Released in the year 2000 on Touch and Go Records, 1000 Hurts is the third studio album by Shellac, the Chicago-based trio consisting of Steve Albini (guitar, vocals), Bob Weston (bass), and Todd Trainer (drums). The record stands as one of the band’s most precisely engineered and thematically focused works, a distilled example of Shellac’s stark, uncompromising approach to sound and songcraft.
From its opening moments a tongue-in-cheek spoken introduction mimicking an old Ampex test tape 1000 Hurts declares its devotion to analog fidelity and technical discipline. The production, entirely handled by the band, captures the raw energy of a live performance: Albini’s jagged guitar tone, Weston’s sinewy bass lines, and Trainer’s powerful, metronomic drumming all cut through with exceptional clarity.
Musically, the album channels minimalist aggression and dry humor in equal measure. Tracks like Prayer to God and Squirrel Song balance bitter irony with emotional directness, while the rhythmic precision of Song Against Itself and Watch Song reveals the trio’s mathematical tightness. Every note feels intentional, every silence charged.
Thematically, 1000 Hurts captures frustration, absurdity, and confrontation hallmarks of Shellac’s worldview. Yet behind its austere exterior lies a strangely human undercurrent: resentment, longing, and even self-mockery surface amid the metallic clangor.
More than two decades later, 1000 Hurts remains a touchstone of minimalist rock engineering, admired for its uncompromising honesty, sound purity, and architectural precision. It’s not merely a record it’s an artifact of how seriously a band can take the physical and ethical craft of recording
