Don Caballero "World Class Listening Problem" (Relapse)
By Lucas Salg
Tuesday. May 16, 4:05 AM
A far cry from their best work, but worth checking out.

How many line-up changes can one band endure and still retain, or deserve, the original moniker? Does it even matter? Take Zao for instance, who have zero original members left and are arguably making better music than they ever have. These questions lingered on many a fan’s mind when the news broke that mighty instrumental rock legend Don Caballero had reunited. Make that “reunited”: the only original member to grace the current incarnation is drumming wizard and total lunatic Damon Che. Most of the band’s previous sound was built around Damon’s octopus-armed drum assault anyway, so I was holding out hope that the new record would be worthy of the Don Cab title.

Well, I never realized just how integral Ian Williams’ guitar was to the equation until I heard World Class Listening Problem. This isn’t to say that it’s is a bad album: it’s actually a pretty decent album, all things considered. But there is a certain je ne sais quoi missing from the new line-up, and I think I can safely translate that as “Ian Williams.”

Gene Doyle and Jeff Ellsworth rock the guitars like it’s 1995; this record feels like what should have come logically after 2 (instead, they jumped ahead 100 or so steps with the brilliant What Burns Never Returns). In fact, several songs here, notably opener “Mmmm Acting…” and “Savage Composition”, borrow very liberally from 2’s sound, leading to some borderline-uncomfortable “is this plagiarism” moments. But when they aren’t trying to bite Williams’ style, Doyle and Ellsworth actually have some great, original, more straightforward guitar lines, with a highly melodic bent that creates the album’s best moments (“Railroad Cancellation,” “Palm Trees in the Fecking Bahamas”). And since Don Cab have always had a revolving bass slot, Jason Jouver actually fills the low end out quite nicely here, leading some of the compositions with his fluid, melodic lines.

Damon is a bit of a cipher on this record. I get the distinct sense that, while Don Cab’s previous songs were born out of jams led by Damon’s forceful drumming, here Damon is following the lead of his new recruits… and holding back. There is very little of his trademark “overplay like a motherfucker” exuberance; he seems strangely reined in throughout the record. 4/4 is the driving rhythm on World Class Listening Problem; time changes are few and far between. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, because as Bellini (all-too-briefly) proved, even a straight-up rock ‘n’ roll band can benefit from Damon Che behind the kit. He gets a few chances to really show his stuff (love the solo freakout that leads off closer “I’m Goofballs For Bozzo Jazz”), but the prominent sound of the new Don Cab isn’t drums, it’s guitar. The mix makes this quite clear: guitars up front, percussion underneath. It all sounds a lot like their Relapse labelmates Dysrhythmia, actually.

So, what to make of all this? It’s definitely Don Cab-style instrumental rock, but at the same time, enough has changed – in lineup, in songwriting, in sound – that maybe Don Caballero isn’t the right moniker for this band anymore. Does that matter? Only the fans can decide. World Class Listening Problem is pretty good, not great. It’s a far cry from their best work, but if you like instrumental rock, you’d like this too, whether it was filed under Don Cab or not. My suggestion: keep an open mind and give it a spin.
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Lucas Salg

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