Shellac

at The Black Cat (mainstage), 8/31/2006

Not sure where to start this one... If you're unfamiliar, the wikipedia entry about the band seems dead-on to me. They certainly sound unique - from Albini's very strange guitar sound (like a nasally chainsaw?), to the bad vocals, all delivered over-top the rock solid bass and drums. Their songs rely so heavily on repetition of short riffs (including nifty off-balance rhythms and odd meters), that they take on a certain kind of inevitability - and then when a small change occurs, it takes on great significance.

Todd Trainer (drums) really makes it all work. He's magnificent. When they're locked in together, it's quite a machine. And they didn't disappoint live. I think they sounded every bit as good as the records (which sound really good, in my opinion).

Bob Weston's bass tone (and playing) are perfect. His sound is full and heavy - but with no mud. Albini's guitar tone mystifies me - I'm not sure why he wants it to sound so shrill and tinny... but maybe so there's no guitar overlapping the bass guitar frequencies? His sound is certainly intentional, and getting past my own preferences, you can certainly hear every note very clearly - which has pros and cons. You can hear every flub and mis-hit note as well as the "right" ones. I can't quite figure him out. Some of the guitar lines seem quite difficult and he sails right through them perfectly, but other things come off as so sloppy? Maybe the slop has it's place too - since there's none to be found in Trainer or Weston's playing...

Unfortunately, they took several Q & A breaks that dragged on too long. Eventually, I found Albini's idiosyncrasies a bit tiring. So, I guess I have mixed feelings about the show. On one hand, they totally rocked. On the other hand, the show dragged at points (and an as-yet unreleased song, "Lulabelle" really didn't go anywhere). Maybe I'm just getting too old for club shows on weeknights?

Photo by Flickr user haydn sweterlitsch.