El Valiente: Press

Daceton by El Valiente wins best Alternative Album on 2009

Local rock trio El Valiente's instrumentals were fairly complex to begin with, stretching through parts that felt more like distinct scenes than they did verses, bridges, or choruses. The transitions between those scenes on the band's 2007 CD, El Topo, were chaotic and powerful, as guitar hooks melted into disorienting free-rhythm spaces, or quiet, atmospheric passages heaved into outbursts of spastically attacked guitar. A lot of that chaos is gone on the band's new CD, Daceton (which they'll celebrate with a show Friday at The Frequency). The band's increasingly popular local gigs have made them tighter, more confident, and perhaps even better songwriters. Well, whatever the reason, Daceton's songs are as tight and to-the-point as eight- or 10-minute instrumentals get.

"Jewish-Mexican Phantom" by El Valiente

The moments where Eric Caldera's guitar, drummer Joe Bernstein's glockenspiel, and David Sperka's bass all focus in on the same hook are among the most memorable, especially in the creepily quiet middle of "Jewish-Mexican Phantom." It's a fine example of how Caldera mixes lyrical Latin music and spooky Western scores into the band's distinctly non-bloated take on epic post-rock. The tunes on El Topo were catchy, but the melodies weren't quite so patiently fleshed out or boldly played. Here, they lead the songs.

Then again, so does Bernstein. It's impressive that he can play drums and glockenspiel at once, but more importantly, the guy can play drums. Again, it's hard to say why, but on Daceton, it's easier to hear how much he branches out beyond the already difficult task of carrying these multi-phase songs through changes in time and tempo. "Chico Chism & Chico Hamilton" is pretty much Bernstein's place to rule, as he quietly rumbles and rattles around Caldera's sparse guitar intro, kicks it up into a more rocking section, and then switches one hand over to the glockenspiel—basically holding down interplay with the guitar on two fronts. This is really cool to watch live, and most of the album was recorded live in studio. The production is simple, but it doesn't cramp the band's spacious sound. Daceton also includes live versions of the title track (named for a genus of ants, which Caldera studies as a grad student) and El Topo's "Emergency Caller/Utah Desert" recorded at Café Montmartre, complete with that venue's infernal crowd chatter.

On this album, Caldera says, "We pushed ourselves technically. It seems like there were many instances along the way where we would stumble upon an idea that we wanted to pursue, but it seemed beyond our reach. However, in many of those cases, perhaps stubbornly, we would hang on to those ideas until they came together, sometimes to our own surprise." Agreed. Even for a band Decider liked a lot in the first place, El Valiente keeps up the excitement here because it has grown over the past couple of years. Isn't that what second albums should be about?

The A.V. Club's 10 favorite Madison records of 2009

El Valiente, Daceton (self-released)
El Valiente had all of this year and last to become pretty popular for a local instrumental-rock band. The three new tracks on Daceton, though, accomplish a lot more than El Valiente's first batch of songs, El Topo. Eric Caldera's reverb-sprung Telecaster, Joe Bernstein's drums and glockenspiel, and David Sperka's bass really find each other in the mix this time, indulging lots of creepy-crawly in-between passages but also displaying a lot more confidence in their mysteriously catchy melodies.
Key track: "Jewish-Mexican Phantom" lets Bernstein's tasteful drumming walk the line between jazz and prog. It also tackles a whole range of emotions in its 10-minute sprawl, from an intro that's as lighthearted as a rapidly skipping stone to a final feedback-laden sludge-out.

Instrumentals surging with bursts of noise and wondrously drifting melodies. For three guys with such a humble stage presence, the group crafts some bold--perhaps even valient?-- work, spicing up the basic rock-trio format with glockenspiel and unwieldy song structures on the recently released El Topo. For an idea that sounds so interesting on paper, El Valiente is also quite respectable live, staying clear and tight even at a cramped King Club show last month.

TOP LOCAL RELEASE OF 2008
Not only the best album to come out of Madison this year but by far one of the best live performers. El Valiente were kind enough to play the Dane101, "Save Us from the Russian Spambots‚ show back in August and tore the house down, so much so that the above mentioned Pale Young Gentlemen were so floored by El Valiente performance that even they were calling for an encore. The music is simple to its core but emotive in its delivery, and the noise, the sound, it doesn't matter the venue El Valiente come to impress.

Voted BEST NEW BAND 2008 by Isthmus Readers

Without a doubt, this is the most creative guitar-centric rock act working in Madison today.

El Valiente lurk and charge through spaces as broad and bleak as the Grand Canyon. The group's guitar, glockenspiel, bass, and drums prove boldest when drifting off into a skeletal void between slowcore, spaghetti western, and free jazz.

Just when you think the local instrumentalists are all about limitless desert vistas and parched bones glowing in the moonlight, they let loose with an explosion of guitars that takes you back to the glory days of post-punk.

El Valiente 's free jazz and spaghetti western washes are mind-bending enough to be the soundtrack to the dreams of surreal director Alejandro Jodorowsky.

What better way to close out the week’s ticket orgy than with El Valiente. I will admit that I had never heard or heard of El Valiente until this post, but holy hell I am impressed. If nobody takes these tickets I will break ranks and take them myself. El Valiente are a post-rock group (man I am full of hyphens) who’s free jazz influenced rock slays me. If you are a fan of Mogwai or The Album Leaf you are already familiar with El Valiente. If you’re not as I am or was, then you are doing yourself a disservice by not catching this show.