JANUARY 2010 ONLINE EDITORIALS

The Don’ts and Be Carefuls – Risk Assessment

album cover

By Erik Myers

About a year ago, The Don’ts and Be Carefuls won Scene’s Battle of the Bands. Not to imply that we gave the dance punk foursome the push it needed, but things have been going swimmingly since then: they moved out of Greeley, set up in Denver, opened for HEALTH and ran the bases with the local music press.
With the release of their debut EP, Risk Assessment, the party shuffles on. Intricate arrangement gives DBC’s its edge, but their youthful energy makes them a highly accessible listen. Take opener “Simple Miracles:” herky-jerky guitar hooks spring up from feedback, rooted on the proper pounding of long-haired drummer Luke Hunter James-Erickson. His wild-serious demeanor is on display here as much as it is in the live show, a fitting character of his group’s sound.
“The New World” and “Color TV” contain flashes of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, brought on somewhere between keyboardist Tom Wallingford’s pop touch and vocalist/guitarist Casey Banker’s yelping.
But simple comparisons end with “You’ve Been Warned,” a spazerific standout all of DBC’s own, with church organ synths colliding into frantic drums and prickly guitar. Fitted in nicely at the end is the electro march of “!Prole Power!” and the ska-speckled “Insomnia.”
Sharp despite being stuffed with spunk, Risk Assessment rings in a new decade in the Colorado music scene. How sweet the sound.
www.myspace.com-dbcs