Steve Albini, an alternate rock pioneer and legendary producer who shaped the musical landscape through his work with Nirvana, the Pixies, PJ Harvey and others, has died. He was 61.
Brian Fox, an engineer at Albini's Electrical Audio Recording studio, said Wednesday that Albini died Tuesday night after suffering a heart attack.
In addition to his work on canonized rock albums like Nirvana “In Utero,” the Pixies' breakthrough “Surfer Rosa” and PJ Harvey's “Rid of Me,” Albini fronted underground bands Big Black and Shellac.
He rejected the term “producer,” refused to take royalties on the albums he worked on, and demanded credit for Recorded by Steve Albini, a storied label on albums he worked on.
At the time of his death, Albini's band Shellac was preparing to tour with their first latest album in a decade, “To All Trains,” out next week.
Other acts whose music has been influenced by Albini include Joanna Newsom's indie folk opus “Ys” and releases from bands like the breedersthe Jesus Lizard, Hum, Superchunk, Low and Mogwai.
Albini was born in California, grew up in Montana, and fell in love with Chicago's DIY punk music scene while studying journalism at Northwestern University.
He played in punk bands as a youngster and wrote about music in college for the forward-thinking indie zine Forced Exposure. While attending Northwestern within the early '80s, he formed the raucous, loud post-punk band Big Black, known for its biting riffs, violent and taboo lyrics, and a drum machine as a substitute of a live drummer. At the time, it was a controversial innovation from a person whose profession was marked by dangerous decisions. The band's best-known song, the ugly, explosive six-minute “Kerosene” from their cult-favorite 1986 album Atomizer, is right proof – and never for the faint of heart.
Then got here the short-lived band Rapeman – one in every of two groups Albini led with indefensibly offensive names and vulgar song titles. In the early 90s he founded Shellac, the wild, distorted noise rock band – an evolution of Big Black, but still characterised by pounding guitar tones and aggressive vocals.
In 1997, Albini opened his famous studio Electrical Audio in Chicago.
“The recording part is the part that’s important to me – that I’m making a document that records a part of our culture, the life’s work of the musicians who hire me.” Albini told the Guardian last 12 months when he was asked about among the well-known and popular albums he has recorded. “I take this part very seriously. I want music to outlive us all.”
Albini was a larger-than-life figure within the independent rock music scene, known for his forward-thinking productions, uncompromising irreverence, acerbic humorousness, and criticism of the music industry's exploitative practices – as detailed in his groundbreaking 1993 essay “The Problem.” described with music” – identical to his talents.
“Ugh man, heartbreaking loss of a legend. Love to his family and countless colleagues,” the actor wrote Elijah Wood on X. “Farewell, Steve Albini.”
Author Michael Azerrad, who also included a chapter on Big Black in his comprehensive history Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991 Posted on X “I don’t know what to say about the death of Steve Albini,” Azerrad wrote. “He had a brilliant mind, was a great artist and experienced the most remarkable and inspiring personal transformation. “I can't consider he's gone.”
Albini is survived by his wife, Heather Whinna, a filmmaker.
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