Steve Albini

A founding member of the bands Big Black, Shellac, and other projects alongside his prolific career as a producer, Steve Albini was a major figure on the American alternative rock scene. Born in Pasadena, California on July 22, 1962, he learned to play bass and then guitar inspired by the punk movement, and moved to Chicago, Illinois where he played in several underground bands and wrote for fanzines. In 1982, using a 4-track tape recorder borrowed from a friend, he recorded an EP called Lungs, released under the name Big Black. This was the start of an adventure that continued with other musicians, resulting in the now cult albums Atomizer (1986) and Songs About Fucking (1987), milestones of the post-hardcore genre. Already recognized for his know-how as a producer adept at analog sources and his straight-forward personality, Steve Albini went on to form the trio Rapeman, which issued the album Two Nuns and a Pack Mule (1988), before producing the Pixies' first album Surfer Rosa and working with Nirvana, PJ Harvey, The Jesus Lizard, Slint, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, as well as a host of lesser-known groups. In 1992, he joined the experimental Shellac project, recording seven albums from At Action Park (1994) to To All Trains (2024). In 1997, he opened his Electrical Audio studio, which hosted many artists including The Stooges, Jarvis Cocker, and French band Dionysos, among more than three thousand sessions. A two-time World Series of Poker award-winning poker player, Steve Albini also composed, with Alison Chesley and Tim Midyett, the soundtrack for the horror film Girl on the Third Floor (2010). On May 7, 2024, he died of a heart attack in his recording studio, at the age of 61.

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