Steve Albini RIP

 

I have been writing about 90s music and coincidentally this week, everyone has been writing about the passing of Steve Albini. 

I don’t have any passing insight that you won’t read elsewhere. He famously said he was an engineer and not a producer. He captured bands in a raw, live sound. This was occasionally controversial with PJ Harvey’s second album Rid of Me.

I didn’t have the same tastes as Albini but I would say he worked best when that sound was needed. So on that record as with his most famous recordings Nirvana’s In Utero and the Pixies Surfer Rosa, it was usually a compliment to the band’s style. 

Albini was prolific and had some high profile clients. Again, it only meant that we crossed paths at certain times. His most recent records that I really enjoyed are as often was the case a motley bunch- Flogging Molly (Swagger, Drunken Lullabies), Gogol Bordello (Gypsy Punks, East Infection), the Stooges reunion (The Weirdness), and the Cloud Nothings (Attack on Memory). 

He worked with a range of styles and artists- the Breeders, the Wedding Present, Neurosis, Sun0))), Ty Seagall, Man or AstroMan, Page and Plant, the Manic Street Preachers, Chevelle and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion but really dozens. 

One of my favorite albums was that perfect mix of an unexpected artist with a light sound (the Auteurs) taking a different route with the stark and tough approach (After Murder Park). It is without a doubt one of my favorite albums. 

Albini was active on social media and I consider that I could have interacted more with him (I don’t know what I would have said except telling him how much I loved After Murder Park). 

Albini based in Chicago was a pioneer and not someone who got a lot of national press before In Utero. But as he was well known in Illinois - his bands did have a reputation and it was apparent in their names- Rapeman. Big Black and later, Shellac. Of course, the band the Jesus Lizard eventually made a name for themselves with that noise rock (David Wm Sims played on both Rapeman and the Lizard and Albini produced the bands work). 

Big Black lasted from 1981 to 1987 but by the time the 90s rolled around, they started to get some attention. Many heard Ministry and Nine Inch Nails and said they were only doing what Big Black had done. I listened to their album “Songs about F*cking” and immediately went out to buy it. 

I don’t consider myself a huge noise rock fan but I thought it was a great album. In subsequent years, Pitchfork and the Guardian would herald them as an all time great band. 

In 1994, Albini again put himself in the drivers seat with the trio Shellac and again unexpectedly I was drawn to their debut At Action Park. I haven’t followed the band that closely but their sixth album was expected this year. 

There’s so much that has been written about Albini - a real rock character. Like his peers and predecessors, he embodied the eccentric Producer. He would be in the limelight again as a World Poker champion, of all things, with his biggest winnings in 2018 and 2022. 

Death brings review and in this case, not always glowing. As much loved as Albini was, he equally was a provocateur and his obituary surely would include that part of his life with a focus on how much Albini hated hip hop and dance music, a view that was probably short sided at best and racist at worst. 

Albini’s biggest remembrance may be as that old crank- a meme. He hated certain bands with passion and he had a probably improbable view on technology. I find it funny that there is even a Shellac profile on Spotify at all (any music posted there is surely not his). Albini’s claims that Compact Discs would degenerate was at odds with the professional opinion in the 90s that they would last forever, but time has proven Steve correct. 

 By coincidence, I was watching a documentary the week he passed that had Albini in it (Albini is in a few, he’s pretty inescapable in modern music). I was always struck at the difference in his sound and his appearance. He looked more like George Martin or Joe Meek than he looked like Rick Rubin or a Mutt Lange