It is clear that Albini's work is completely central to the sound of the album, despite how he himself might react to such a claim. As I see it, the evidence is threefold: (01) gut-pummeling drums - all toms & snare, nary a cymbal on the entire record iirc; (02) Literally the exact overdrive/distortion sound I always sought as a guitarist - nasty, gnarly as fuck, but simultaneously crisp/clean - very heavily mid probably; (03) Jarring volume shifts, used just sparingly enough throughout the record that they are always a bit surprising, and often totally fucking awesome, esp. when the come at exactly the point in the song goes from rock! to RAWK (the instrumental climax of 'Lovenest,' for example). Here is this band who were lumped in comfortably w/ tweepop & the C86 scene only two or three years prior & they are fucking making paint peel off walls! (which actually sort of made sense b/c underneath Albini's confrontational presentation, they were still essentially a power-pop band!)
― the goon with the braggin tattoo (Pillbox), Monday, 8 August 2011 11:35 (fourteen years ago)