What Burns Never Returns At 138 Beats Per Minute

 

Often jokingly regarded as an emo-jazz band by their highly loyal fan base, Don Caballero were 

no strangers to alienating both the quickly evolving math rock scene and experimental rock listeners alike. A band built solely on the foundation of its energetic drummer Damon Che, dubbed “The Octopus” due to his eccentric and uncontrollable hand flailing on the drum kit, the Pittsburgh based math rock trio pushed the sound of experimental rock to its absolute limits. With their bizarre sense of humour and seemingly unflinching attraction to anything and everything strange, “Don Cab” wasted no time building their instrumental empire. Garnering an almost “cult-like” status among the young Midwestern social rejects whose interests in mind melting guitar passages, synthesized frog croaking and outlandish time signatures flirted with that of the band’s. Their third record “What Burns Never Returns” is an undeniable classic that captivated me from the moment I heard Che's initial nauseating drum beat.

Having explored the heavier side of math rock with sludgy guitar tones and suffocating passages on their commercial debut “For Respect”, Don Cab took a more melodic approach to the conception of “What Burns...”. What follows is a beautiful blend of both the devastating aggression prevalent in their earlier work and a new found appreciation for spine chilling harmonies. Tracks like “Slice Where You Live Like Pie” and “The World In Perforated Lines” have an almost transitional quality that slowly build on the subtle drum and guitar groundwork until they explode in controlled chaos. In that sense, Don Cab are more reminiscent to Polvo or Hella who've found their own success with a similar approach to math rock. “What burns…’ is warm, radiant and dense with a multitude of sounds that are derivative of the band’s maturity and the sort of playful seriousness the members possessed. The track list here is simply begging to be picked apart, analyzed and relistened. Don Caballero have a keen sense of when to blow the listener away with bombastic spectacles and layering that with calmer, perhaps even subdued passages. The guitars here are cleaner, better recorded, it’s almost as if the gentler harmonies never really let the forest fire get too out of control. The hailstorm of Damon Che’s hasty drum beats and ride bell fills cease abruptly on the track “From The Desk Of Elsewhere To Go” followed by a kind of trashing of crashing guitars in complete silence, almost like two angry dogs barking at each other in a public park. Don Caballero’s third effort is a challenging listen with the message hidden underneath a wall of wailing riffs and a demand for patience.

 

By the time Don Cab’s fourth album produced by the legendary Steve Albini, “American Don” rolled in, it seemed as if the boys had found their footing. The project would shift towards an even more melodic approach and introduced a sort of graveling bass tone that helped elevate the record to its cult status. Beyond the music, Don Cab had always struggled with keeping its members together. Throughout the years there were many changes in the lineup, members coming and going, new ones taking their place and then departing. One thing, however, remained consistent, and that is the undeniable genius of Don Caballero’s music. The originality and a sense of self that many bands struggle to achieve to this day. One thing is certain, there will most likely never be a band as unique as the one that took Pittsburgh by storm.