Sonic Level: Shellac - Steady As She Goes

Steve Albini (above, on the left) is the guy whom I like more and more everytime I discover something new about his job. From a prominent sound engineer of Nirvana, Mogwai, Don Caballero (wow, a lot of my favourites!), he recently turned into raging band member by recording his own stuff: first new songs since year 2000. This is probably only temporary switch for a man, who has been so successful at developing style of someone else's bands without even bothering to get credits at CD covers.

Shellac is his band, and it's been around for seventeen years. However, this trio is as weird as their recordings. They are touring only to get a leave from daily job for drummer Todd Trainer (who manages a shipping company) and basist Bob Weston (another master of audio production). When they record something decent, it's usually released in drastically limited number of copies made only for closest friends. That's right - they don't care!

While Albini-producer is a shy, modest guy who runs one of the cheapest professional recording studios in US, Albini-musician is crazy, grunge-agressive leader singing about hate and abuse. The band is using rare, aluminum guitar necks. Metallic sound is an essence of Shellac: a rare thing by the way, because this kind of instruments are quite expensive. At least they know how to make them worth the money spent!

Shellac - Steady As She Goes

For those who like to read about what goes behind the scenes: here is the link to Albini's article about modern ways of spreading music. Cool point of view, isn't it?