by hapago

FUCK!!!!!! This one hurts so much. Steve Albini was the one who got me into all of this as a young music fan whose favorite group at the time was LED ZEPPELIN.

When I was 15 I learned about three bands that changed my life: DEATH GRIPS, THE REPLACEMENTS, and motherfucking BIG BLACK. Even though Steve Albini hated the Mats, I still looked up to him and everything he’s ever touched, really.

Some of the best stuff that he worked on was for the band SILKWORM, one of the best bands of the 90s. Lifestyle, Firewater, and In the West are incredible albums–it’s almost jangly music but it’s played on EGC guitars with Albini behind the board. Definite choruses with instrumentation that of a power drill.

The song below is called “KILLING MY ASS” off of the album Firewater. It’s a piercing song with an incredible outro solo–I love when the drums cut out for a bit and sound unsure, but come back in strong. The minimal sounding solo works its way into your head until you can’t escape it: it’s everywhere.

Steve Albini’s Wikipedia page is insane–from CLOUD NOTHINGS to DIE! DIE! DIE!, from MELT-BANANA to HELMET, the list goes on and on and is full of surprises. Obviously, his work with NIRVANA is next level, and the SONGS: OHIA album The Magnolia Electric Co. album he worked on is amazing.

Did you know he was also an insane poker player? I had no idea until the pandemic when I saw this picture:

He was truly a jack of all trades.

I’m grateful for all that Steve Albini did and I’m excited to listen to and find more stuff that he worked on. There’s loads more that I could say, but I’ll leave it at that.

fuck you,

Happy Haugen