mattw wrote:Interview with Steve can be found here. Jeez, what a bunch of dumb questions.

dgrace wrote:

mattw wrote:Interview with Steve can be found here. Jeez, what a bunch of dumb questions.

Nice interview, thanks.

Listening to Excellent Italian Greyhound, I was struck by "Genuine Lulabelle," because it really isn't like any other Shellac song we've heard so far. Could you give a little background on the song and the decision to have the voice-overs in the middle?

Well, we're actually being kind of coy about who it is that's on the record, but not for legal reasons. Mainly because the function of those voices is that they're supposed to trigger memories--you're supposed to hear those voices, and they're supposed to jar your memory and they're supposed to be identifiable. That song is about the different perspectives of memory on incidents of extreme behavior and how culturally, women are not encouraged to embrace their reckless past to the degree that men are, and specifically, how a lot of men, when they're eulogized, their misadventures are remembered fondly, almost as sort of capstones of their existence on the planet. Whereas women's indiscretions are generally never mentioned, or if they are mentioned, they're always mentioned in sort of a disparaging fashion. The whole song is basically about the place of memory and what memories of an incident, or a series of incidents--what use they can be to other people. The reason we wanted to get professional voice-over people involved is partly because they have voices that are instantly recognizable and are likely to stir memory, and also because that facet of their voice--that it stirs memory--is a commodity to them, and that's yet another use of memory. That memory then becomes something that is valuable in a literal sense and you can charge money for it, you know? Those are all parts of the conversation that came into play when we were coming up with that song. I mean, there's more to it, but I would be boring you and there's very little likelihood that it would enrich your appreciation of the song.

Bambouche wrote:"Genuine Lullabelle" is a favorite. The song unsettles me and reminds me of complicated people that I've loved, people who have endured demanding lives. The few who are not dead or in prison, those that survived their lives, have a palimpsest of wisdom that inspire me. I find an unsettling contrast between the treatment of, say, a man and a woman who have both fucked for drugs. It's a complicated situation (all the things that lead one to the point of fucking for drugs, for example), and "Genuine Lullabelle" is equally complicated.

I can see why people don't enjoy the song, but I find greater reward in art that is as demanding as it is engaging. Steven Jesse Bernstein's "Strip Poker," or A Gag Reflex, for example.

Superking wrote:I really like "The End of Radio". Such a sad song...

Steve Albini, vocalist of Shellac wrote:I mean, there's more to it, but I would be boring you and there's very little likelihood that it would enrich your appreciation of the song.

Steve Albini, vocalist of Shellac wrote:I mean, there's more to it, but I would be boring you and there's very little likelihood that it would enrich your appreciation of the song (sips wine, adjusts monocle).

mattw wrote:Interview with Steve can be found here. Jeez, what a bunch of dumb questions.

STF wrote:

mattw wrote:Interview with Steve can be found here. Jeez, what a bunch of dumb questions.

I found it informative and witty.