Don Caballero - Don Caballero 2. 1995 USA-Pennsylvania

If there was ever a genre I only needed one album of, it's Math Rock. A friend sent me a cassette dub not long after this release, and I was very much intrigued by it, and subsequently bought the CD. To my ears, it sounded like a condensed extract of the most intense parts of King Crimson's Starless & Bible Black, and Red. It was later that I learned that Pittsburgh's Don Caballero were a pioneer in a movement known as math rock. Well, I concluded, I must be a fan of math rock then! I owned a couple of other Don Caballero's, plus a handful of other groups playing in a somewhat similar style. None of which excited me too much, and now they're all gone from the collection, except Don Caballero 2. And I'm keeping it because it reminds me of the intense parts of King Crimson's mid 70's era :-) . Pretty much what you get here is a powerful, guitar fronted, instrumental progressive rock. It can be a bit monotonous and annoying in places, but mostly it delivers the goods. One just has to be in the mood for an onslaught like this. Melodies aren't their strong suit. For what it's worth, Don Caballero apparently distanced themselves from the term math rock as well, which makes sense to me.

Ownership: CD: 1995 Touch & Go. Simple jewel case release, but do love the imagery of Pittsburgh's industrial past. Bought this at Rush-Mor in Milwaukee in 1997, nearby to where I was working at the time.

6/27/97; 7/16/20 (new entry)