There was an unmeasurable loss suffered May 7th when Steve Albini died from a heart attack at his home in Chicago, on May 7, 2024, at the age of 61.
It’s very hard to state Albini’s importance in music but also what a wide thinking individual he was - with ethos and values that he re-visited and which evolved along with him as a person.
He was one of my all time favourite musicians but on top of that he was also probably my single favourite recording engineer, having recorded masterpieces like:
1000 Hurts (Shellac of North America)
At Action Park (Shellac of North America)
Atomizer (Big Black)
In Utero (Nirvana)
Goat (The Jesus Lizard)
Rid Of Me (PJ Harvey)
Song About Fucking (Big Black)
Surfer Rosa (Pixies)
Tweez (Slint)
Two Nuns and a Pack Mule (Rapeman)
Pod (The Breeders)
Seamonsters (Wedding Present)
I have listened to dozens and dozens of interview’s and talks that Steve gives because he was one of the most most insightful and articulated person that ever existed. He was very intelligent but also super humble. He was of course an loudmouth back in the day and and had come out a few years ago on Twitter and taken his responsibility for things said - nothing too horrible, but he did front a band called Rapeman, which was taken from a Japanese manga (and later 9 live-action films!).
Point is Steve evolved with the times and was always outspoken how he felt about the current state of the country, political and sociologically but also the state of the music business, or lack thereof in recent years.