A legend of the underground indie rock scene. He made fantastic records himself, and produced and engineered many many more. One of those figures who had always been around through my time of actively seeking out music.
Steve Albini RIP
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RIP. It might get noisy tonight.
Only 61. That is very sad. I just glanced at his c.v.. I knew his name but wasn’t sure why.
Engineer for Pixies, P J Harvey and Nirvana! An impressive career.
Evidently thought it was unethical to receive royalties so he always charged a flat fee for his work
Sad news and a real shock. An interesting character in music, and someone who showed such integrity around what little he would take from the many huge records he worked on.
I particularly love his work with The Wedding Present.
What a shame.
He died in his studio, which is where I imagine he would have wanted to go.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/may/08/steve-albini-us-alt-rock-musician-and-producer-dies-aged-61
Produced the best Pixies album and my favourite P..J.Harvey and Electrelane albums. Also seemed to mellow with age into a happier human being than the one who made “Songs about Fxxxxxg”
That’s a shock. I know his work best as the producer of the Japanese band Mono.
Made some indelibly great records which I will love forever. Was also, unfortunately, an extremely bad person which – if he had different indie cred and political stances – would see many of the same people currently lauding him as a hero condemning him out of hand. (Nobody here but lots of “what a wonderful man”-ing going on over on social media)
Nothing he made is a worse record because he was an appalling individual. But let’s not pretend he was a good man because he was involved in good music. It’s not “oh he changed and mellowed” territory, either.
Receipts: https://x.com/hxcxgeorge1/status/1319793279739830274?s=46
What did he do?
I’ve helpfully provided a link.
Doesn’t work
You might need a Twitter account.
Well that’s me out then, however I normally can see X links
He could be a complete twat, then he grew up, as far as I know.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/aug/15/the-evolution-of-steve-albini-if-the-dumbest-person-is-on-your-side-youre-on-the-wrong-side
A friend of mine met him relatively recently and said he was “a super nice guy”, not that that necessarily proves anything
This is about his enthusiasm for child porn*, about which he not only spoke (in graphic detail) in an interview, but also doubled down on (in further and sickening detail) in a Big Black tour diary. We’re not talking edgelord LOLs: we’re talking “the twelve year old looks to be happy, healthy and enjoying himself” justifications. I believe he later claimed to have just been trying to shock, but the quotes in context only support that if you’re determined to believe him.
The link has photos of the hard copy text.
(*I don’t like this phrase, because it’s images of child rape, not “porn”, but that’s the shorthand people use)
https://medium.com/@MoonMetropolis/now-that-steve-albini-is-dead-lets-reflect-on-his-admitted-love-and-promotion-of-child-fadf5072288e
Thanks Dai – a much more accessible format!
Wow literally never heard a thing about this. You’d think it was more publicised before his death, especially these days
Strewth, that was news to me. Complete twat to the end, then.
It’s worth pointing out that the writer of that piece is something of an “edgelord” himself…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Ryne_Goldberg?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR37TEwm5qoIy0r7UsVNAy8opKYPWoJlslLBGJT2Sg5G71eagLVAIGHtCL0_aem_AW8obVELVWyoa_Ut7T2lMte_Fml9uhdnAxd5-lWfwKv_6uqAhZ82f6coRx-CR5Xyh7j7p6WzAsbcHOa3jdQ20aZx
Blimey!
This thread is the AW thread equivilant of Baby Reindeer. It went very unexpectedly dark….