Shellac - Dude Incredible

Music 4 years ago

Shellac - Dude Incredible

Dude Incredible is an honest representation of gifted musicians playing punk rock together with patient breath and coiled abandon.

The bass, drums, guitar, and vocals each end up being showcased on their own at various points on the album, and each might rightly be described as the "lead" instrument; the songs are magnanimous and co-operative because, after more than 20 years of making records together, the seasoned team managing them trusts each other like brothers.

The lyrics, often presented in unaffected, tuneful speech or guttural screaming, convey incisive, comedic, and thoughtful ruminations on the following: human interaction and behavior; fighting; vandalism; political machinations and opportunistic/piss-poor leadership; looking at things and being looked at by things; and at least one dispute about the conclusion of an instance of sexual intercourse.

To paraphrase a line from the title track, all of Shellac’s records are fit, but some of them are spectacular. Dude Incredible is definitely the latter—a lean batch of nine intriguing, blood-pumping songs that tromp, clatter, and ring out like nothing else ever could.