Steve Albini has died at the age of 61 due to a heart attack, as confirmed to EL MUNDO by sources from Primavera Sound, the Barcelona festival in which he performed every year in front of his group, Shellac.
The unexpected death of the guitarist, singer and producer has caused an enormous impact on independent rock in the US, where for four decades he was the most important producer and the moral guru of indie ethics.
Albini trained in punk-rock underground from the USA in the 80s and became known in 1988 with the production of the first album by Pixies, Surfer Rosa. World fame came to him when he recorded In Uteroof Nirvana in 1993, the same year in which he also recorded the album PJ Harvey Rid of Me.
There is no one who has had so much relevance in rock underground of the US in the last four decades, and it is not due to the iconic albums and the giant artists he recorded. with his day job running the Chicago Electrical Audio recording studiowhich he directed since 1995, helped hundreds and hundreds of groups and artists record with optimal quality and affordable price.
At the same time, and as a hobby, in 1992 I formed the group Shellac along with drummer Todd Trainer and bassist Bob Weston. Albini had thrown loud stones in the 80s with Big Black and with another more ephemeral project, Rapeman, which in English means Rapist, something that sums up well his conception of what music should be. punk rock artist: an agitator, a juggler of shock, a provocateur of the majority moral conscience. A brute. A wild.