The Futurist Tracklist
The Futurist was an album issued by Shellac in 1997 to their friends only
The cover of the album contains 779 names—one for each copy of the album. At the bottom of the cover is a blank space for anyone not named on the cover to write their name. Each person who received the album got a copy with their name circled on the cover. It was rumored this was done for identification of a “culprit” should the album ever end up for sale. However, Steve Albini has denied that he cared if anyone sold it (see his quote below).
For reasons unknown, The Futurist was never released commercially. There is speculation that this was because Shellac were not satisfied with the finished product. A year later, Shellac released their second commercial full-length, Terraform.
“The Futurist” Q&A
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What have the artists said about the album?
Steve Albini told The Quietus,
Wow. It’s a good record but when we made it we gave it away for free so it’s hard for me to consider it being worth that much as an artefact. I’m sure there are versions of it floating around online that you could listen to if you were curious. We made them to give to people who were either our personal friends or as a thank you to people who had been kind to the band or who we had worked with in some capacity and we wanted to recognise that relationship. In the same way that you might make an ashtray or a piece of furniture and give it to somebody as a gift, it was possible for us to make this record and give it away to people, so we did. Thinking about it in those terms, if I or the band gives somebody a gift, it’s really only special for that person and for anybody else it’s just a record. I understand from a fan’s standpoint of wanting to be a completist but the relationship implied by giving and receiving a gift is different from just hearing the music or owning a record.
You didn’t mind if people sold or got rid of the LPs?
Not at all. We gave it to them. It’s theirs. They can do whatever they want with it. It’s quite feasible that we gave records to people who either didn’t like the record or just didn’t want to be bothered with something. Especially after hearing it can be sold for $500, I don’t understand why everybody hasn’t sold them.
