Steve Albini, indie rock icon who recorded Nirvana and Pixies albums dies at 61
Steve Albini, a leading light of indie rock’s sound and morality as frontman of Big Black and Shellac and recording engineer for Nirvana
The news was confirmed to Variety on Wednesday by Taylor Hales, who works at Albini’s Chicago recording studio, Electronic Audio
Albini first rose to acclaim in the early 1980s as the frontman for Big Black, the Chicago-based trio known for aggressive guitar-based rock that worked with a drum machine rather than a live drummer,
The hire was much to the chagrin of Nirvana's label, which was hoping for another speaker
Around the same time, Albini also recorded PJ Harvey’s sophomore effort, “Rid of Me,” which had a similarly aggressive sound.
Albini also worked with acts such as Pixies, the Breeders, the Jesus Lizard, Mclusky, and even former Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant
The latter album in particular benefited from Albini’s spare, no-frills sound, which was at odds with the duo’s elaborate latter-day recordings.
Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, who insisted that the band work with Albini on its second major label album, 1993’s “In Utero.”