Shellac has a distinctive, minimalist sound based on unusual and urgent time signatures, repetitive heavy rhythms, an angular guitar sound, and both Albini's and Weston's surreal, bitingly sarcastic lyrics.

The band acknowledged no taboos, and Albini's lyrics openly dealt with loaded topics including murder, rape, child sexual abuse, arson, racism, and misogyny.

Many of the EP's lyrics depicted scenarios drawn from Albini's midwest upbringing, such as " Cables ", which described the slaughtering of cows at a Montana abattoir, and " Pigeon Kill ", about a rural Indiana town that dealt with an overpopulation of pigeons by feeding them poisoned corn.

Compounding the problem were the band's aggressive, noise-driven sound and Albini's confrontational lyrics, which tested the tolerance of his white liberal audience by mercilessly satirizing racism, sexism, chauvinism, and stereotypes of homosexuality, sometimes using pejoratives like " darkie " and " fag " to drive home the point ; this led some listeners to consider him a bigot.

Albini's lyrics openly dealt with such topics as mutilation, murder, rape, child molestation, arson, immolation, racism, and misogyny.

Albini's touring schedule with Shellac did not allow time for the band to rehearse a full set, so they instead played a short set of four songs: " Cables ", " Dead Billy ", " Pigeon Kill ", and " Racer-X ".

Some critics viewed these defenses as mere justifications for actual deep-seated racism, homophobia, and misogyny on Albini's part, given his level of familiarity with the subject matter, but he insisted that he was not a prejudiced person and was merely satirizing those impulses that rational, civilized persons normally suppress in the course of social interaction: " So once that's given, once you know what you think, there's no reason to be ginger about what you say.

Critic Mark Deming describes Santiago as an ideal guitar foil for Albini ; " his muscular guitar sound was the ideal match of Albini's jagged, metallic tone.

This is in line with Steve Albini's general dislike for the CD format.

" Cobain cited Surfer Rosa as one of his main musical influences, and particularly admired the album's natural and powerful drum sounds — a result of Steve Albini's influence on the record.

William d ' Albini's monastery was a dependency of the Benedictine monastery at St Albans, where his uncle Richard was Abbot.

Steve Albini's Big Black followed a similar path, while also incorporating American hardcore punk.

American noise-rockers Sonic Youth melded the rock-feedback tradition with a compositional / classical approach ( notably covering Reich's " Pendulum Music "), and guitarist / producer Steve Albini's group Big Black also worked controlled feedback into the makeup of their songs.

The contrast between Wallace's style of mixing, which involves ( among other things ) triggered samples ( leading to the album's distinctive half wood, half metal snare drum sound ), and Albini's style of recording, irritated Albini.

Albini's producer's fee was US $ 1, 500 and he received no royalties ; Albini has a practice of refusing royalties from records he produces, viewing it as " an insult to the band.

Albini's name does not appear on the original record sleeve.

Both Surfer Rosa and Steve Albini's production of the album have been influential on alternative rock, and on grunge in particular.

The trio clicked as a unit, Durango's ability to rework arrangements and tweak sounds helping to refine Albini's song ideas.

With their breakup announced well in advance, Big Black recorded their final album, Songs About Fucking, half in London and half at Albini's home studio.

They performed at the Pukkelpop festival in Belgium with Sonic Youth on July 22, Albini's 25th birthday.

No matter what well-meaning rockers think of Steve Albini's supremacist lies, they lie themselves if they dismiss what he does with electric guitars — that Killdozer sound culminates if not finishes off whole generations of punk and metal.

Albini's recording style is characterized by the use of vintage microphones placed strategically around the performance room, keeping vocals very low in the mix, and using few special effects.

The next stop was Steve Albini's studio, Electrical Audio, where the Blues Explosion cut some tracks in the days following their 1998 New Year's Eve Chicago performance.

Some bands signed to the independent label Homestead Records, including Squirrel Bait ( as well as David Grubbs-related Bastro and Bitch Magnet ) and Steve Albini's Big Black ( just as his subsequent projects Rapeman and Shellac ) are also associated with post-hardcore.

With the addition of Balthazar " Baltie " de Lay, of the band Mother ( later Menthol ), the band recorded their first demo in famous engineer Steve Albini's basement in Chicago, Illinois.

Early lyrics drew on the band's blues and folk roots, often mixing lyrical fragments from different songs.

On the EP, Francis drew upon his experiences in Puerto Rico, mostly in the songs " Vamos " and " Isla de Encanta "; the album included lyrics describing the poverty in Puerto Rico.

For at least some of the lyrics, Yorke cut up words and phrases and drew them from a hat.

During the ' 70s most of these styles were evolving in the underground music scene, while mainstream audiences began the decade with a wave of singer-songwriters who drew on the deeply emotional and personal lyrics of 1960s folk rock.

( He had written the lyrics to the theme song, scripted the film, and also drew the recruitment posters which Donald passes on his way to the draft board.

Vusi Ximba's Siyakudamisa ( 1992 ) was perhaps the most memorable Zulu-traditional album of the later twentieth century, and drew controversy for racy, comedic lyrics.

As a 29-year-old in 1942, Mikhalkov's work drew the attention of the Soviet Union's leader Joseph Stalin, who commissioned him to write lyrics for a new national anthem.

He noted the band's choice of producer, Mike Hedges, as a possible contributing factor to the overall change in sound, and drew parallels to the lyrics of Kurt Cobain and the " reverb-laden " music of Phil Spector.

It particularly grew out of blues-rock and progressive folk music and drew on non-Western sources such as Indian music's ragas and sitars as well as studio effects and long instrumental passages and surreal lyrics.

's lyrics were clever, snide and evocative ( Art Black and David Sprague suggest that " Black humor beats black metal any day ") and their " weirdly catchy " music drew " on hot jazz and swing as much as clanging rock, emphasizing the group's stand-apart attitude.

With lyrics profiling a pair of drunks outside a Mission District liquor store, Kiss the Bottle ,' more than any other song, captures the sensitive boy machismo that drew ( and continues to draw ) male listeners to the altar of Schwarzenbach.

Cartman drew a circle and a squiggly line, and Kyle wrote down the lyrics to the Happy Days theme.

Rodgers sang often morbid lyrical themes that drew on the blues to create tales of the poor and unlucky ( Collins, 11 ), while the Carters preferred more upbeat ballads with clear vocals, complementary instrumentation and wholesome lyrics ( Garofalo, 53 ).

With fast guitar riffs and intelligent lyrics written by Grabowski, Dezerter's concerts drew thousands of fans and its LPs were very popular, especially in the late ' 80s and early ' 90s.

" Panic " drew negative reaction from critics who construed Morrissey's lyrics to have a racist connotation, due to their disparagement of the " disco " and the " DJ ".

In 1960 Theodore Bikel and Alan Lomax each published versions of Oleanna that drew on Seeger's translation, Ditmar Meidell's original lyrics and their own imaginations.

The early 1970s saw a wave of singer-songwriters who drew on the introspective, deeply emotional and personal lyrics of 1960s folk-rock.

This lady sang the chansonnettes he wrote for her, and their poetical intercourse drew from him some lyrics of profound emotion.