STEVE ALBINI

Not very Albini-esque artists necessarily! But I found an interview where he talks about the need for clarity in sound so there's something shared there

in Spin mag in 1986, the mag's first piece re: Big Black, which was by John Leland, contained a jeremiad from SA re: "horrible beatbox rap." it may not evince racism qua racism, but Albini very clearly has a view of music in which anything straying from punk/hardcore/amerindie practices is pandering, false crap…it was very commonplace for me to encounter attitudes in the albini-adjacent Louisville scene that any african american popular music was false show biz shit antithetical to true punk-rock purism…

@ imago, I LOVE that song you posted-- that, to me, is Albini's production in its best context

I generally think Albini is "the best person for the job" for only about 20% of the albums he's worked on. Nina Nastasia is, to my mind, not in that 20%, not that it's bad, but I don't think it's the right union. PJ Harvey might not be, either, but I'm really glad they made that one record together (and am glad they haven't worked together again). He's "the best" for Jesus Lizard and Neurosis and Cheer Accident, no question. On the Taylor Swift thread, somebody was theorizing about a her recording with Albini and I cannot imagine that'd result in anything positive.

I don't know how Nina's records could be any better

he obviously makes her comfortable making music which is more important than anything production wise, though I think the production is perfect too

He's "the best" for Jesus Lizard and Neurosis and Cheer Accident, no question

emboldened, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and add GY!BE to this

xp yeah count me in as a fan of the sound of those Nastasia records, in particular the one w/Jim White

I’m not sure it has the typical Albini-sound, but I’ve always loved the engineering/production for Magnolia Electric Co.. I think he’s mentioned wanting to work with Neil Young and I always use that album as a reference for what I’d imagine would come out of recording Neil.

I think it's funny that Led Zeppelin was put up as a counterpoint because Albini produced a Page and Plant album and it sounded good, but also wouldn't be mistaken for Zep.

It's actually his production for Harvey, Nastasia, Breeders, Electrelane and Esben & the Witch that I like the best of his work, more than the Lizardy stuff. (Four or five records among my fav of all time in there). I like hearing some croak and grain in those singers' voices, at odds with the way those singing registers and melodies are usually captured. As I said on some other thread, I'd love to hear him record La Luz. Along those lines, Goat Girl do sound like they've already recorded with him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlnkyZnqIZg

Producer, I think, was Dan Carey

Blessed Black Wings is fantastic, and I wish more metal was recorded that way, but I'm also glad they never worked together again.

also just wanna say extremely good call on "Destroyer", I could immediately recall the drum sound and it totally makes sense

O God yeah Axes is so good both as an art-rock album and production-wise

I’m not sure it has the typical Albini-sound, but I’ve always loved the engineering/production for _Magnolia Electric Co._. I think he’s mentioned wanting to work with Neil Young and I always use that album as a reference for what I’d imagine would come out of recording Neil.

Albany

end transmission off magnolia electric co is godlike

I believe albini just started recording that take when the band thought they were doing a rehearsal take

silkworm is probably his best musical relationship

Wow the sound on the Kinks song

Hunh, it just occurred to me that that Kinks song was one of the first hard rock songs on the radio that really got me.

would you say it really got you now

Cheer-Accident track v cool.

I hate youtube quality but listening to a very familiar song (to me) that he re-recorded you can immediately identify his "sound":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Es-bGRYkj4

(please someone post a better quality version of this if possible)

been following this thread all day and can't come up with anything to say other than imagine having 30+ years of evidence in front of you and arguing that steve albini isn't good at making records

I didn’t hear much difference between high on fire records which brings up the idea that maybe we’ve got this backwards — albini isn’t the extravagant one you get that bargain producers could easily emulate, but rather albini is the bargain producer you get instead of some other big shot.

I don't know if anyone is really arguing that Steve Albini is not good at making records. It's telling that as far as I can tell "Rid of Me" is the only work in that 30+ year career that some people second guess. It's just a particularly high profile exception. He does, however, generally have a sound, and that sound is not good for every project, which is probably true for many producers.

electrical audio/albini super cheap for a world class studio

https://electricalaudio.com/booking-rates

I don't know if anyone is really arguing that Steve Albini is not good at making records.

Elvis Costello seems to be.

I love veronica moser (seriously one of my favorite posters on here) but his whole "racism qua racism" jab thrown at Albini, bearing in mind the reason for this revive is a quote from Elvis Costello, someone on record saying perhaps the most vile racist shit you can possibly conjure in regard to James Brown & Ray Charles... to me just sitting there like a monstrous elephant in the room.

(sincere apologies if I've misgendered veronica moser as well)

it's just funny that i feel like every so often this discussion comes up and we have to re-litigate the facts--steve worked on "spiderland," steve worked on the nina nastasia records, steve worked on magnolia electric co., steve worked on "rid of me," steve worked on almost the entire skwm discography, steve worked on all the joanna newsom stuff, steve worked on 50 great-sounding records you've never heard before--so we can shed the criticism of a cranky boomer like elvis costello.

Al is it possible that two nerdy rockist white dudes might both be racist even if they disagree with each other about some unrelated shit

xpost For sure. But Costello's specific cranky boomer criticism - re: Rid of Me - just happens to be the most commonly made across the board (studio pun!) criticism of Albini.

What was his specific criticism? All I got was "it sounds like shit" and "that guy doesn't know anything about production".

yeah i've never been clear on the specific issue people have with "rid of me" which in general sounds like steve alibini recording a power trio

xpost Just meant re that specific album. I can only assume Costello, like most people, at most only knows Albini's most high profile projects, one of which in this case just happened to be with an artist Costello really likes, who he thinks was done a disservice by the production, which is not a unique thought.

I think the general criticism is that the trademark Albini Wall of Womph sort of steamrolls over PJs songs. Which was totally her call to make. I honestly find criticism of the album a little overblown, even my own, but there's little question it was designed to be a confrontational.

This Year's Model sounds a bit albiniesque — spare, a lot of drum detail.

But bright! I'm kind of fascinated by Nick Lowe as producer. That's how he got the nickname 'basher," because he would just bash things out.

yeah rid of me is good not bad. elvis costello here is, as has been the case once or twice in the past, wrong about what constitutes good production for a rock and roll record

fwiw i was not arguing that albini is a bad producer upthread, hes clearly got a stack of classics to stand on. just that he clearly works with a certain number of bands obviously that dont ask very much of him, and hes happy to oblige. Which, whatever, great, everybody gets what they want, he always talks about what a journeyman he is. I dont think its a challop to confess that yes I've heard a large number of mediocre records over the last several decades that i wouldnt have guessed were albini joints if i hadnt seen his name on the sleeve. he has access to a great and unique sound, but i also dont think that he unmistakably imbues it into every record that he hits record on.

re:racial stuff its not even up for debate that albini is a longtime habitual user of certain words that are not ok in polite company, both in "ironic badboy" context and "i was just quoting what that rapper said" context, up to the present day

Albini had a pretty gross rant about running into Odd Future a few years ago at a festival.

Then there was the thing where an electronic musician asked for sample permission and he sent a screed about electronic music after 1979 that the guy used as marketing material. Not racialized there IIRC but aggressively stupid as screeds go.

to me, steve albini not liking rap or electronic music and being kind of an asshole is cool. he’s a curmudgeonly and a purist, it’s completely in character. who cares?

what a guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuOGBe5XW_U

the purism thing is the kind of shit wankers like simon reynolds were praising morrissey for when they knew openly defending his racism would be a bad look

even lester bangs had stopped defending this kind of shit before albini became a thing

Costello described something that happens to me at least once a year: he saw a live performance (in this case PJ Harvey on The Tonight Show) and then was disappointed by the official recording.

Been experiencing this back to being blown away by X doing a quiet, simple “See How We Are” on MTV’s The Cutting Edge and excitedly buying the LP and hearing a song that would never have reached my heart because of how it was arranged and recorded.

Some of this can be the engineering, but there’s also the collage of takes and layers, and the difference between a live performance with an audience and the performances in the studio, and the mixing and finessing. My favorite Shellac recording is the Live at the BBC “The End of Radio”: it has the high-wire performance of a single take in front of a massive audience. PJ on Leno (posted above) has that same energy and simplicity.

Wondering what Costello might think of the sound on Zeni Geva's "Total Castration".

great band

tbf there is nothing on earth better than PJ's Leno's performance

maybe the Albini PJ album can be the one that finally turns me into a fan

be sure to turn it up

Starless and Bible Black levels of dynamic range