think sarcastically, to be phenomenally talented musicians with a great contract with Touch & Go (is there any other kind?) and a series of radical albums under your belt. Being an instrumental band, they don't even have to write lyrics. The very lap of luxury!

Well, you're wrong. It's not that easy. Creating instrumental songs that flow logically and appeal to tough indie listeners like you and I isn't simple at all. Singles Breaking Up, a compilation which documents Don Caballero's growth through a series of early 7"s, is demonstrative. The earlier songs ("Belted Sweater," "Unresolved Karma") are noisy blurs which show how a band of prodigies can have difficulty not doing too much. It's not until mid-album, where Don Cab recognizes the value of restraint, that things start to really get moving. Everybody slows down, the bass is allowed space to set down a detectable groove, Damon Che saves his deranged drum fills for where they'll actually fit best, and all is well.

"First Hits," which starts with little guitar waterfalls pouring over slow-burn drumming more akin to Superchunk's Jon Wurster than Che's normal insanity, builds into regular Don Cab charge with thrilling efficiency. The pounding bass chords and higher squiggles of "Trey Dog's Acid" shows the band learning how not taking every song full-speed can be empowering.

There's some filler, which is more or less unavoidable on a singles comp, but Singles Breaking Up, or at least its second half, will please any fan of What Burns Never Returns or any of Don Caballero's other brain-busting full-lengths.

MARK T.R. DONOHUE | Mark T.R. Donohue is a prolific freelance writer whose areas of expertise include Rockies baseball, video games, genre television, English soccer, and pub rock. He lives in Colorado, where he cultivates the largest and creepiest private collection of Alyson Hannigan memorabilia in the Mountain West.