Steve Albini RIP

for real

what the hell

one of the few who seemed to be aging gracefully, still working, still growing/wrestling with things

he produced the first cd i ever owned and he still felt vital to music today

wtf!!!!

I really thought it had to be a joke at first. 61? Still young.

new album next week, was about to start a tour. incredibly tragic

This is so fucked. This board has discussed the man's flaws at length, but he seemed mainly like a force for good in the music world these days and seemed like he'd have many more good years in him.

Made a record with him 18 months ago. Not as terrifying an experience as I expected, was a really great thing to get to do. Won’t pretend to have got to know him on any real level over that week but he seemed a good dude.

RIP

RIP, legend

Can't believe it

the artist i think about most when i think of him these days is Nina Nastasia, who is one of the best examples of him continually working with and championing a truly singular musician.

Really shocked, what an icon. Hope he’s blasting Cheap Trick bootlegs in the great beyond

Just gutted on this news. Was anxiously awaiting new Shellac and tour.

Well this has woken me up. Awful news

Oh this is completely unexpected and sad. 61. Wtf? I hate this.

RIP

Truly shaped my worldview.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/steve-albini-mn0000023358#credits

just a staggering body of work

RIP, he engineered some truly amazing music. specifically, the silkworm albums he recorded are to me the epitome of how a rock band recording should sound. i know he always credited the band for that sound, since they basically recorded completely live iirc, but the drum sound especially is perfect.

i was in a band that spent a day recording with him at electrical audio - we weren't popular or funded by a label but the main guy in the band had some money saved up that he wanted to use for that purpose. it wasn't a band that i was particularly proud of but being in it was worth it for that experience. albini was mostly businesslike and efficient (which was appreciated because we were trying to do a lot in one day) but he did have us drink the special coffee and talk to us about about cricket

totally agree on silkworm they are one of my favorite bands of all time and i know they were very dear to steve, they had a natural sense of space in their music that really suited albini's production

I think my favorite thing he recorded/mixed was 18th Dye

yeah it's crazy i keep thinking of more and more albums he did that i loved, like no pocky for kitty, electrelane, high on fire, goes on and on and on

Wtf I just read the excellent Wire interview with Shellac today

aside from silkworm, the stuff he did with kim deal/the breeders and mclusky were the first to come to mind

xposts - oh I love no pocky and am obsessed with Electrelane tho I didn't know he produced them!

I interviewed him way back in 2009, and it was a really fun way to spend a half hour. Most of the music he's best known for recording (Breeders, Pixies, Nirvana, Jesus Lizard) is Not For Me, but plenty of other stuff (High On Fire, Sunn O))), Oxbow, Fire!) definitely is, and I had — have — a real admiration for his attitude toward his work. The music industry needs way more people like him, but it only got one.

https://x.com/blackfaurest/status/1788254721217597763?s=46&t=u2ZSlsY3trRV36IPP6jNDQ

David Grubbs tweets re Albini changing over time and owning up to things ; and re recording with him

Fuck, this is shocking. RIP. Just on the cusp of a new Shellac record and tour too, I'm just stunned by this news.

I know someone will inevitably swing through to remind us of the edgelord bullshit he pulled in early years, but he seemed like a guy who was always genuinely searching himself and trying to become a better person, even as he remained kind of cranky and unafraid to voice his opinions.

Many of you have already mentioned his engineering work and musical legacy, more surely to come, but I think his charity work merits a mention too, espeically his Letters to Santa thing.

xxxpost I think that's down to his old school view of his job, which i really loved, he was there to record bands that wanted to pay to be recorded to the best of his ability and showcase them in the best way he could

in the same way that a guy like ted templeton recorded the doobie brothers, van morrison, captain beefheart and van halen

Pretty sad, I was really looking forward to seeing Shellac again… RIP

really sucks, he didn’t seem like someone who was anywhere near close to done.

just ... RIP.
too sad

i always like what he wrote about people making joke about him producing bush

In critical circles Bush took more than their share of heat. Back home they were derided for ignoring the channels of hype and commerce that the British music scene required of its stars. No surprise the music industry in the UK was incredulous. Bush were seen as usurping the sales, chart position, radio play, and most importantly the money that had previously all been under the control of the clannish enterprises that spawned proper British careers like the Bay City Rollers or Duran Duran.

In the states, they were run down for wearing their influences, often American ones, on their sleeves, and for the un-Bunyanlike sin of having a good looking frontman and, well, putting him out front. All of that, thankfully, can be discarded as the temporal trivia it was, and like most questions involving music, their popularity can be explained by listening.

Bush’s music is proud of its inspirations, and Bush used the platform of their popularity to champion bands they thought deserved attention, taking a score of underground or breaking acts on tour with them and regularly paying tribute to the bands and songs that inspired them, occasionally covering the songs themselves to make it plain. I have worked in the studio with bands from the smallest to the largest, from those with no expectations to those with the grandest ambitions, and I am confident in ascribing genuine motives to Bush as I am of any band I’ve encountered. Through working with Bush they became friends, and I am as proud of their friendship as I am of any work I did for them. They made the music they did because they loved it and they got popular because they worked their asses off, and eventually other people liked it too. You cannot ask any more of an artist.

-steve albini

Honestly can't quite believe this

yeah I expected it to be a hoax (not this thread, despite shakey starting it, I'd already seen the news). between this and Gary Floyd, not a good week

61 is way too young.

Aside from what's already been shared, I will forever be grateful for his work with Jason Molina and Songs:Ohia/MEC.

He recorded an Auteurs album I quite like.

Steve was such a good, caring, and funny guy. I will always treasure the night in ‘99 when he took me to Second City to see a show. I walked into the Electrical kitchen at the agreed upon departure time and he looked at my head, smiled and said, “Your hair is peak Mellencamp.” ❤️

— Jon Wurster (@jonwurster) May 8, 2024

Steve was easily the best writer I know in terms of memorials, whether tweet-length or longer. Someone in our group of Chicago poker/music people shared this:

pic.twitter.com/f7KQN4TPw0

— Ben Bass & Beyond (@BenBassBeyond) May 8, 2024

This is terrible news. RIP to a giant

I have always endeavoured to model my own collaborative practice after Albini’s— never taking points, always working sliding scale even if it means operating at a loss. An absolute hero of mine

for every record that people know about, there are 500 recorded by small independent bands that no one has ever heard about, treated with no less care and hard work than the stuff he did for pj harvey or anyone else

i have no words. his name is on records by some of the most incomprehensibly famous people of all time and also my homie's band that i used to drink with after work. rip steve, an incorrigible and completely wholesome asshole.

good day for a nina nastasia marathon anyway.

Did 20 songs, tried not to include any I worked on but made an exception for Nina. pic.twitter.com/kHPQ0BgZ0W

— regular steve albini (@electricalWSOP) September 4, 2023

he is a real one for putting the proclaimers on there

i loved that

:-(

He was pretty consistent in his taste--I remember him talking about Bill Withers in an interview from 20-some years ago.

currently blasting "Wingwalker" at top volume

This is fucking hilarious, from Bluesky:

just remembered when jerry garcia died, some djs at whpk made a bunch of flyers and posted them around chicago saying "if you miss jerry call this number and leave a message about what he meant to you" but put steve albini's phone number on it. one of the all time great pranks.

never gonna see them do the cute thing where they stretch their arms out and kick their leg back and pretend to be planes onstage ever again ;_; look at me i'm a plane look at me i'm a plane look at me i'm a plane

It then imo turns into Squirrel Song

Wednesday has definite aspects of the early singles, the timing elements of them.

Love Bob on Elastic Man

I just listened to this (NB: I don't think I've ever listened to Albini/Shellac/etc) and got a distinct Minutemen vibe from many of the songs. Anyone else think that?

YES

“Scabby the Rat” is basically

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1mkGjQnHdo

They’ve always had little Minutemen moments but I think this album is peak corndog

Even his singing style kind of reminded me of Boon.

so... what does Chicago's Union Station have to do with this except for the title & cover image? - https://maps.app.goo.gl/XGhtcZbjiEdrMCct7

The most I can gather from his recent interviews is that Bob took the photo and they liked the various ways in which you could interpret the sign that says 'To All Trains'

Shellac are on UK Spotify but not when you search for Shellac. WTAF?
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6I8R5MFTlez7rHCsH4cx0u?si=AgL_IuonTraE66Ihhf0ySg

and big black too

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5EYkvHZuGM3pwU3DZUrrZ3?si=ym9TZuD0RLajH2wih1SsMQ

they don't show on search yet in the US either, but links take you to their page where the albums are available.

I think there was some effort on the band's part to divest from spotify because of joe rogan but at the same time they don't care how you listen to them, so maybe that was the compromise? How does a band's control of streaming appearances work with t&g? I vaguely remember an interview where they say they actually got nice-dinner sized checks compared to million-streaming artists who get pennies thanks to less overhead.

Shellac now showing up in search in the UK

Maybe Glenn reads this thread?

he's no longer at Spotify

They are on US now too

https://www.brooklynvegan.com/steve-albinis-bands-shellac-and-big-black-return-to-spotify-other-streaming-services/

so... what does Chicago's Union Station have to do with this except for the title & cover image?

I'd compare it to the cover of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot: just having something local and extraordinary in the same city as where the album/people were.

Thread title making me sad every time I see it

Just sat through a bit of the last Harry Potter movie and there's the scene in purgatory/King's Crossing that had me chuckling about the new album title.

Audio quality is paramount, as always, with Shellac. The LPs are being manufactured by Green Vinyl Records using an injection molding process. This new process uses 100% recyclable PET (like soda bottles) and is environmentally friendly, containing no PVC or Phthalates. The process also uses 79% less CO2 than conventional hydraulic PVC vinyl presses. The records weigh 180 grams.

it should be said this pressing sounds (dude) incredible, i hope this pressing method gains some traction

I hope it gains traction too, and that we collectively realize that if records are going to be made like Mountain Dew bottles they should be like $10 new

How much of the price of pressing vinyl is the plastic puck at the start of the process?

I just listened to this (NB: I don't think I've ever listened to Albini/Shellac/etc) and got a distinct Minutemen vibe from many of the songs. Anyone else think that?

― nickn, Saturday, May 18, 2024 5:06 AM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

I thought the same thing first few listens.

The Minutemen are def touchstone for basically their entire career, cf "Billiard Player Song", and also obv Wire, but the new songs certainly extremely economic in ways they haven't been since the mid-90s era

Well done, Whiney.

An absolute delight to read, front to back.

https://tymguitars.com.au/blogs/blog/the-day-steve-albini-changed-my-life

amazing

In case anyone who's bookmarked this thread has missed it there's an Albini RIP poll running here:

THREE POLLS AND A PACK MULE: ILM Artist Poll #120: Steve Albini

Plenty of time left to vote

Looks like they may be holding regular concerts at Electrical Audio to help keep them financially solvent.

Or at least that's the hope:

"I think this is definitely going to be a big learning experiment,” MacDonald said. “I’m really hoping it goes well because this would be really cool and fun to have a little bit of a series — something to do a couple of times a year."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uUNeejxWp0

^ Steve Albini is sorry for his haircut

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F6fiLwfbQAEjkLf?format=jpg&name=large

that John Cale entry is hilarious

A good read.

https://reallivedress.substack.com/p/021026

Gah, that is a good read, but NOT the right piece. It's this one:

https://reallivedress.substack.com/p/050726

Glad that Electrical is still up and running, and from the studio's Instagram post (as well as bands), looks like a lot's going on there.

Big ol' feature:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/steve-albini-life-legacy-1235556700/

Amazing moment of confirmation from Heather Whinna:

Not long after that, they went to a diner across from the now-shuttered venue Lounge Ax on what turned out to be their first date. “I still didn’t know this was Steve Albini,” she says. “We were talking for a while, and he was a smart-ass. And I was like, ‘Who’s this guy?'” But then the Smashing Pumpkins drove up. “Steve started making fun of them. And I was like, ‘Oh, no. This is Steve Albini,'” she whispers dramatically.

LOL

Up there with Kim Thayil and Steven Malkmus in the Billy Corgan Appreciation Society hierarchy.

lmao

good feature

Corgan spoke very highly of Albini and said he was very kind and helpful to him in later years

The softer side of Steve

we're hosting a ton of family in town for various reasons but mainly BTS concerts (lol, bet you didn't expect a BTS mention in an Albini thread) and I tried my hand at making fluffy coffee on a grander scale and have to say it's pretty magical.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6eZgkDQOY

"tree blood"