Steve Albini, rock producer for Nirvana, the Pixies and PJ Harvey, dies at 61

A figure in American independent rock, Steve Albini has produced more than 200 records in his forty-year career, including several classics. He died of a heart attack on Tuesday May 7.

American rock producer Steve Albini died Tuesday evening, May 7, of a heart attack at the age of 61, the site announced Wednesday. Pitchfork, quoting his studio team. Little known to the general public, Steve Albini was an icon of independent rock. He has produced dozens of landmark albums, including In utero of Nirvana, Surfer Rosa Pixies, Pod Breeders and Rid of Me by PJ Harvey.

Founder of the group Big Black, he was also the guitarist and singer of the group Shellac founded in 1992. This group, still active, was due to release a new album next week, To All Trains, the first in ten years. A tour was planned immediately.

Born in 1962 in Pasadena (California) then raised in Montana, he discovered the punk of the Ramones as a teenager before learning the guitar on his own after breaking his leg. He then studied journalism.

Known for his intransigence, Steve Albini kept the punk ethic anchored in his body all his life. Studio legend, considered the guru of “noise” production, Steve Albini preferred the term“sound engineer” rather than “producer”, and refused to influence the artistic content of the groups for which he worked. Favoring abrasive sounds, disdaining any artistic idea with a commercial aim, he excelled at capturing the raw sound of musicians, giving the impression that they were playing live in front of you.

Provocative, king of chambering, he could insult without remorse – for example calling the Smashing Pumpkins a group.totally insignificant” or Urge Overkill from “sausages in costumes playing at a student rock party“.

In the rock magazine Forced Exposure, he wrote in 1991 about the Pixies, of whom he produced one of the most emblematic albums, Surfer Rosathree years earlier: “I’ve never seen four cows more worried about being led by their nose rings“. However, it is thanks to this resounding album by the Pixies, which became “the sound of the 90s“, which he became in demand everywhere. In addition to Nirvana and PJ Harvey, he then produced Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The Jesus Lizard, The Wedding Present and Superchunk.

He had also produced French rock albums such as Strike Thugs, Western in the snow of Dionysus, Plug of Sloy and Châteauvallon, (((Capoeira))) and Science of Venison.