STEVE ALBINI

I can't decide what's less interesting: watching people (especially celebrities) play poker or listening to a friend describe their fantasy football team.

Depends on the nicknames.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwkF3-JmSeA

"I have some of the worst pedals here, you're gonna love these"

He has a rep as a big curmudgeon, but he comes across as such a chill dude in this and the poker video.

Love the 16 string guitar.

The other Show Us Your Junk films are worth watching too, Lee Ranaldo, Money Mark, Mario Caldato and a few others.

I think I caught a Bob Weston Bomb halfway through.

Thanks for posting that btw, I love these kinds of videos (and even love Earthquaker pedals) but didn't know about the series.

Was this posted elsewhere? It's an interview with Steve Albini from 2018, I believe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J0-AM-YDjM

great!

He neglected to mention that he was a member of Pegboy lol.

https://i.imgur.com/59PVmpA.jpg

For, like, a minute, on an EP, as a favor.

Say this much about Albini, dude has an ethos. "I've heard people say that rock is dead, but I don't believe that. They haven't killed ska, for fuck's sake, how are they going to kill rock?"

For, like, a minute, on an EP, as a favor.

Their best release!

They definitely killed ska

Ha, there was a great ska band joke in What We Do In the Shadows, like, last week.

in utero 2013 mix totally fucking rips, been years since i listened to this. feel like you're right there in the room with them

xxp - A very 1998 ska act was on Jimmy Kimmel six months ago, I know people who saw Reel Big Fish recently, tons of the more traditional '90s ska acts still play.

Would be more interested in an Albini-recorded Op Ivy than the fugazi sessions.

I would love to hear Albini record Dredd Zeppelin.

According to this and suggested by the album cover art of a cake shop near Electrical, he recorded this:

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

lol, not quite the right link there hahaha:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIbX_6rKm68

(i wanted to believe for about 10 seconds though haha)

The Pueblo Cafe song is better. This one's pretty good, too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhXlyq8mlbw

Not enough goofy studio banter and dry drums imho.

Whoops!

I would love to hear Albini record Dredd Zeppelin.

googling to see if Dread Zeppelin had any original members (yes: one), I learnt that a) Tortelvis rejoined the band b) 26 years ago c) because INXS had pursued them as a support act [but d) due to having quit he only ended up playing one show on the tour]

he should join INXS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLRpfzbr8f8

zero questions about music. if you name your band Rapeman you sort of concede that a portion of every interview is going to have to be about that, but still, zero.

I think I posted this before but it really is a good read about his thoughts on feminism and his own growth as a person

https://www.listenlistenlisten.org/stevealbini/

also I tweeted this post Ryan Adams but as much as he's made fun of as assholes or prickly it's funny I don't ever think I've heard a bad thing about Albini from anyone who's worked with him or any whispering that he's a creep

it would amaze me if he'd ever been a creep, he seems like a very good guy

who sublimates all the ugly masculine energy he's ever experienced into his art haha

he and his chalet-mates gave us their beer at an All Tomorrow's Parties on the basis that they were old and we were young <3 you Steve & co

https://www.listenlistenlisten.org/stevealbini/

I wouldn't even know how to begin to answer some or all of these questions, so good for him for giving it so much time, thought and attention.

When Shellac played a club in my town a couple years ago, at one point he held up the show bc he felt a female audience member was talking too loud in between songs, and launched into this weirdly OTT volley of really gross sexual insults, "I dont come down to where you work and slap the etc etc etc", like morning zoo types stuff. He went at it for like 5 minutes despite nobody in the crowd laughing or responding, to the point where he noticeably lost the audience and the vibe of the show got really weird. Definitely tainted the gig for a lot of ppl, one of the weirder showgoing experiences in recent memory. Maybe he thought he was being ironic or satirical or something, but no getting around the fact that it was a smirking old guy trying to get laughs from a mostly male crowd by saying fucked up stuff to a young woman abt her body.

I believe that he's sincere in his mea culpas for some of his questionable work and he's often really eloquent and thoughtful when talking about feminism and trying to be an ally and etc, but IMO there's no denying that at some level there definitely seems to be some kind of frayed wiring or short circuit in his brain w/r/t women & sexuality.

this guy is a asshole. fuck him.

https://www.stereogum.com/2108943/elvis-costello-steve-albini-pj-harvey/news/

first & hopefully last time I've agreed with Costello

long post a couple of posts above is otm. the free pass this prick gets in certain circles is galling

nah he's a great producer, prick or otherwise

well, sound engineer, as he protests

I find his sound pedantic

i wouldn't dispute that, but its deliberate clarity is quite literary imo

one really fucking annoying thing about this is did it occur to anyone that Rid of Me sounds like PJ Harvey wanted it to sound? or was just just in thrall to the evil Abini?

Harvey herself was pleased with the end result. "I do everything for myself primarily," she said, "and I was happy with it. I don’t really listen when people say good things about my work because I tend to not give myself praise about anything. But I was really pleased with Rid of Me. For that period of my life, it was perfect. Well, it wasn’t perfect but as near to as I could get at that time".[7] She remained friends with Albini afterward, finding in him a kindred spirit. "People read things in and make him what they want him to be," Harvey said. "He's the only other person I know that that happens to besides myself. People have a very specific idea of what I am- some kind of ax-wielding, man-eating Vampira- and I'm not that at all. I'm almost the complete opposite."[34]

people talk about "deliberately" ugly are generally talking about a small handful of the high profile records he did 30 years, he's recorded so many bands and artists

is this deliberately ugly? flawless

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaHRBRkDW4g

the nina nastasia albums do sound good

tbh I didn't bother to read costello's rant bc he's also a dick. I just wanted to take another shot at albini

what's a pedantic sound?

Fussy and unfuzzy.

one really fucking annoying thing about this is did it occur to anyone that Rid of Me sounds like PJ Harvey wanted it to sound?

Exactly. Like he's not without his issues and there are people who stick him too high on that ultimate alternative producer pedestal but his key thing has always been "find the best way to make it sound like the artist wants it to sound"

I think it is safe to assume EC would not be a fan of Tweez

i'd say his sound is very clear and specific more than pedantic