Shellac is the only good rock band around today. Luckily for us, they're probably the best
rock band ever. 1000 Hurts is their 3rd album and, as usual, the packaging is superb.
Both the record and the CD come in a reel to reel tape box (the CD version is of course a
very small reel to reel). The record also comes with a free CD version of the album, a big encouragement towards buying the vinyl version (unless you like
your artwork small, why would you buy the CD?).
The songs and recording on 1000 Hurts don't deviate from the sound of their other releases
so much as to shock the listener, but there are some definite differences. The songwriting has
polarized from the easily accessible rock and roll (e.g., "My Black Ass" from At Action Park)
and experimentalism/confrontation (e.g., "Didn't We Deserve..." from Terraform). The songs
on this album switch gears from straightforward 4/4 time rock to bizarre arrangements/time
changes more quickly and at greater extremes than their past releases. To make the contrast
even more blatant, the straightforward parts are very straightforward, and the crazy parts
are even more far out than Shellac has ever ventured.
"Song Against Itself" starts out sounding almost as straightforward as pop punk, while
"Mama Gina" starts with a dissonant melody being played over a slow rhythm section which
then fades out to bass pulses and guitar beeps with Steve singing/talking about a woman who
likes to dance. When Steve is done speaking, a guitar part that is so saturated with
distortion that it has no tonal qualities, just pitch, comes in and is joined by drums and
bass for the last minute or so of the song, bringing it together and changing what was a
very odd guitar part to a very normal sounding Shellac rock part.
"The Watch Song" is somewhat reminiscent of older Shellac songs like "My Black Ass." The
opening track, "A Prayer to God" starts with Steve playing chords and singing, melodically
coming across as a singer/songwriter type song with a lot of edge. The song builds with
Steve despondently singing (and eventually yelling) "kill him, fucking kill him already,
kill him." The bass and drums drop out towards the end leaving just the guitar and vocals
which end: "kill him already, kill him, amen."
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