To remember what would have been Steve Albini's 62nd birthday, some of the musicians and people who knew him best — including PJ Harvey, Mogwai and Shellac drummer Todd Trainer — posted tributes to the late Shellac frontman and accomplished recording engineer on Monday.
Albini's widow, Heather Whinna, asked her husband's friends and fans to honor him on social media with the hashtag #ThankYouSteveAlbini. “Share photos from his albums that shaped you, concert memories, or even handwritten notes that resonated deeply,” he wrote in a note, released via his label's Touch & Go Records Instagram feed. “If you were lucky enough to meet him, let's see these photos!” The The label's own #ThankYouSteveAlbini post featured a photo montage of Albini to the soundtrack of Shellac's “Pull the Cup”.
PJ Harvey and Mogwai released album covers Albini recorded for them, Get rid of me and “My Father My King” single respectively.
The trainer posted nearly two dozen photos of Albini taken around the world. Some of the best include; carnival costumes of the band, Albini sits behind a huge drum kitand Albini hangs from a bungee cord in England.
Whinna posted a photo of Albini's guitar case, writing that he always kept it in his right pocket. The image contains two knits for Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen and one of Albini's metal guitar picks, which he used to achieve his signature abrasive sound. Whinna added that she now carries Albini's picks in her right pocket.
Jesus Lizard posted a documentary clip in which Albini tells a funny story behind “Mouth Breather,” a song from Goat album recorded by Albini.
Ken Vandermark, the Chicago composer and saxophonist, published three posts paying tribute to Albini. “In July 2011 I produced music for a soundtrack I was hired to create for a documentary film about the Chicago music scene during the 1990s,” he wrote in the first. “For this, I invited Steve Albini to play some improvised guitar solos and duets with Terrie Ex in places that John Herndon and Wayne Montana had covered earlier. Bob Weston was the engineer… I didn't know it at the time, but this may have been the only time Steve was hired to record for someone else's project. He was fantastic to work with and funny, and good friends with both Bob and Terry. It was great to be around them. When the four of us got into the studio, it started with Steve saying to Bob, “Are you sure you want to use this mic on this amp…?” Vandermark went on to share more about the sessions and how Albini asked him, on the way back, for another session at the second and third party posts on Instagram.
Post-metal band Neurosis have released an image from the tape reels that Albini recorded for them. “We learned so much from Steve about no-nonsense, high-fidelity, analog recording, and as time went on, our sessions got faster and faster,” the band wrote. “Since we're recording together as a live band and just overdub vocals or the occasional random experiment, it only took six days to record and mix Fires within Fires. Previous sessions were only maybe a day or a little longer. Even so, if you add up all the days you spent together, it should be about three months together doing what we love most. He facilitated our dreams of making great recordings of our band and we are forever grateful. He also became a dear friend and will be forever missed.”
The Instagram account for music festival Primavera Sound has collected footage from Shellac's many appearances over the years at the event. The festival announced in May that it would name a stage after Albini. “Although it will be the first year since 2007 that the inimitable Shellac will not be commanding his annual date with his beloved festival, the figure of the late Steve Albini will be more present than ever at Primavera Sound,” the festival wrote in the statement of that era.
Low, Melt Banana, Toadies, Jason Narducy and many others also shared tributes to Albini in X. Friendship Commanders also re-released an alternate version of their second album, Billas Bill: The Steve Albini Mixes.
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