Labels: Touch & Go
Review by: Luke Younger
YES! A new Shellac album. First of all bonus points are awarded for having a cd copy of this record inside the vinyl one. What a good idea. More bands should do this, then maybe I would buy more vinyl. The packaging is of course as great as previous Shellac records, it’s a fold out cardboard case with the record sleeve inside.
Opener “Prayer to God” is Albini singing a prayer “to the one true god above” about two people he wants dead. It includes such classic lines as “just fucking kill him, I don’t care if it hurts/yes I do, I want it to” and “make him cry like a woman” before leading up to a finale of Albini yelling “KILL HIM, FUCKING KILL HIM”. Brilliant. “Squirrel Song” is normal Shellac, but the lyrics somehow remind me of Frank Zappa or Captain Beefheart (“real squirrels, and there were thousands of them”) and “Mama Gina” is just plain awesome, the way it dies down then comes right back in your face. There is a bit of a dip in the middle with “QRJ” and the Todd Trainer-led “Song Against Itself”, but this is made up by “Shoe Song” and “Watch Song” closing the record in a magnificent style. The latter featuring great lyrics like “Hey man, I wanna have a fight with you, regardless of my opinions on the subject it appears that I am going to”. This is probably as good as “At Action Park” and definitely one of this years most essential purchases.