Didn't he say he went broke soon after though?
― punt cased (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 26 September 2013 20:58 (ten years ago) link
regardless
― nostormo, Thursday, 26 September 2013 20:59 (ten years ago) link
i think Surfer Rosa was one of his best works, and iirc he didn't like the record so much at first.
so i take with grain of salt his remark about the correlation between the quality of the result and the mood of the band.
― nostormo, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:02 (ten years ago) link
Albini made good records in part because he had an approach that he believed in and stuck to. He talks about it dogmatically as though it is *the* approach, which it isn't, but the fact that he was so adamant about it made him a better engineer/producer imo.
feel like this is a real truth bomb about a certain kind of artist in general
― Tyskie in the giro (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:04 (ten years ago) link
he also knew how to choose good bands to work with most of the times..
― nostormo, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:05 (ten years ago) link
Bush...
― scott seward, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:08 (ten years ago) link
if he would've made a masterpiece with Backstreet Boys, he was now the truly the god of all producers lol
of course he is a great producer, but it's easier to be good with Jesus Lizard than with Bush
― nostormo, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:09 (ten years ago) link
He would probably admit that!
― you are kind, I am (waterface), Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:10 (ten years ago) link
i don't really care about notions of "good bands" and i don't think it's relevant to Albini's process - he worked with whoever he chose, whether that be for financial or aesthetic reasons
― Tyskie in the giro (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:11 (ten years ago) link
i always dreamed about a collaboration between SY and Albini. that could have been their last masterpiece..
i guess he fucked it with that Rapeman song..among other stuff..
― nostormo, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:13 (ten years ago) link
true, i'm talking about the resultxpost
― nostormo, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:14 (ten years ago) link
The 18th Dye record sounds fantastic!
― Evan, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:16 (ten years ago) link
I imagine that letter being typed out live on a sturdy but analog typewriter with no edits and no click track.
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:17 (ten years ago) link
lol
― nostormo, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:18 (ten years ago) link
my faves would probably be pod, surfer rosa, goat, songs about fucking, rid of me. and the first shellac album. kinda glad he didn't do helmet's meantime and spiderland. oh and dial m for motherfucker. i like how that sounds. too far into the 90's and i probably didn't hear whatever he did.
― scott seward, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:20 (ten years ago) link
I don't like how the jawbreaker record sounded but apparently during the recording process the console caught on fire so good excuse?
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:23 (ten years ago) link
i'll add Man Or Astro Man, and some more i probably forgot..xpost
― nostormo, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:23 (ten years ago) link
seamonsters, dogs...
― koogs, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:27 (ten years ago) link
silkworm
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:30 (ten years ago) link
All of the Silkworm albums he worked on sound amazing but especially "Firewater." My favorite drum sound.xpost
― Immediate Follower (NA), Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:30 (ten years ago) link
Nina Nastasia's records, those are good.
― LinkedIn Beef (Eazy), Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:37 (ten years ago) link
oh yeah! those are some recent records i love. don't know how much of that is albini and how much of that is liking her a lot though. they sound fine. he is good with strings on some of those records.
― scott seward, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:39 (ten years ago) link
taking a good band and not fucking it up is harder than it sounds -- there are plenty of crappy-sounding or overworked records by good bands
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:40 (ten years ago) link
if you listen to the recent nina albums they don't scream albini or anything. which is a good thing. they shouldn't. i like tar's jackson too. forgot that one. just a great rock guitar sound.
― scott seward, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:41 (ten years ago) link
i still dream of a new orleans brass band recording with albini.
― festival culture (Jordan), Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:42 (ten years ago) link
or great punk guitar sound anyway. you have to dig albini drum sound to like the tar album though.
― scott seward, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:42 (ten years ago) link
every time i hear a shittily digitally recorded metal album i kinda wish i could hear it recorded by someone like albini. just to get some sort of room sound and some contrast.
― scott seward, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:44 (ten years ago) link
From outside the world of rock, he did a really good job on The Thing's Bag It! a few years ago.
― 誤訳侮辱, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:44 (ten years ago) link
Wonder if he's still insisting on the no royalties with the 2013 mix and all that.
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:48 (ten years ago) link
I wish more jazz artists hired him cuz yes that Thing record sounds great.
Steve is a genius at documenting what bands actually sound like, which seems like it would be really easy to do but is not. I am in a band that made a record with him and he was a pleasure to work with and I think it sounds closest of all of our records to what we actually sound like live & in the practice space.
― chr1sb3singer, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:51 (ten years ago) link
obligatory post where i say that razorblade suitcase sounds pretty damn good.
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:56 (ten years ago) link
chr1s I figured out what band that is and I'm listening to the record now and it sounds pretty great!
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:56 (ten years ago) link
albini has a thing with kick and snare -- when he does anything on the hard side his kick and snare always really stand out to me
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:58 (ten years ago) link
i guess he fucked it with that Rapeman song..among other stuff.
Kim Gordon: Big Black were playing in Amsterdam, it was their last tour, and we happened to be there. In the train stations they have machines where you can buy women’s underwear. It was Steve’s birthday, so I bought some to throw at him so he would feel like a rock god on his birthday.
― fit and working again, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:58 (ten years ago) link
These are all some great records, but Neurosis "Times Of Grace" is the best album Albini ever recorded
I agree with the "no royalties" ideology and put it into practice by working pay-what-you-can with all clients. The rest of that letter is a terrific, dogmatic method but it's a good method. I've heard lots of shitty Albini records by bands that really should've used Protools (or practiced more) ((or ceased to exist))
― flamboyant goon tie included, Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:59 (ten years ago) link
yeah, what bands actually sound like + an amazing larger-than-life roomy drum sound.
― festival culture (Jordan), Thursday, 26 September 2013 21:59 (ten years ago) link
yeah tbf I don't think many bands can claim that their drums sound like that in the practice room
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Thursday, 26 September 2013 22:01 (ten years ago) link
Ha, well the drums actually do kind of sound that way in the practice pad when yr standing right in front of them.
― chr1sb3singer, Thursday, 26 September 2013 22:02 (ten years ago) link
i'm usually behind them so maybe i don't realize ha. but I'm also not a heavy-hitting drummer.
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Thursday, 26 September 2013 22:03 (ten years ago) link
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Thursday, September 26, 2013 10:40 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
but taking a shitty/mediocre band and recording with them a record with a good production - no one will give a fuck anyway.
― nostormo, Thursday, 26 September 2013 22:14 (ten years ago) link
i think by definition "shitty/mediocre" bands who are recording an album have a number of people who will give a fuck
― Tyskie in the giro (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 26 September 2013 22:18 (ten years ago) link
Right But not the one's who liked the "good" bands.Plus,people who like shitty band usually don't enjoy the "production"..
― nostormo, Thursday, 26 September 2013 22:20 (ten years ago) link
Assuming we all agree Pixies were good and Bush was shit lol
― nostormo, Thursday, 26 September 2013 22:22 (ten years ago) link
"Hey,that Bush record sounds great but I hate the band. I think I'll buy it"A sentence that was never told
― nostormo, Thursday, 26 September 2013 22:25 (ten years ago) link
http://cdn.straightfromthea.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/blankstare-CtA.gif
― Tyskie in the giro (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 26 September 2013 22:30 (ten years ago) link
here to rep for 'Ocean Songs' which i think is one of the most beautiful sounding records i've ever heard.
― Jamie_ATP, Thursday, 26 September 2013 22:34 (ten years ago) link
It's interesting to compare Seamonsters, which he recorded, against The Wedding Present's Hit Parade stuff which is of a similar style but sounds pretty terrible largely. Seamonsters sounds incredible; not austere at all with its soaring guitars and, yes, Albini drums. In this one example I do think he added so much that he should possibly deserve royalties.
― kraudive, Thursday, 26 September 2013 22:55 (ten years ago) link
"my mechanic only works on cars he respects on an aesthetic level"
This line on the thread got me to chuckle as I pictured one of those mechanics that works on just BMWs or Jaguars.
― earlnash, Thursday, 26 September 2013 23:07 (ten years ago) link
Albini gets a great live drum sound, Unfortunately, that same sound seems to be what he gets out of everything else, too.
Anyway, his work with Low and Bedhead show what he can do in mellower circumstances. In some ways, the lack of a pounding drummer in those situations forced him to do better with everything else.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 September 2013 23:52 (ten years ago) link
If you don't know, Lil BUB is the latest deformed kitty to take the inter-tubes by storm, following in the paw-prints of the now-legendary Grumpy Cat. The gal has no teeth so her tongue constantly hangs out and has some kind of drawfism so she remains an eternal kitten with tiny, unbelievably adorable front paws. Here she is:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Lil_Bub_2013.jpg/800px-Lil_Bub_2013.jpg
Yeah, well Lil BUB has a YouTube show. In what might one day culturally rival Alice Cooper on the Muppet Show or the punk rock episode of CHiPS, the guest in the third episode is famed funnyman Steve Albini. Here is the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn0GvRpthJ4
I cannot wait for the whole episode in two days...
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Tuesday, 1 October 2013 18:42 (ten years ago) link