-Terraform- Nude As The News (www.nudeasthenews.co.uk)

A bit more about this controversial 12-minute track: there's really a lot more variation going on than people think during the minute-or-so bass-and-drum sequences between guitar entrances. Maybe you have to be a drummer to notice, but when Todd suddenly stops swiping an opened hi-hat after each snare hit (somewhere around the five-minute mark), the whole way I hear the song suddenly changes. That's the trick of this song -- the effect of every little bass fill, post-rocky little guitar strum, and clattering drum workout hits much harder when you have to wait a bit for it.

All right, the rest of the album. There's nothing as deliberate as the first pieceis as; in fact, most of Terraform's tunes are as straightforward as Shellac get. "This Is A Picture" and "Canada" are traditional noise-guitar and drum-thwack footraces, with Weston's unique-sounding bass hanging back and playing defense. "Mouthpiece" is a little slower, with a funky bassline that sounds kind of like "Smoke On The Water" played double time. "House Full Of Garbage" is textbook Albini, all guitar scratch and highway-accident lyricism.

It's clear from the start that this a band of producers -- Weston and Albini get such amazing sounds out of every instrument on the record, it's no wonder they're adamant about people hearing it in the correct vinyl format. Shellac's mere presence is unparallelled. They sound like they're in your room, and they're coming to kick your ass. "You called who pretentious?" Steve says, as Bob ominously smacks a Louisville Slugger into his palm and Todd twitches maniacally.

Not that Shellac actually care what you think about them. That's one of their chief strengths, even. The band doesn't need to care what anybody thinks, because this isn't their job. They do it because they like it, and they can. It's somewhat ironic that Steve Albini is only one of the major independent music figures of our time, because his major-label production work has provided him with the cash inflow to stay one. But so what? He apologizes for nothing, and he also asks for no apologies from you. You don't like his records, then you don't buy them. He doesn't need you to, and he'll keep making them for as long as he feels like it.

Terraform ends with a love song. Really! Only it's not to a girl, it's to an element. You can see how often misunderstood conductor "Copper" would appeal to these misfits. As the chorus goes, "copper, you'll never be gold." Shellac will never be gold. Much less platinum. And it will never matter a lick to them or me.