Dude Incredible

Did You Know?

• Physical copies are packaged in a chipboard album jacket with two high gloss, full color monkeys as front cover artwork.
• The front cover was photographed by Reuters photographer Anton Meres.
• Additional photographic images were provided by David Manthey.

Release

The album was announced on Touch and Go Records' official website in July 2014. Vinyl editions were mastered entirely in the analog domain using direct metal mastering, and discs were manufactured at Record Technology, Inc. in Camarillo, California with the HQ-180 system. It was released on 180-gram LP, CD, and as a digital download in AAC, MP3, and full-bandwidth 24-bit AIFF files via HDtracks. The iTunes Store edition included a digital booklet, and LP editions were packaged with a CD copy. In the United Kingdom, Dude Incredible reached the top 10 of the Independent Breakers Album Chart.

Reception

Critics widely praised Dude Incredible. On Metacritic, which standardizes ratings from mainstream outlets on a 100-point scale, the album earned an 84 from 13 reviews, a score that signifies universal acclaim. Mark Deming of AllMusic gave a mostly mixed assessment, awarding three and a half stars out of five. He wrote that while the record does not sound lazy, it lacks one or two exceptional songs that would elevate it further, though he still called it the work of a strong and interesting band.

Adam Kivel at Consequence of Sound gave the album an A-minus, noting that it never feels overworked but instead sounds intensely rehearsed, with rhythms and riffs locking together like parts of a careful mechanical clock. He highlighted "All the Surveyors," "Riding Bikes," and "Compliant" as essential tracks. Andrew Hannah of The Line of Best Fit awarded a perfect ten out of ten, stating that it will be difficult for band members Albini, Weston, and Trainer to surpass this record, and that it belongs alongside or above their earlier works At Action Park and 1000 Hurts, capturing the band at the height of its powers.

Pitchfork's Nick Neyland gave a favorable review, observing that despite the long gap since the previous album Excellent Italian Greyhound, Dude Incredible sounds surprisingly fresh. He noted that earlier records sometimes included tracks lost between inspiration, endurance tests, and technical displays, but this album has none of that; instead, Shellac attacks directly and never lets up. Ludovic Hunter-Tilney of the Financial Times gave four stars out of five.

John Robb of The Membranes, writing for Louder Than War, gave a ten out of ten, calling the album a relentlessly brilliant work of uncompromising musical perfection that refuses to fit into any category and spits on conventional rock narratives.