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Dude Incredible

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Dude Incredible
A landscape photograph of two monkeys placed in the bottom center of a light brown background.
Studio album by
Shellac
ReleasedSeptember 16, 2014 (2014-09-16)
Genre
Length32:43
LabelTouch and Go
ProducerShellac
Shellac chronology
Excellent Italian Greyhound
(2007) 		Dude Incredible
(2014) 		The End of Radio
(2019)

Dude Incredible is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Shellac, released on September 16, 2014 on Touch and Go Records. This is the final studio album released during Steve Albini's lifetime.

Packaging

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Physical copies of Dude Incredible are packaged in a chipboard album jacket. The packaging features two "high gloss, full color monkeys" as the front cover artwork.[1] The front cover was photographed by Reuters photographer Anton Meres; additional photographic images were provided by David Manthey.[2]

Release

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Dude Incredible was announced for release on Touch and Go Records' official website in July 2014.[3] In the announcement, it was revealed that vinyl editions of the album were mastered "entirely in the analog domain" using a process known as direct metal mastering. The vinyl discs were manufactured at Record Technology, Inc. in Camarillo, California using the pressing plant's HQ-180 system.[1]

The album was released on September 16, 2014 on 180-gram LP, CD and as a digital download in various formats, including AAC, MP3 and "full-bandwidth 24-bit" AIFF files,[1] which were made available on HDtracks.[4] A digital booklet was included on the iTunes Store edition of the album,[5] and a CD copy of Dude Incredible was packaged with all LP editions.[1] Upon its release in the United Kingdom, Dude Incredible placed in the top 10 of the Independent Breakers Album Chart.[6]

Reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.1/10[8]
Metacritic84/100[7]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Clash9/10[16]
Consequence of SoundA−[10]
Exclaim!9/10[15]
Financial Times[11]
The Line of Best Fit[12]
Louder Sound[17]
Louder Than War10/10[18]
Pitchfork Media8.0/10[13]
Tiny Mix Tapes[14]

Dude Incredible received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 84, based on 13 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[7] AllMusic reviewer Mark Deming offered a largely mixed review of Dude Incredible, saying "it doesn't sound lazy, just short one or two top-rank songs that would bump its status up a notch, but it's clearly the work of as strong and interesting a band as you can hear these days." He rated the album three-and-a-half out of five stars.[9] Writing for Consequence of Sound, Adam Kivel said that the album "never sounds labored over—it just sounds intensely practiced. The interlocking rhythms and riffs work like cogs in a meticulously handcrafted clock" and selected "All the Surveyors", "Riding Bikes", and "Compliant" as "essential tracks", ultimately awarding the record an A− rating.[10]

The Line of Best Fit's Andrew Hannah rated Dude Incredible a full ten-star rating and concluded in his review: "It's going to be hard for Albini, Weston and Trainer to ever top what we find on Dude Incredible. Worthy of filing alongside and above At Action Park and 1000 Hurts, it's the sound of one of the great bands at the height of their powers."[12] Pitchfork writer Nick Neyland published a favorable review of the album and said that considering the gap between its release and Excellent Italian Greyhound (2007) that "Dude Incredible sounds surprisingly vital … Prior records often contained a track or two that were lost somewhere between inspiration, endurance tests, and technical feats but there's none of that [on Dude Incredible]. Instead, Shellac go straight for your throat and don't loosen their grip until the bitter end."[13] Ludovic Hunter-Tilney of the Financial Times awarded the album a four out of five star rating.[11] John Robb of The Membranes reviewed the album for Louder Than War. He gave the album 10/10 and called it "a relentlessly brilliant work of no compromise and musician perfection that doesn’t fit in anywhere and spits on your boring rock narrative. [18]

Tiny Mix Tapes' Simon Chandler was initially critical of the album, saying that while it maintained "the band's adherence to Spartan instrumentation, minimalist structures, and a brutally dry approach … it doesn’t throw up too many surprises." Chandler later wrote positively about the consistency of the album and noted that it "doesn't suffer from any missteps or indulgences" of Shellac's prior releases, such as Terraform (1998). He ultimately rated the album four out of five stars.[14]

Steve Albini went over each song track by track for Exclaim! magazine.[19]

Accolades

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Publication Country Accolade Rank
Consequence of Sound US Top 50 Albums of 2014 21[20]
Clash UK Clash's Fuss-Free Top 40 Albums Of 2014 30[21]
Pitchfork US The 50 Best Albums of 2014 47[22]
The Quietus UK Quietus Albums Of The Year 2014 60[23]
Crack Magazine UK Albums of the Year 2014 74[24]
The Line of Best Fit UK The Best Fit Fifty Essential Albums of 2014 -[25]
musicOMH UK musicOMH’s Top 100 Albums Of 2014 85[26]
The Village Voice US The 2014 Pazz & Jop Critic's Poll 99[27]
Sound Opinions (Jim DeRogatis) US Jim's Top Albums 5[28]
The Guardian UK Hidden gems 2014: the albums that got away -[29]

Track listing

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All songs written by Shellac except where noted.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Dude Incredible"6:00
2."Compliant"3:38
3."You Came in Me"2:06
4."Riding Bikes"5:28
Side two
No.TitleLength
5."All the Surveyors"3:20
6."The People's Microphone"3:12
7."Gary (T-Bone Slim)[30]"4:00
8."Mayor/Surveyor"1:41
9."Surveyor"3:12
Total length:32:43

Personnel

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All personnel credits adapted from Dude Incredible's album notes.[2]

Shellac
Technical personnel
  • Grégoire Yeche – engineering
  • Jon San Paolo – engineering
  • Matthew Russell – assistance
  • Steve Rooke – mastering
Design personnel
  • David Babbitt – layout
  • Anton Meres – photography
  • David Manthey – photography

Chart positions

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Chart (2014) Peak
position
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[31] 99
UK Albums (OCC)[32] 82
UK Independent Albums Chart[33] 36
UK Independent Breakers Album Chart[6] 5
US Billboard 200[34] 85
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[35] 20
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[36] 17
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[37] 30

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Dude Incredible | Shellac". Touch and Go Records. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  2. ^ a b Dude Incredible (Album notes). Shellac. Touch and Go Records. 2014. TG404CD.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  3. ^ "News | Shellac's Fifth Album Dude Incredible Gets A Release Date". Touch and Go Records. July 1, 2014. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  4. ^ "Dude Incredible". HDtracks. Retrieved September 28, 2014. [dead link]
  5. ^ "Music – Dude Incredible by Shellac". iTunes Store. Apple. September 16, 2014. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  6. ^ a b "2014-10-04 Top 40 Independent Albums Breakers Archive". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  7. ^ a b "Reviews for Dude Incredible by Shellac". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  8. ^ "Dude Incredible by Shellac reviews | Any Decent Music". www.anydecentmusic.com.
  9. ^ a b Deming, Mark. "Dude Incredible – Shellac | Songs, Reviews, Credits and Awards". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
  10. ^ a b Kivel, Adam (September 19, 2014). "Shellac – Dude Incredible | Album Reviews". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  11. ^ a b Hunter-Tilney, Ludovic (September 19, 2014). "Shellac: Dude Incredible – review". Financial Times. Pearson. Retrieved September 28, 2014. (subscription required)
  12. ^ a b Hannah, Andrew (September 19, 2014). "Dude Incredible by Shellac | Album Review". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  13. ^ a b Neyland, Nick (September 19, 2014). "Shellac: Dude Incredible | Album Reviews". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
  14. ^ a b Chandler, Simon (September 21, 2014). "Shellac – Dude Incredible | Music Review". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  15. ^ "Shellac Dude Incredible". exclaim.ca.
  16. ^ "Shellac - Dude Incredible". Clash Magazine.
  17. ^ "Shellac - Dude Incredible". September 19, 2014.
  18. ^ a b John Robb review on Louder Than War http://louderthanwar.com/shellac-dude-incredible-album-review-1010-for-a-stunning-return/
  19. ^ "Steve Albini Breaks Down Shellac's 'Dude Incredible' Track by Track". exclaim.ca. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  20. ^ "Top 50 Albums of 2014". December 12, 2014.
  21. ^ "Clash's Fuss-Free Top 40 Albums Of 2014". Clash Magazine.
  22. ^ "The 50 Best Albums of 2014". Pitchfork.
  23. ^ "The Quietus | Features | Quietus Charts | Quietus Albums Of The Year 2014 (In Association With Norman Records)". The Quietus.
  24. ^ "Albums of the Year 2014". Crack Magazine.
  25. ^ "The Best Fit Fifty Essential Albums of 2014". The Line of Best Fit.
  26. ^ "musicOMH's Top 100 Albums Of 2014 | Lists". December 6, 2014.
  27. ^ "Pazz & Jop Stats". furia.com.
  28. ^ "Show 471: The Best Albums of 2014". soundopinions.org.
  29. ^ Empire, Kitty; Cragg, Michael; Fox, Killian; Mongredien, Phil; Spencer, Neil; Gelly, Dave; Maddocks, Fiona; Pritchard, Stephen (December 21, 2014). "Hidden gems 2014: the albums that got away" – via www.theguardian.com.
  30. ^ "Steve Albini Breaks Down Shellac's 'Dude Incredible' Track by Track | Exclaim!". Steve Albini Breaks Down Shellac's 'Dude Incredible' Track by Track | Exclaim!. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
  31. ^ "Shellac – Dude Incredible". Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  32. ^ "Shellac | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  33. ^ "2014-10-04 Top 40 Independent Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  34. ^ "Shellac Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
  35. ^ "Shellac Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard.
  36. ^ "Shellac Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard.
  37. ^ "Shellac Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard.
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