Steve Albini was not known to the general public, yet he was one of the great figures of American independent rock. He produced dozens of albums that are now classics of the genre, such as Surfer Rosa by the Pixies (1988), In Utero by Nirvana (1993) and Rid of Me by PJ Harvey (1993). The man died on the evening of Tuesday May 7 of a heart attack at the age of 61 in his recording studio, announced the American specialist site Pitchfork, citing his Electrical Audio team.
Born in 1962 in Pasedena, California, Steve Albini was raised in Montana, where he discovered punk. During his teenage years, he taught himself to play the guitar. The man was not only a great producer, he was also the singer and guitarist of the group Shellac founded in 1992. He was soon to release a new album entitled To All Trains. A tour was also planned.
The Pixies’ tribute
Uncompromising, Steve Albini has always kept his punk ethics. He never wanted to influence the content of the artists he produced for commercial purposes. He even refused the term “producer” and asked to be credited with the words “Recorded by Steve Albini”. Far from having his tongue in his pocket, he did not hesitate to tackle everything he could, even the artists with whom he worked.
“I have never seen four cows more worried about being led by their nose rings,” he wrote about the Pixies in 1991 in the rock magazine Forced Exposure, Franceinfo remembers. The album Surfer Rosa, which he had produced three years earlier, however, greatly contributed to his fame and made him a producer in high demand. The group paid tribute to him on X.
“RIP Steve Albini” (“rest in peace”), it says. The message is accompanied by a photo of the producer in front of a mixing console.