World Class Listening Problem

World Class Listening Problem marked the return of Don Caballero after a several-year hiatus, and if it wasn’t the radical step forward that its predecessor, American Don, was, it was still an enormously satisfying effort from the band that led a new wave of heavy, prog-descended instrumental rock in the ‘90s. Though only drummer Damon Che remained from the band’s prior era, with members of Pittsburgh post-hardcore outfit Creta Bourzia stepping in to fill out the lineup, the band’s trademark soundworld remained entirely intact. “Sure We Had Knives Around,” with its lattice of chiming guitars, thrillingly busy drumming and delicate-to-destructive dynamic range, is as head-spinning as any musical obstacle course Che & Co. constructed in their early days, while tracks like “Palm Trees in the Fecking Bahamas” (listen for a tasty nod to Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September”) and “Railroad Cancellation” push further into the pop sensibility hinted at on 2000’s American Don. The band’s more metallic side resurfaces on “And and and, He Lowered the Twin Down” and monstrously crunchy opener “Mmmmm Acting, I Love Me Some Good Acting,” making this record something of a bridge between Don Cab’s various eras and inclinations. Undervalued at the time of its release, World Class Listening Problem now feels like a renewed statement of purpose from one of the great progressive bands of the past 30-odd years.