Few figures have had as profound an impact on underground rock as Steve Albini. As both a performer and a recording engineer (and producer, although he liked that specific title less), Albini, who passed away yesterday, May 8, at the age of 61, leaves behind a body of work that is as staggeringly massive as it is incredibly impressive. . Seriously, he's almost certainly played on or recorded one of your favorite records of his.
As a member of Big Black, Albini helped define Chicago's indie scene with abrasive, drum machine-backed noise punk; with Rapeman, he did like Ian MacKaye and made the transition from hardcore to post-hardcore look easy; and, finally, with Shellac, he perfected his Albinian blend of punk subgenres (noise rock, punk, post-rock, math rock, [insert other fucked up style of guitar music here]).
And yet, as influential as his piercing, metallic guitar tone and ferocious performances were, Albini's greatest contributions to the world of music arguably came from his work behind the boards. As a recording engineer, he pioneered revolutionary techniques and championed a unique and purposeful philosophy that put artists and their creations far ahead of the almighty dollar. He famously refused to collect royalty percentages on the music he worked on and opted for a one-time payment up front. Doing otherwise would be “ethically unsustainable,” he said. Considering some of the albums he worked on, Pixies pink surfer and nirvana in the womb (!!), it's a decision that probably left quite a bit of money in the artists' pockets.
With the sheer number of truly incredible records bearing his fingerprints, bringing together the best of Albini's catalog is a near-impossible task. We might as well have linked to the extensive “discography” section on their Wikipedia page, said 'here you go' and called it a day. Narrowing it down to a reasonable number inevitably leaves out countless albums that, on any other artist's list, could have made the top five. If we had the space, we'd gush about his work with Melt-Banana, Poster Children, Don Caballero, Jawbreaker, Oxbow, Brainiac, Bush, Dirty Three, Bedhead, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Scrawl, Mogwai, High on Fire, Mono, Screaming Females, Ty Segall, Sunn O)))… sorry, what were we doing again?
Oh yeah, here are 13 of Steve Albini's best albums. Prepare for a lot of: “Wait, he did THAT too?” — Jonah Krueger
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