The Dont's

MySpace (listen to "Blah Blah Blah," "Worldview")
Official site
Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: 2/7, Bottom of the Hill
Upcoming release: Inner El Camino, 2007

San Francisco quartet the Dont's are on the verge of releasing the biggest album of their young career. Must be an exciting feeling. The band is barely four years old, and Inner El Camino, due January 30, is a big step forward from its 2005 debut Misc Radio Leakage. Both have been self-released, but this one streamlines and elaborates upon the experimentalism of the first while proving that the Dont's ability to distill quirky, old-school indie rock was no fluke. (more >>)

Inner El Camino is indeed an indie rock fun house. Taking stalwarts like Modest Mouse, the Fall, Can, Tortoise, and Sonic Youth, and boiling them down to their most quintissential and palatable elements, the record is simultaneously off-kilter and embracing -- a weird record that's not hard to listen to. That alone is an accomplishment, but a few moments across the album elevate it to a higher level: wild vocal melodies, sublime guitar parts, jagged rhythms, and unique bass lines that bounce through uneasy indie rock tunes like tumbleweed of pure gold.

A few tracks can be overly derivative, especially the way-too-Fall-to-be-an-accident kick-off number "Blah Blah Blah." That doesn't stop it from being one of the record's high points. And lead singer Jonny Dont's voice, whether by accident or not, sounds at time a LOT like that of Electric Six frontman Dick Valentine (what a name!). The key to this record is appreciating it for what it is and shutting down the indier-than-thou part of your brain, if you have it. If you don't, you're in the clear, for the Dont's execution is flawless. Songs like "AKA Sob" and sax-laced closer "Motherfather" are all Dont's, assuring the skeptical listener that this is not a gang of ripoff artists, but four musicians with eight great ears. They know quality music when they hear it, and they sure know how to make some of their own.

THE PLEASE DO'S
-In addition to singer Jonny Don't, the group includes Joey Don't on guitars, JJ Don't on bass, and Ken Don't on drums. Something tells us they're not actually brothers.
-Inner El Camino was recorded on analog tape at the Tiny Telephone and SF Soundworks studios in San Francisco.
-The band has retained hundreds of hours of experimental recordings since forming in 2003. This does a lot to explain the band's more precarious moments -- they probably come from improv rather than deliberate songwriting sessions.