Steve Albini has died at the age of 61 due to a heart attack, as confirmed to EL MUNDO by sources from Primavera Sound, the Barcelona festival in which he performed every year in front of his group, Shellac.
The unexpected death of the guitarist, singer and producer has caused an enormous impact on independent rock in the US, where for four decades he was the most important producer and the moral guru of ethics indie.
Albini trained in punk-rock underground from the USA in the 80s and became known in 1988 with the production of the first album by Pixies, Pink Surfer. World fame came to him when he recorded In Uteroof Nirvanain 1993, the same year in which he also recorded the album PJ HarveyRid of Me.
In 1993, Kurt Cobainleader of Nirvana, wanted to respond to the planetary success of Nevermind with an album that exudes authenticity and bad shit. He thought that the man who could best help him was Steve Albini, whom he did not know personally and whom he revered for his unbribable attitude. When the offer was finalized, the producer typed a letter that is part of rock history. “If you find yourself in the situation where the record company temporarily pampers you just to flush the toilet, then I don’t want to be part of that,” said Albini, who also clarified: “I’m only interested in working on records that legitimately reflect the perception that the group itself has of its music and its existence”. And he even talked about his income, no less than what he charged for recording any other group: “I would like to be paid like a plumber: I do the work and they pay me what it’s worth. The record company will expect you to ask for 1% or 1.5%. If we assume sales of three million records, that equates to about $400,000 or so. There is no way I would accept that much money. “I won’t be able to sleep.”
There is no one who has had so much relevance in rock underground of the US in the last four decades, and it is not due to the iconic albums and the giant artists he recorded. with his day job running the Chicago Electrical Audio recording studiowhich he directed since 1995, helped hundreds and hundreds of groups and artists record with optimal quality and affordable price.
The list of bands that trusted Albini is literally endless and together forms an entire history and lineage of modern Anglo-Saxon rock: Low, Slint, Joanna Newsom, The Breeders, Nina Nastasia, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Superchunk, Mogwai, The Jesus Lizard, The Wedding Present, Jarvis Cocker, Dirty Three, Will Oldham, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Helmet, Boss Hog, Cloud Nothings, Mono, Ty Segall, Sunn O))), Jason Molina, The Ex, Pussy Galore…
In Spain, the Valencians The Red RoomThey were able to travel to Chicago twice to record the albums with him and his team. New Times (2005) and When there is nothing left (2007).
At the same time, and as a hobby, in 1992 I formed the group Shellac along with drummer Todd Trainer and bassist Bob Weston. Albini had thrown loud stones in the 80s with Big Black and with another more ephemeral project, Rapeman, which in English means Rapist, something that sums up well his conception of what music should be. punk-rock artist: an agitator, a juggler of the shock, a provocateur of the majority moral conscience. A brute. A wild.
Steve Albini (first from the left), with his Shellac colleagues.
He never changed his mentality or his language, and in the alternative 90s acquired an almost mythical status as an ethical beacon of the independent scene. His interviews full of inflammatory disqualifications about groups sold and some fiery articles about the integrity and value of non-commercial music became catechism for any group locked in a musty rehearsal room. He was the bearer of the word punk-rock, and only in recent years had he softened his ways a bit.
His recording techniques acquired legendary status: the vehement and at the same time elusive Albini rejected his work as that of a producer. He defined himself as an engineer. He conceived of recording as a technical craft and avoided influencing in any way the artistic decisions of the group or artist for whom he was working: it seems like a small thing, but recording as Albini recorded, with a raw, physical, forceful, sharp and vivid sound, Well, it is not something that is easily achieved.
Furthermore, for three decades he recorded with the fabulousShellaca trio of stark sound, six albums rougher than a punch for betrayal, the last of which will be published next May 17 with the title To All Trains. It was the first they had done in a decade and it will be the testament of a great group overshadowed by Albini’s legend as a producer.
