Steve Albini, influential musician, engineer, and producer dies at 61

Steve Albini, an icon of indie rock as both a producer and performer, frontman of Big Black and Shellac and recording engineer for Nirvana, PJ Harvey, and several other artists, has died at the age 61.

Albini died on Tuesday, May 7, of a heart attack, staff of his recording studio, Electrical Audio, confirmed the matter to Pitchfork.

Aside from fronting for underground rock bands such as Shellac and Big Black, Albini was a legend of the recording studio, and preferred the term “engineer” to “producer.”

He recorded Nirvana’s In Utero, Pixies’ Surfer Rosa, PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me, and countless other classic albums, and remained a vocal critic of exploitative music industry practices until his final years.

Shellac was preparing for a tour of their first album in a decade, To All Trains, which is expected to be released next week.

Despite insisting that he would work with any artist, Albini’s catalog as a self-described audio engineer encompasses a greater portion of alternative rock which is basically a genre unto itself.

After early work on Surfer Rosa, Slint’s Tweez, and the Breeders’ Pod, Albini became synonymous with brutal, live-sounding analog production which carried a palpable raw energy.

His resume in the late 80s and 90s includes the Jesus Lizard’s influential early albums, the Wedding Present’s Seamonsters, Brainiac’s Hissing Prigs in Static Couture, and records by Low, Helmet, Dirty Three,  Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Boss Hog, Hum, Superchunk, and couple of more.

His influence rang through to the next generations of rock, punk, and metal at home and abroad, many of whom he went on to produce — such as Mogwai, Mono, Ty Segall, Mclusky, Cloud Nothings, and Sunn O))).