Steve Albini, American guitarist of the noise band Shellac and historic record producer who worked among others on In the Uterus of Nirvana, died at the age of 61 from a heart attack. Albini was a cult figure in American alternative rock, and in the 1990s he helped define the sound of grunge and post-punk, working as a producer on hundreds of records including Pink Surfer of the Pixies, Pod of the Breeders, Things We Lost in the Fire by Low e Rid of Me by PJ Harvey.
He had also been an appreciated guitarist, first with Big Black and Rapeman, and then above all with Shellac, a noise rock trio with whom he had recorded six records: the most famous, At Action Parkwas from 1994. It should be released on May 17th To All Trainsthe band’s first album in ten years, which ended up on the cover of the June issue of the magazine The Wire.
Albini, who was very active on Twitter and in recent years had also made himself known for his vigorous criticism of the record industry and for his frequent progressive stances, was a loved and respected figure like few others in the context of American alternative music and in the niches of fans of genres such as post-hardcore, math rock and noise. He was one of those rare producers whose fame went beyond just the insiders, also because his importance and influence were frequently cited by the bands who worked with him, from Mogwai to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, from Jesus Lizard to Slint.
Albini was born in Pasadena, California, grew up in Montana and then moved as a young man to Chicago, where he still lives today. He is particularly famous for the work he did in In the Uterus of Nirvana, in which he helped Kurt Cobain identify the sound he wanted to give to his band after what had been recorded on the previous album, Nevermind, had not satisfied him. Albini was known for giving back to the records he produced a sound that was very faithful to what the bands had in live concerts, interfering little in the artistic process (he more willingly defined himself as a “sound engineer”).
While most producers of the time recorded the various musicians separately and combined all the tracks later, Albini preferred whenever possible to record the group playing together, capturing the reverb naturally through dozens of microphones that were placed in different parts of the room. In 1997 he founded his own recording studio, Electrical Audio Recording, in Chicago, also famous for the extremely cheap rates that Albini wanted to maintain.
