[HN Gopher] Steve Albini has died
___________________________________________________________________
Steve Albini has died
Author : coloneltcb
Score : 360 points
Date : 2024-05-08 16:33 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (pitchfork.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (pitchfork.com)
| Kye wrote:
| He was a guy who had absolutely mastered the art of the post.
| Will be missed on and probably in multiple dimensions.
| ilamont wrote:
| Hard to overstate Albini's influence, both as a musician and
| producer. Big Black? No one was doing stuff like that in the
| mid-80s. His production on PJ Harvey's Rid of Me took her
| compositions to a new level. He also produced a lot of very fine
| albums in the 80s and 90s by the Pixies (Surfer Rosa), Nirvana
| (In Utero) and various albums by The Jesus Lizard, Superchunk,
| and others.
|
| Yes, he was cantankerous. Marched to the beat of his own drum,
| and didn't give a FF about what other people thought. Loved this
| quote from Tape Op:
|
| _" It seemed like most of the music I liked was coming from San
| Francisco. I don't remember one fucking thing coming out of L.A.
| that I cared about. And skateboarding. What did that have to do
| with punk music? What's next, yo-yo tricks?"_
|
| https://tapeop.com/interviews/87/steve-albini-Nirvana-Pixies...
|
| His essays and observations have been discussed here from time to
| time. Here are a few:
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30892081
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37132320
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38935526
| darby_eight wrote:
| Yo-yo tricks could be pretty punk I imagine
| ompogUe wrote:
| Had a yo-yo buff a couple of years ago showing me youtube
| videos, and he literally said "the yo-yo scene takes it's
| fashion cues from skateboard culture", so full circle?
| consumer451 wrote:
| Surfer Rosa was probably the most influential album on my
| musical life.
|
| Albini also has an excellent Nardwuar interview:
|
| https://youtu.be/1Vjn8u7HP1o
| boomskats wrote:
| Another one for your list:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35410662
|
| RIP Steve. What a legend.
| odiroot wrote:
| I can really recommend Songs About Fucking by Big Black.
| Especially their dope version of Kraftwerk's Das Model.
| rurban wrote:
| He was a legend as musician, and as producer, despite
| destroying PJ Harvey's Rid of Me. What a major fuckup!
|
| Anyway, the way he talked and explained the music business was
| always legendary.
| vondur wrote:
| He couldn't be more wrong with regards to Skate Punk.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Albini
| quickthrowman wrote:
| Oh man, that's terrible! I was waiting to hear when the next
| Shellac tour was going to be taking place, as they've got an
| album coming out next week.
|
| I'm a huge, huge fan of Big Black, Rapeman, Shellac, and Steve
| Albini's production (Nirvana's In Utero, Pixies' Surfer Rosa,
| Jesus Lizard's discography, PJ Harvey's Rid of Me, Brainiac's
| Hissing Prigs in Static Couture, Songs:Ohia's Magnolia Electric
| Company, plus hundreds more)
|
| He could be a bit of a dick but he was an insanely talented
| musician and engineer/producer. I don't think any single person
| has had as much of effect on the music I listen to as Steve did.
|
| RIP Steve Albini, your impact on indie music will not be
| forgotten, and neither will your belt guitar strap. You will be
| dearly missed, there's very few people cut from the same cloth
| you were.
|
| A collection of Steve Albini band LPs
|
| Big Black - Atomizer: https://youtu.be/03cDvRl3edo
|
| Big Black - Songs About Fucking: https://youtu.be/s0xCAZLE7c8
|
| Rapeman - Two Nuns and a Pack Mule: https://youtu.be/JI4keToT1jM
|
| Shellac - At Action Park: https://youtu.be/AC7Pkwmllow
|
| Shellac - Terraform: https://youtu.be/MueqsKUUlcE
|
| Shellac - 1000 Hurts: https://youtu.be/7fXwbFxenC0
|
| Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound:
| https://youtu.be/jQ_Logfsfuw
|
| Shellac - Dude, Incredible: https://youtu.be/Gh-SBGIx-2I
|
| Shellac - To All Trains: (not on YouTube, this is set for
| released next week, posthumously)
| arp242 wrote:
| Didn't know Shellac had a new album coming out; they release
| stuff so infrequently I don't really keep up. Going to have
| some mixed feelings listening to that one...
| BoingBoomTschak wrote:
| His very close-miked sound still containing a tasteful (i.e.
| light) amount of reverb is such a recognizable signature...
|
| A true legend, and big coincidence since I discovered yet
| another of his production a week ago: Zeni Geva's last three
| LPs. Almost as important as the ubiquitous Dan Swano in my
| collection: $ find -L ~/Music -type f -name
| album.json -exec jqmusic '.credits | has("Steve Albini")' {} \;
| -print | awk -F/ '{print $5 " - " $6}' Big Black - (1986)
| Atomizer Big Black - (1982) Lungs Big Black -
| (1983) Bulldozer Big Black - (1987-1) Headache Big
| Black - (1987-2) Songs About Fucking Nine Inch Nails -
| (1999) The Fragile Om - (2007) Pilgrimage The
| Breeders - (1990) Pod Nirvana - (1993) In Utero The
| Jesus Lizard - (1990) Head The Jesus Lizard - (1989) Pure
| The Jesus Lizard - (1991) Goat The Jesus Lizard - (1992)
| Liar The Jesus Lizard - (1994) Down Pixies - (1988)
| Surfer Rosa PJ Harvey - (1993) Rid of Me Shellac -
| (1994) At Action Park Rapeman - (1988) Two Nuns and a
| Pack Mule Zeni Geva - (1993) Desire For Agony Zeni
| Geva - (1995) Freedom Bondage Zeni Geva - (2001) 10,000
| Light Years
|
| To actually hear "In Utero" in all its Albini-esque glory, you
| must find the 2013 20th Anniversary Edition, it's on the 2nd
| disc.
| geoffeg wrote:
| What are you using to generate album.json?
| adolph wrote:
| Also, what is this jqmusic executable with the jq style
| query?
| BoingBoomTschak wrote:
| Just a jq wrapper that adds -e and includes some functions
| $ cat ~/bin/jqmusic #!/usr/bin/env bash
| exec jq -e "${@:1:$(($#-2))}" "include \"music\"; ${@:
| -2:1}" "${@: -1}" >/dev/null 2>&1 $ cat
| ~/.jq/music.jq def year: .released |
| match("[0-9]{4}").string | tonumber; def
| has_genre(str): .genres.primary | any(. == str); def
| match_genre(regexp): .genres.primary | any(match(regexp));
|
| Together with https://git.sr.ht/~q3cpma/rymscrap to get the
| actual JSON.
| hipnoizz wrote:
| Zeni Geva is such a great band! Maybe you have already seen
| it, but I've always loved this live cover of 'Model'
| Kraftwerk by Zeni Geva & Albini -
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8R7c7XYmI4.
| quickthrowman wrote:
| I will check out Zeni Geva, thanks for sharing!
| SourPatch wrote:
| Steve also played with Zeni Geva as Superunit:
| https://www.discogs.com/release/876551-Zeni-Geva-Steve-
| Albin...
| singingfish wrote:
| I'm going to put this here - The Crooked Fiddle Band - a
| Sydney folk band with major inspiration from Big Black and
| others had two albums produced by Albini - I couldn't think
| of a better match:
|
| https://crookedfiddleband.bandcamp.com/album/overgrown-tales
| https://crookedfiddleband.bandcamp.com/album/moving-
| pieces-o...
| fnordlord wrote:
| I've always counted Prayer to God up there in my "best songs
| ever" list.
|
| What a huge bummer and loss.
| rightisleft wrote:
| very sad... he had his hands on so much good noise that i
| absolutely cherished. We'll be lucky if I don't bust out crying
| rightisleft wrote:
| https://youtu.be/c77oOkvCFjo
| thought_alarm wrote:
| This news hits like a ton of bricks.
|
| I can't think of another single person more influential and
| important to my own musical journey than Steve Albini. Guys like
| him are supposed to live to a ripe old age telling stories. It's
| just a horrible loss.
| mistrial9 wrote:
| that _is_ a ripe old age for rockers.. many souls did not make
| it past 35
| klasko wrote:
| I randomly bumped into him in a bar last year and the guy had an
| aura that distinguished him from everyone else in the place. Sad.
| doublepg23 wrote:
| Echoing the same sentiments in the thread, hard to overstate his
| influence on the music I've enjoyed. Rest in peace.
| spudlyo wrote:
| Steve Albini has produced two of my favorite records, _Surfa
| Rosa_ by The Pixies, and _Pod_ by The Breeders. I also quite
| enjoy _Rich Man 's 8 Track_ which is a collection of some of the
| best Big Black songs. Albini's band Big Black is not for
| everyone, but if you're a fan of angry punk catharsis you owe it
| to yourself to check them out.
| zonovar wrote:
| I feel very sad! Everything I loved about music had always ties
| with him, his style and his type of production. I was so excited
| about the upcoming Shellac album and tour. This hits so heavy...
| :(
| TheCleric wrote:
| His recounting of the recording of "In Utero" on Conan O'Brien's
| podcast (along with Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic) is a
| fantastic hour of storytelling and rock history. Can't recommend
| it enough.
|
| https://www.earwolf.com/episode/dave-grohl-krist-novoselic-a...
| TheCleric wrote:
| Also this being his last social media post is peak Albini:
|
| https://bsky.app/profile/electricalwsop.bsky.social/post/3kr...
| e40 wrote:
| Never used bsky much since I couldn't find anyone
| interesting. Had I known about him, I might have used it
| more... rip.
| rchaud wrote:
| Only 61 years old! Stunning to think that he was mixing some of
| alternative rock's most influential releases 30-35 years ago.
| breput wrote:
| "I would like to be paid like a plumber: I do the job and you pay
| me what it's worth. The record company will expect me to ask for
| a point or a point and a half. If we assume three million sales,
| that works out to 400,000 dollars or so. There's no fucking way I
| would ever take that much money. I wouldn't be able to sleep."
|
| [0] https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/nirvana
| beezlebroxxxxxx wrote:
| It's fascinating how in certain genres producers have elevated
| themselves, rightly in my opinion, to positions that are almost
| equal to the artists they're recording. In pop and hip-hop,
| people really care about who produced what, often because the
| producer has an enormous role in the overall sound of the
| music. Those producers would probably disagree with Albini
| right away. It's less a thing when you're dealing with a band
| or people who play an instrument, but I can also think of some
| metal producers who have very distinct sounds and who usually
| leave an "imprint" on the recording (Colin Marston and Kurt
| Ballou for examples). Albini, though, seemed to really believe
| that his role was to just be a kind of neutral technician,
| manning the switches and ensuring the band and their music gets
| on the record through a series of indifferent tubes with no
| other input.
|
| Outside of his position on royalties, he was one of the best
| and harshest critics of the music industry:
|
| https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-problem-with-music
| breput wrote:
| He actually came around later in life on being the harshest
| critic and also addressed the "producer role" in this[0]
| article:
|
| "As he kept working, making hundreds of records across many
| more sessions, Albini became more comfortable stepping aside.
| Experiences like the Plant and Page record reminded him he
| was just a cog, there to enable someone else's expression.
| These days, once Albini has agreed to record an artist, he
| begins by asking them to state their expectations, what bands
| they're into, how they'd like to sound, how they've been
| disappointed in previous sessions. (The process is not unlike
| starting with a new therapist.)"
|
| [0] https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/aug/15/the-
| evolution-...
| leetcrew wrote:
| steve certainly didn't hold back his contempt for the concept
| of a "producer", but I don't read him as disagreeing they
| have significant influence over the finished product. if
| anything, that's the core of his objection: someone other
| than "the artist" diluting the work, and hence why he asked
| to be credited as "recording engineer", if at all. the irony
| is that, despite his insistent denial, everyone else seems to
| think there _is_ a signature "albini sound".
|
| what has changed since he wrote that piece is that the
| concept of "the artist" has been heavily blurred by
| mainstream music that predominantly features synthesized
| instruments. if I'm singing words written by one person to a
| melody written by second over a track composed of thousands
| of different samples sent through various filters by a third,
| who is "the artist"?
| mgkimsal wrote:
| I'm trying to reconcile that 'plumber' against George Martin
| with the Beatles. He was paid like a plumber for the first
| couple years, and... EMI treated him with such disdain that he
| ended up leaving. I'm sure the money was much better after he
| left, but... had EMI just been slightly nicer to him, they'd
| have owned him for many more years.
|
| That said, I think his relationship with his bands opened up
| areas for him to contribute to the core product more than
| Albini perhaps did (Martin played piano on some tracks, scored
| out any classical parts for other musicians, etc).
|
| Martin may have been the middle ground between the 'producer-
| as-top-billing' and 'paid like a plumber' spectrum Albini seems
| to identify.
| TylerE wrote:
| Martin was so involved in the creative process he was closer
| to a 5th bandmember, and was sometimes called such by the
| Beatles. He had more involvement in the creative product than
| most producers, including writing and arranging the strings,
| brass, and winds parts that are all over later Beatles
| records, and appeared as an instrumental performer on over 25
| Beatles tracks.
| gizajob wrote:
| So much that EMI have been fixing his work for 60 years
| now, in particular his decision to split the Beatles tracks
| arbitrarily between the two speakers for all the stereo
| mixes, despite the Beatles personal involvement in the
| mixing process for the mono mix downs which sound
| infinitely better.
| mgkimsal wrote:
| There just wasn't much focus on stereo until the late
| 60s. Most acts back then have stereo mixes that are not
| much more than an afterthought.
| nwsm wrote:
| RIP. I just bought Shellac's debut album recently, and they have
| another set to release soon.
|
| I recommend the Kreative Kontrol podcast episode with him and
| Fred Armisen from last year where they talk about their
| experiences in the Chicago music scene.
|
| https://open.spotify.com/episode/1BeHekAjVm72b9Sc9FlCtu?si=6...
| santoshalper wrote:
| Whether he considered himself one or not, Steve Albini will
| always stand out to me as the epitome of the Punk value system.
| Here are two of my absolute favorites:
|
| * "I would like to be paid like a plumber" -
| https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/nirvana
|
| * "The Problem with Music" - https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-
| problem-with-music
| zzzbra wrote:
| This is hugely surprising. 61 is not old man. Is it me or does
| seem like the Gen Xers in the so-called counter culture are less
| long lived than their Boomer counterparts?
| agumonkey wrote:
| yeah, unlike rock stars with wild lives, I did expect a guy
| like him to live long
| jprival wrote:
| because of his sort of ascetic impulses in other domains one
| doesn't imagine him as particularly hard-living, but this
| 2002 ilxor thread (bumped for his death) suggests that he had
| his first heart attack way back: https://www.ilxor.com/ILX/Th
| readSelectedControllerServlet?bo...
|
| edit: viral pericarditis, actually, before it was a hot topic
| agumonkey wrote:
| Oh, thanks for the link. I had no idea.
|
| His story about the band cut on an album budget is mind
| blowing too.
| arp242 wrote:
| That _some_ boomers like Ozzy Osbourne are still alive is just
| a freak accident. There have been plenty of baby boomer people
| who died comparatively young.
|
| Longevity is part genetics, part lifestyle, and part just dumb
| luck. Unfortunately Steve just got a bit unlucky, or bad
| genetics, or both. Or maybe in spite of his alcohol- and drug-
| free lifestyle he just had a really bad diet.
| justinator wrote:
| I think this line of thinking is a casual example of
| survivorship bias.
| thr0waway001 wrote:
| I was talking about this with my g/f when watching Clerks 3.
|
| It seems that no other generation seems to be facing their
| mortality much sooner than Gen Xers.
|
| Clerks 3 is a movie about two old Gen Xers coping with getting
| old, having heart attacks, coping with grief, struggling with
| loneliness, while the world passes them by.
| gmarx wrote:
| I'll second what everyone else said and add that the guy was
| absolutely amazing at capturing drums. Everything I ever read
| about the guy sounded positive to me even though the authors
| might not have agreed
| cmrdporcupine wrote:
| Aw man, that's awful.
|
| Time to spend an afternoon blasting Wedding Present's
| "Seamonsters", among other masterpieces he had his fingers on
| (esp Surfer Rosa as other people mention)
|
| Huge loss.
| sodapopcan wrote:
| Oh wow, shit.
|
| My one story: A band I was in at the time recorded drums at
| Electrical Audio in 2010 (I think) and I was the drummer. Albini
| was not involved in the project and though he was around, we
| didn't see him much. I would wear this really bad t-shirt with
| the sleeves cut off to keep cool while playing. As Albini passed
| by me one time, he looked at me and _very_ sarcastically said,
| "Don't worry, you look great" and kept walking. That was our only
| interaction.
| denvermullets wrote:
| Hahah, that's amazing
| relaxing wrote:
| Steve wore a lot of shitty tshirts too, it may not have been
| entirely sarcastic.
| vr46 wrote:
| Damn. Glad I got to see Shellac at Primavera a few years ago.
| What a career. RIP.
| geoffeg wrote:
| I wonder if any other musician has had as big an impact on the
| music I listen to as Steve Albini did. A huge and sudden loss.
| Lammy wrote:
| Awful news. I will spin Songs About Fucking while eating a fresh
| roast beef sandwich today in his honor.
| thr0waway001 wrote:
| Crazy to think all the GenX icons are way up there in age.
| BoingBoomTschak wrote:
| Another quote from the music industry's Diogenes: "Pop music is
| for children and idiots".
| droptablemain wrote:
| One of the most fascinating men that worked in music
| production/recording. If you aren't familiar with him and his
| various idiosyncrasies, I highly recommend giving this a
| watch/listen:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKEzHie9tAI&ab_channel=SAEAu...
|
| In my personal list of top 10 albums of all time, Albini recorded
| six of them. I say "recorded" instead of "produced" because this
| is more akin to his style: set up microphones and record the band
| as they sound.
| nemo44x wrote:
| He famously would hit record and then just play games on his
| phone until the track was done and ask if they wanted to go
| again. Of course he did this because he felt after getting
| things setup and sounding as desired (which he put a lot of
| work and thought into) it was the artists that were responsible
| for their art. He would offer his thoughts if asked though.
| evjan wrote:
| Oh wow, I'm only 5 minutes in and he's already said so much
| cool stuff that resonates with me around neomania,
| timelessness/the lindy effect etc (I've read too much Taleb
| recently). Thanks for the link!
| nemo44x wrote:
| He had strong opinions regarding politics, art, and business and
| you may strongly disagree with him (or not, or maybe on some
| things) but he was never a hypocrite. He took his convictions to
| the grave.
| fallinditch wrote:
| I became aware of Steve Albini via the PJ Harvey album Rid Of Me
| - for me this is the most impressive result of his visceral
| sound, that elevated the emotional rawness of the music
| perfectly. Currently revisiting another fave he engineered:
| Seamonsters by The Wedding Present.
| droptablemain wrote:
| Try Nina Nastasia's 2001 album Dogs.
|
| You can feel yourself inside that big ol' room at Electric
| Audio in Chicago.
| neonate wrote:
| https://web.archive.org/web/20240508163401/https://pitchfork...
|
| https://archive.ph/q6jOl
| jfb wrote:
| Posted this on BlueSky. Just gutted.
|
| https://bsky.app/profile/tft.io/post/3krylxcef4z2k
| pimlottc wrote:
| Can't read it, sign-in required.
| slamonjam wrote:
| Very sad news. I've been blasting "Rid of Me" the past few weeks,
| one of these records that just makes me want to crank up the
| volume.
| runnr_az wrote:
| We all agree that Jawbreaker's "24 Hour Revenge Therapy" was his
| best production work, right?
| pstuart wrote:
| But I'm gonna be that guy that says "Dear You" is better. To
| each their own, but it's a pity that album got slagged.
| runnr_az wrote:
| We were such dicks back then. I blame Steve Albini :)
| alangibson wrote:
| Sucks to hear.
|
| It's worth noting that he didn't consider himself a producer. He
| always said he was a recording engineer.
| damnesian wrote:
| That's way too fucking young.
| danieldk wrote:
| Oh man, something I didn't expect at all. They seemed to be doing
| well with the new Shellac album and all. He is hugely influential
| and his engineering is uniquely Albini, which is uniquely the
| bands themselves in their rawest form. I am really happy to have
| seen Shellac live in 2009.
|
| If somebody is looking for deep cuts - there is a recording of
| Fugazi's In on the Kill Taker by Albini (though it didn't make it
| to disc): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXN_EmhkQSM
| SkipperCat wrote:
| KEXP (kexp.org) radio is playing a lot of his catalog right now.
| Listen in if you want to hear the impact of his work.
| tialaramex wrote:
| I knew (of) him first and best for the essay "Some of your
| friends are probably already this fucked" (aka "The problem with
| music") which I was introduced to at about the point in my life
| where some friends are in bands and a few of them try to go
| commercial, but fortunately these particular friends had all read
| The Manual+ and this essay by Albini.
|
| + https://www.amazon.co.uk/MANUAL-How-Have-Number-Easy/dp/1899...
| nikcub wrote:
| Interview with him just a few weeks ago:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOWP_laIXAs
|
| (ps. that entire channel is brilliant)
| joemi wrote:
| A lot of the bigger name albums he engineered were ones I
| listened to and loved before knowing that he was a common thread
| between them (or even who he was in general), but one that I gave
| a listen to specifically because he engineered it was an album
| called Stella by a band named Uzeda. I had never heard of them
| before, but it was wonderful! All the words that often describe
| his sound (and also his music) apply here. In fact, I believe
| Uzeda is often compared to Shellac, which seems apt. I highly
| recommend it, if folks are looking for a good lesser-known album
| he worked on.
| hipnoizz wrote:
| Approached Uzeda a few times (I'm much into noise-rock-and-all-
| the-friendly-neighbourhood) but it didn't click. On the other
| hand https://bellini.bandcamp.com/album/the-precious-prize-of-
| gra... (which consist of 2/4th or 3/4th of Uzeda I think plus
| Alexis Fleisig from GvsB) is great.
|
| Anyway, I was kind of shattered by the news. All the stuff
| Steve Albini created (both as the sound engineer and the bands
| he played with) falls squarely into what moves me (for whatever
| reasons). And I think he was a really genuine person
| (outspoken, yes).
| joemi wrote:
| Thanks, I'll have to check them out.
| relaxing wrote:
| Alongside "paid like a plumber" and "already this fucked", I
| would like to see added the following wisdom:
|
| _I think of music as something that I 'm willing to work 40
| hours a week or more to support, like a wife and family, right?
| Music to me is that important. It's so important that I don't
| expect it to make a living for me. I expect that I will have to
| work a normal, regular job like a regular person in order to have
| the luxury of being able to play music._
|
| He goes on to say this allows him to create without pressure or
| resentment, only pure joy.
|
| https://www.tumblr.com/machinery/44307870770/the-other-bands...
| typeofhuman wrote:
| Lots of sudden cardiac related deaths
| snorkel wrote:
| Way too soon! He recently did an interview with Dave and Krist
| from Nirvana about the 30th anniversary of In Utero. They
| described recording prank phone calls during the recording
| sessions.
| flyinghamster wrote:
| I've never really paid all that much attention to producers,
| but 61, it still hits too close to home. I'm not that far
| behind. It kind of freaks me out that I'm hitting 60 soon.
| GoofballJones wrote:
| And we just saw him in the last few months in a bunch of podcasts
| talking about the anniversary of In Utero. Sad news.
| pimeys wrote:
| Almost four hours long podcast with Steve Albini. I listened it
| in two parts, super interesting stuff.
|
| https://youtu.be/QKEtP3s1FLw
|
| Also others from that podcast are interesting if music production
| is somehow close to heart.
|
| R.I.P.
| EMCymatics wrote:
| This is devastating. One of the best there ever was.
| hank808 wrote:
| Damn!!!
| jaydestro wrote:
| Shellac of North America - Wingwalker.
|
| Time was, I could move my arms like a bird Fly!
|
| She was a wingwalker Pitgirl of the sky
|
| [Verse] And now I got an engine A big perverted engine It runs on
| strength of will Who could deny me the right to fly? You know,
| it's my art When I form my body in the shape of a plane...
|
| [Chorus] I'm a plane! I'm a plane! I'm a plane! I'm a plane!
|
| [Verse] Now I got an airframe A big perverted airframe You know,
| It's my art When I disguise my body in the shape of a plane
| [Chorus] I'm a plane! (I'm a plane!) I'm a plane! (I'm a plane!)
| I'm a plane! (I'm a plane!) I'm a plane! (I'm a plane!)
|
| [Outro]
|
| (Look at me, look at me - I'm a plane! Look at me, I'm a plane!
| Look at me!)
|
| And the plane becomes a metaphor for my life And as I suffer for
| it Like I'm insane, as it says... So she suffers under the weight
| of my plane You know? It's my art! When I disguise my body in the
| shape of a plane...
|
| Plane! (Plane!)
|
| RIP Steve.
| nonrandomstring wrote:
| In my mind, Albini holds a plain speaking American slot besides
| Hunter S. Thompson, for the similarity of these remarks:
| "I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep,
| maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit."
| - Steve Albini "The music business is a cruel and
| shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves
| and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's
| also a negative side.". - Hunter S Thompson
|
| When you're good, and you know it, not because people tell you or
| shower you with praise, but because it comes from love, from the
| heart, then you know there's nobody whose ass you have to kiss.
|
| Steve Albini was an exceptionally competent and emotionally
| generous person who spoke about the industry as the wide-eyed boy
| saw the Emperor's "New Clothes". Not bitter or superior or
| excoriating, just casually pointing out the truth; that it's a
| stinking corrupt pile of shit that deserves to die. Wish there
| were more Steve Albinis in the tech world, confident going their
| own way and not sucking up to big-tech pedlars of digital dross.
|
| Time for some Pixies...
|
| Sad loss. RIP.
| The_Blade wrote:
| Henry Rollins
| dredmorbius wrote:
| Obit from the Quietus, via a subsequent HN submission:
|
| <https://thequietus.com/articles/34129-steve-albini-dies>
| amarcozzi wrote:
| I paused at the name because there was a great scientist and
| engineer named Frank Albini in the field of wildfire science. Lo
| and behold Steve Albini was the son of said Frank Albini. I
| haven't heard of Steve Albini before, and I'm not familiar with
| his music, but he clearly had an enormous impact. I just thought
| that it was interesting that both father and son could leave
| behind such a large legacy in their respective endeavors.
| fogbeak wrote:
| If you're interested, Steve (Albini) goes into detail about his
| father and his contributions to wildfire science during an
| interview on the Marc Maron podcast. It's fascinating
| listening.
| soulofmischief wrote:
| Rest in peace, a true legend and genius with unparalleled
| sensibilities.
| brnacl wrote:
| In 2009 my band traveled from Nashville to Chicago for the honor
| of recording with Steve at Electrical Audio. We loved his drum
| tones and his use of analog tape in a live band setting.
|
| He was quirky, brilliant, quiet, and kind of hilarious to work
| with. He wore disheveled blue coveralls with a lowercase "e" on
| the back for 5 straight days.
|
| They fed us as many lattes we could stomach for all hours of the
| day, and he didn't even care if we smoked cigarettes the entire
| time. Slept on cots in his building, while he stayed in his
| "personal" area.
|
| Watching him cut 2 inch tape the old fashioned way was one of the
| nerd highlights of my life. RIP Steve, and thank you.
| ilamont wrote:
| Besides working with analog tape, what else in his process was
| either surprising or a revelation?
|
| In the interview with Conan and Dave and Kris that someone
| linked to earlier (https://www.earwolf.com/episode/dave-grohl-
| krist-novoselic-a...), he really tries to disabuse Conan of the
| notion that he is wielding "magic" ... he basically says it's
| Dave setting up a regular set of drums in a room that has good
| acoustics, he mics them, and presses "record" - he is just
| trying to capture the band as a band making music together in a
| room. He said it was similar to what Butch Vig did with
| Nevermind before the suits forced them to use a different sound
| and effects in post.
|
| Although someone else in the interview did mention that he had
| special German microphones ...
| yterdy wrote:
| Every time someone only tangentially-related to tech gets their
| death notice posted to HN, I think about what happened with Kobe
| Bryant's passing and how it was treated here.
|
| Sorry for the loss for people who admired or knew this man. I had
| literally never heard of him before today.
| tonymet wrote:
| context?
| mycologos wrote:
| People kept flagging threads announcing Kobe's death when it
| happened back in January 2020, claiming they were irrelevant
| to HN. In the end, I think they all got deleted.
|
| In contrast, Terry Jones got his own black bar a few days
| beforehand. For some reason, he was deemed extremely relevant
| to HN.
|
| I appreciate that keeping HN from devolving too far into
| angry shitposting requires subjective moderation, but I
| thought and think this was stupid and demonstrates how
| narrow-minded the conception of "hacker" can be on here.
| bjw4 wrote:
| Sad to hear Steve has passed.
|
| I met Steve, Bob and Todd at Camber Sands 2001 very briefly,
| really nice people who didn't act like rockstars at all. Q&A
| sessions, banter with hecklers, Todd talked about his dog (an
| Italian Greyhound) a bit.
|
| Friends band recorded at EA, only possible due to charging a low
| flat fee and no royalties based on who they were - incredible
| work ethic that has influenced me greatly.
|
| Listening to "Terraform" tonight, and maybe Spiderland by Slint
| after.
| istultus wrote:
| Just finished another boring run and asked myself "Why do I do
| this again?" then saw the news - dead at 61 due to heart attack.
| RIP. Scheduling my next boring run.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-05-08 23:00 UTC)