Steve Albini: Legendary indie musician and Nirvana producer dies aged 61
Guitarist and vocalist Steve Albini of Shellac performs on stage during Primavera Sound 2022 on June 03, 2022 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Jim Bennett/WireImage)
An icon of American alternative rock, both on stage and at the mixing desk, Steve Albini has died.
The musician, producer and music journalist was confirmed by US music website Pitchfork to have died of a heart attack aged 61, according to staff at his recording studio, Electric Audio.
Hailing from California and based in Chicago for much of his career, Albini was an outspoken critic of the major-label music industry from the beginning, making his name with serrated, noisy rock as part of independent bands like Big Black and Shellac.
But it was his time at the mixing desk, giving shape to some of the most influential albums of the 1990s American alt-rock boom, that secured his place in wider notoriety.
Known for rejecting expansive studio setups in favour of uncomplicated and raw analogue recordings, Albini lent his edge to Pixies' 'Surfer Rosa', PJ Harvey's 'Rid of Me', and Nirvana's 'In Utero' among many other albums — the latter of which was remixed by label DCG after he completed work, with the 'unlistenable' original mixes later audible on vinyl pressings, and expanded editions of the album's 2013 reissue.
The frontman was also known for courting controversy with provocative band names and song titles — apologising on X in 2021 for doing so 'from an ignorant position of comfort and privilege', and subsequently discussing his regrets in major press interviews.
Albini had last been in Ireland with Shellac in April of 2023, playing in Limerick and two nights in Dublin, hand-picking Irish noise-rockers M(h)aol to support.
Shellac's next album, 'To All Trains', is scheduled for release next week.
