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Monday, Jul 22 2024, 7AM
On what would have been Steve Albini's 62nd birthday we’re joining his friends, family and fans in celebrating the life of this amazing songwriter, engineer and producer. Today you’ll hear music from his bands Big Black and Shellac, as well as cuts from the thousands of albums he recorded. Albini’s friends are asking favs to flood social media with memories of him and to tag them with the hashtag “#ThankYouSteveAlbini
After Low had made several records in their signature slow and minimal style, they were beginning to expand their sound while recognizing the possibilities of the studio. For Things We Lost in the Fire, Low took their time recording with Steve Albini in Chicago and later enhancing the recordings with Tom Herbers in Minneapolis. Read about the making of the album:
lifeoftherecord.com
Recorded by Steve Albini, Craig Ward and David Odlum at Electrical Audio.
The Frames are an Irish rock band based in Dublin. Founded in 1990 by Glen Hansard (of Once fame), the band has been influential in the Dublin rock music scene. The group has released six studio albums.
For his role on In Utero, Albini insisted on a $100,000 flat fee with no stake in future royalties. “I think paying a royalty to a producer or engineer is ethically indefensible. I would like to be paid like a plumber: I do the job and you pay me what it’s worth,” he wrote. “There’s no way I would ever take that much money. I wouldn’t be able to sleep.”
"At nearly four minutes long, 'Where Is My Mind?' is a lifetime in the Pixies' short-song discography. What first draws the listener in—unmistakable, without subjectivity—is guitarist Joey Santiago's lackadaisical riff that carries the tune. As he told Music Radar in 2022, 'This was actually the first thing I tried. A lazy arpeggio that instantly sounded strong and hooky.'" Here's a discussion of the song that was "everywhere" in 2023: www.businessinsider.com
Viva Last Blues is the third studio album by Will Oldham. It was released under the moniker Palace Music on Drag City in 1995 after being recorded by Steve Albini.
palace-music.bandcamp.com
Jason Molina and the band recorded this live at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio Studio in Chicago.
songsohia.bandcamp.com
From 1993 on, Steve Albini recorded most of Silkworm’s music, and became their close friend.
Recorded uncredited by Steve Albini. They recorded their next album, Velvet Hammer, in 1993, and it was engineered by Steve as well (around the time he produced Nirvana's In Utero),
Recorded over 3 days in Steve Albini's studio in Chicago during the pandemic.
Stay Alive was the debut solo album from Laura Jane Grace, who is also the lead singer and founder of Against Me!
The second studio album by Superchunk was produced by Steve Albini.
Engineered/produced by the late Steve Albini.
"Released amid the bursting buds of May 1990, Pod is vividly sensual and sexual without being sexy in an alluring sense, like the music of the era’s biggest pop stars: Madonna, Janet Jackson, Prince. It is also, in its close atmosphere as well as its lyrics, a little disgusting. [Kim] Deal has described the record as a collection of 'ugly, stinking gross songs.'"
tinyurl.com
According to Albini, the basic tracks for In Utero were recorded as whole takes, the band all playing together in the studio. Cobain's vocals for the entire album were reportedly done in six hours.
"I'm not a proponent of breaking an organic unit down into its constituent parts and recording them independently. I've never had good results doing that. And I feel like you lose a lot of the personality of the band when you don't hear the interplay between the different members—like when everybody raises an eyebrow, so they hit the accent at the same time."
“When I think of the Jesus Lizard, I think of the greatest band I’ve ever seen,” Steve Albini writes. Read his full interview here: pitchfork.com
David Yow of The Jesus Lizard once noted on this song that it is specifically about Britt Walford who played drums in Slint: "Steve Albini had to leave town for a little while and Britt was going to house sit for him and in no time Britt lost the keys to the front door so he came home drunk one night and he ripped the front door down and instead of like putting it back on the hinges and fixing it, he just nailed 2×4’s up to fix the door, and he broke the toilet and it was raining...water into the basement where Steve’s recording studio was set up… I think Steve and I were talking about this occasion and he said, “I mean don’t get me wrong, he’s a nice guy, I like him just fine, but he’s a mouth breather.”
www.kexp.org
The song was recorded by Steve Albini and later remixed by Andy Wallace. Wallace's style of mixing, which involves (among other things) triggered samples and a cleaner, more polished sound, irritated Albini. Later, when in negotiations to record Nirvana's In Utero, he stipulated a clause be added to his contract stating that Wallace would not be allowed to remix the album, after he mixed Nevermind, which was released 9 months before Meantime.
IN THE MEANTIME watch Helmet's in-studio session from 2013 here!
bit.ly
Back in 2012, musician John Grabski released his first and only album as Teeth. The Strain, recorded with Steve Albini is a scorcher of a record, an unflinching look at the cancer that would soon take Grabski’s life. Watch the short documentary, ROCK VS CANCER, about it: www.youtube.com
Produced by Steve Albini
mcluskymclusky.bandcamp.com
Greg Norman is a recording engineer, producer, and technician based out of Steve Albini's studio Electrical Audio.
Recorded by Steve Albini.
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The New Year formed in 1999 by former Bedhead members Matt and Bubba Kadane.
24 Hour Revenge Therapy is the third studio album by American punk rock band Jawbreaker, released on February 7, 1994, through Tupelo Recording Company and Communion Label. Following the release of their second studio album Bivouac (1992), frontman Blake Schwarzenbach developed a polyp on his vocal chords. While on tour in Europe, he went to a hospital; upon returning to the United States, the band took up day jobs. Recording sessions for their next album were held at Steve Albini's house in Chicago, Illinois across three days in May 1993. After being disappointed by the mixes, three songs were recorded in a single day at Brilliant in San Francisco, California in August 1993.
Steve Albini recorded the great first full length from Pixies. Read about the making of Surfer Rosa, featuring Joey Santiago, David Lovering, and Steve Albini: lifeoftherecord.com
One of Steve's top 20 songs of all time.
x.com
Flour is Pete Conway, who played bass in Rifle Sport with Shellac's Todd Trainer (drums).
Flour toured as a live band twice with a lineup that featured ex-Big Black guitarist Steve Albini on bass and former Breaking Circus percussionist Todd Trainer on drums before they went on to form the band Shellac.
Shellac was an American noise rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 1992 by Steve Albini, Bob Weston and Todd Trainer. Their lineup remained consistent until Albini's death in May 2024.
Produced, engineered, AND mixed by Steve Albini! The ol' Steve Trifecta
At the time of "Rid of Me,", PJ Harvey was still a trio that included Polly Jean Harvey on guitar and vocals, Rob Ellis on drums, and Steve Vaughan on bass. In the middle of winter, the group moved to a remote house in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, near Pachyderm Studio, where they recorded the album under guidance of producer Steve Albini. Says Harvey: "I knew I wanted to work with Steve Albini from listening to Pixies records, and hearing the sounds he was getting, which were unlike any other sounds that I'd heard on vinyl. I really wanted that very bare, very real sound. I knew that it would suit the songs. It's like touching real objects or feeling the grain of wood. That's what his sound is like to me. It's very tangible. You can almost feel the room."
Big Black (and Shellac) front-fellow Steve Albini this in the CD's liner notes, "This compact disc, compiled to exploit those of you gullible enough to own the bastardly first generation digital music system, contains all-analog masters. Compact discs are quite durable, this being their only advantage over real music media. You should take every opportunity to scratch them, fingerprint them, and eat egg and bacon sandwiches off them. Don't worry about their longevity, as Philips will pronounce them obsolete when the next phase of the market-squeezing technology bonanza begins." ...and he was right.
Recorded by Steve Albini!
In deliberate contrast to the full sentences featured on previous recordings—something for which the group had often been parodied within the music press—all of the songs on the album Seamonsters have one-word titles.
scopitones.co.uk
Produced and engineered by Steve. Albini said “Of the couple thousand records I've been involved with, this is one of my favorites, and one that I'm proud to be associated with.”
On what would have been Steve Albini's 62nd birthday we’re joining his friends, family and fans in celebrating the life of this amazing songwriter, engineer and producer. Today you’ll hear music from his bands Big Black and Shellac, as well as cuts from the thousands of albums he recorded. Albini’s friends are asking favs to flood social media with memories of him and to tag them with the hashtag “#ThankYouSteveAlbini
Steve Albini discusses Nirvana’s 'In Utero.' Read an archived interview with the studio legend about his most successful job:
rockandrollglobe.com
One of Steve Albini's 20 favorite songs, here on what would have been Steve Albini's 62nd birthday #thankyouSteveAlbini
x.com
Their version of the Kraftwerk song. This band founded by Steve Albini in 1981 and here they are, in 1987, full set live in Seattle doing this song and many others at the Georgetown Steamplant (also on the bill: Steven Jesse Bernstein, and many future Seattle luminaries were in attendance): www.youtube.com
jivetimerecords.com
dangerousminds.net
The Breeders version of The Beatles classic Happiness Is A Warm Gun is from their Steve Albini produced (despite being credited as engineer) debut Pod.
Walking into Clarksdale is the only studio album by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, both formerly of English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released by Atlantic Records on 20 April 1998. The album was recorded and mixed by Steve Albini at Abbey Road Studios.
Steve Albini doesn't fear hell. RIP. #thankyouSteveAlbini
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If there's a heaven, I hope they're having fun
Cause if there’s a hell, I'm gonna know everyone