Shellac Excellent Italian Greyhound (2007)

Within the first few minutes of the opening track “The End of Radio” one will know Shellac is definitely one of those post-rock bands. The opener sounds like something Slint would put out. Throughout the verses of the song the drummer and vocals don’t necessarily fall in tempo with the chords the bassist hits. The verses of this tune tend to get monotonous and when the band plays together on the chorus they sound very much like Slint. The second tune “Steady as She Goes” is more punk rock, but tends to get repetitive. The album starts to catch my interest with “Be Prepared,” the opening portion uses some cool intentional sloppiness and guitar tones and then transitions into a cool rock out portion. After a good, but not fantastic, drum solo there is a cool bridge where Albini uses some very cool guitar tones. One of the best tracks on the album is “Elephant” where Albini actually sings instead of screams. The drummer’s beat over a six feel is very interesting, and throughout the whole song it is difficult to determine if the tune has steady time signature. The longest track on the album is “Genuine Lulabelle” which opens with just vocals and guitar, and is actually quite melodic. The heavier portions of the tune serve as a bridge between each player soloing. When Albini sings for a long portion in the middle of the tune, it sounds more like a man singing to himself in the shower, than a rock album. The only times this sound is interrupted is when there are different vocal tracks thrown in randomly and at the end when the band does what it does best, rock loud. “Kittypants” is a short track that isn’t anything more than a rock song really. “Boycott” fits its name, being another very punk song on the album, although much better than “Steady as She Goes.” “Paco” has a very heavy opening, which goes into a guitar interlude that is probably on of my favorite moments on the album. The band joins in with the guitar the band plays a cool unison syncopated riff, which turns into a cool instrumental portion for the rest of the song. The closer “Spoke” has an upbeat, moderately funky, drumbeat over a lot of screaming. The song is a lot of fun and provides an unexpected wrap up of the album. As I listened through Excellent Italian Greyhound it caught my interest more and more. It isn’t great, but I didn’t mind listening.

Points of interest:

Steve Albini is in Big Black