Our Turn: Albini Top 25

Steve Albini died on May 7 of a heart attack at the age of 61.  If you’re reading this Substack, chances are you’ve already read numerous articles or listened to multiple podcasts devoted to Albini’s career, and you know all the basics (and you’re also, like the 6OGs, only slightly younger than Albini was when he died, so lots to unpack there in a different Substack).  He considered himself an engineer, not a producer.  When a band recorded for him, he let them be themselves.  He always made the drums sound like they were in the room with you.  He had opinions – oh boy, did he have opinions, some of which aged poorly, and some of which were on-the-nose but were couched with words and ideas that aged poorly.  He didn’t take a percentage of one of the best-selling albums ever.  If your band had $900 and the ability to get to Chicago, he’d schedule time for you in the studio.  He charged much more for bands on major labels, reasoning that he’d gladly take more of the labels’ money.  And he probably had more influence than anyone else over music adored and obsessed over by Gen X and Millennial indie music fans (and non-indie fans – looking at you, Razorblade Suitcase-heads).

To commemorate the sudden passing of this important but complicated figure in modern music (and championship poker), we’re doing another list and dedicating the whole post to it.  This list will be a sample of Albini’s work as a musician and as a recording engineer.  Like all of the lists, it’s guaranteed to be incomplete.  I’m making a promise that one of your favorite albums involving Albini – either as musician or engineer – will not be included (though Brad has added some at the end).  So please drop any of your favorites into the comments.

Albini as Musician

(1)    Big Black – Songs About Fucking:  The last album by Albini’s first “real” band.  Was I a high school student drawn in by the album’s title and cover?  Of course!  Did I really get the music when I first heard it?  Of course not!  Did I play songs like “Bad Penny” and “Colombian Necktie” way too loud over and over, hiding the CD from my parents?  You betcha.  Big Black was loud and abrasive and amazing, and all I knew was critics I admired loved this album and adults would not have wanted me listening to it.  I’d love to say I was cool enough to have bought Atomizer first, but I wasn’t and I didn’t.

(2)    Rapeman – Two Nuns and a Pack Mule:  Yeesh.  Big Black breaks up and this is the name he chooses for his next project?  We all wish he hadn’t done this, but he did, and it’s unfortunately part of the story.  This was included to represent all of Albini’s poor decisions over the years, things that he later acknowledged were wrong when they occurred, rather falling back on the standard “times were different” excuse.  And yes, calling a band Rapeman is not even the only bad choice on this album (see the songs called “Kim Gordon’s Panties” or “Hated Chinese”).  The highlight of the album is the cover of ZZ Top’s “Just Got Paid.”

(3)    Shellac – Dude Incredible:  Before 2024, Albini released five albums with Shellac, and Dude Incredible was the most recent in 2014.  It achieves the balance of being heavy and punishing, but also listenable.  It’s arguably Shellac’s best album since their debut, the raw and relentless At Action Park from 1994.  Songs like the title track, “The People’s Microphone,” and “Riding Bikes” give the listener a perfect impression of the Albini sound and what a Shellac live show is like.  I saw them once at the Black Cat in DC, and it was easily one of the loudest shows I’d ever been to.  It was the show that reminded me to never forget ear plugs.

Albini as Engineer – The Classics

(4)    Pixies – Surfer Rosa:  Introduced the larger world to the concept of loud-quiet-loud.  Supposedly Albini didn’t know what to make of Black Francis, but this legendary recording session started a long-term collaboration between Albini and bassist Kim Deal.  Surfer Rosa has an all-time side one, track one in “Bone Machine” and the famous (back to another list) Fight Club-ending needle drop “Where is My Mind?”  But the song from this brilliant 1988 album that initially caught my ear was “Gigantic,” when I first heard it played on New York’s WLIR.  Side note: I was immensely proud when, to alleviate boredom during the early days of COVID quarantine, I taught myself Deal’s “Gigantic” bass line.

(5)    Nirvana – In Utero:  Seriously.  The dude took the record company’s money up front, but he wouldn’t take points on the album sales.  As has been reported elsewhere, he figured the artist should get all the credit or all the blame (this meant he earned $100,000 for the job; estimates are that he could have netted $3 million with the points approach).  Nirvana wanted Albini to work on the album to create a more abrasive sound than they had on Nevermind, something more akin to Bleach.  Albini certainly delivered, with three exceptions – “Heart-Shaped Box,” “All Apologies,” and “Pennyroyal Tea” (aka, the singles) – that were remixed at the request of the record company by notable R.E.M. producer Scott Litt.

(6)    PJ Harvey – Rid of Me:  Maybe the Albini-est album he ever worked on as an engineer, and one of the absolute greatest albums of the 1990s.  “Rub ‘Til It Bleeds” is haunting and aggressive.  “50ft Queenie” is driving rockabilly punk.  “Dry” is the loud-quiet-loud anthem built for the stage.  The cover of Bob Dylan’s “Highway ’61 Revisited” completely re-works the original and makes it a different song, as Polly Jean makes it her own.  From start to finish the drums explode through every song, the one exception being “Man-Size Sextet,” the only non-Albini-engineered song on the album.

(7)    The Breeders – Pod:  Albini and Kim Deal had a connection.  For her first project with The Breeders – a band she put together with her sister Kelley of Throwing Muses because of dissatisfaction with her role in the Pixies (and, one can assume, because Black Francis was driving her nuts) – Deal recruited Albini to engineer their debut album.  And for anyone who only knows The Breeders from the (excellent) hit “Cannonball” and its (excellent) album Last Splash, the sound on Pod might come as a surprise.  “Hellbound” and “Fortunately Gone” give a hint of what’s in store on the next release, but “Glorious” is more dour, while “When I Was a Painter” and “Opened” are more angular.  Albini would work with The Breeders again on their 2002 album Title TK.

Albini as Engineer – The Surprises

(8)    Robbie Fulks – Country Love Songs:  Not the sound normally associated with Albini, but the noise-rock master and the country-folk singer-songwriter – both based in Chicago but born elsewhere – had a long and productive relationship, starting with Albini’s work as the engineer on Fulks’ rollicking debut album.  Opener “Every Kind of Song but Country” is as 1996 as it gets in terms of lyrics but doesn’t veer into Alan Jackson territory, and Albini allows the fiddles and guitar to shine while playing up the rhythm section more than most mid-‘90s country.  “She Took A Lot of Pills (And Died)” and “Papa Was a Steel-Headed Man” are punk songs disguised as country, and heavier guitars would have made them indistinguishable from Uncle Tupelo.  A perfect example of Albini letting the artist’s true self come through in the recording.

(9)    Flogging Molly – Swagger:  For whatever reason, this one stunned me.  Then I listened to the album for the first time in probably 20 years, and yeah, it’s the drums.  A Celtic-punk band from Los Angeles, they fit on the Irish music spectrum somewhere between The Pogues and Dropkick Murphys.  I saw Flogging Molly in the early 2000s when they toured to promote Swagger, their debut album, and they were a blast live.  Songs like “Salty Dog,” “Selfish Man,” and “Devil’s Dance Floor” carry that energy onto the album, while “The Worst Day Since Yesterday” and “Far Away Boys” are more introspective.  Not sure why I didn’t stick with Flogging Molly for the long haul, but their debut holds up.

(10)Joanna Newsom – Ys:  Another that, when I learned about Albini’s involvement, shocked me, probably even more so than the Flogging Molly album.  And I have to be honest – I can’t stand this album.  Maybe it’s Newsom’s voice, which I find grating.  Maybe I’m just not a harp guy.  But the people who love this album really love this album, and as with Fulks, this is another perfect example of Albini helping the artist achieve the sound she wants without interfering with, or changing, what she does.

(11)The Crooked Fiddle Band – Moving Pieces of the Sea:  Full disclosure – I had never heard of this band before researching this list.  I have some personal experience with every other artist, even if it is just passing familiarity (Robbie Fulks) or outright disinterest (Joanna Newsom).  But this Australian prog-folk band?  Nothing.  Albini recorded their first two albums, with this 2013 release being the second.  An album with a 13-minute song called “The Deepwater Drownings Part II – Moving Pieces of the Sea” is not for me.  But I am slightly amused that the album includes a radio edit for “The Deepwater Drownings Part I” that reduces the original’s opening cello solo from 25 seconds to 5 seconds.

Albini as Engineer – Personal Favorites

(12)The Wedding Present – Seamonsters:  I should have included The Wedding Present on my list of heartbreak songs, but that would have almost been unfair, since it would have covered nearly their entire fucking catalog (and that of spinoff project Cinerama — all of which Albini also recorded).  But what a catalog!  David Gedge got kicked in the gut by romance early on and has been writing about it ever since, but unlike some people (cough… Morrissey… cough) he doesn’t come off as whiny.  I first discovered The Wedding Present with 1989’s excellent Bizarro, and this 1991 Albini-engineered follow-up rocks just as hard, with killer tracks “Dare,” Lovenest,” and “Corduroy,” the last of which fellow OGs Brad and Marc played on their recent radio tribute to Albini.  Speaking of which…

(13)Songs: Ohia – Magnolia Electric Co.:  OGs Brad and Marc also played “Farewell Transmission” from this Albini-engineered 2003 release, the late Jason Molina’s last as Songs: Ohia, on their show.  I’ll admit it’s kind of cheating to list this under “personal favorites” as I acknowledged after listening to their show that it had been years since I’d listened to or thought of this album.  But I’ve seen or heard it mentioned everywhere in Albini retrospectives over the past week, and I’ve re-listened a bunch of times since.  I forgot how amazing this album is, with such great songs as “Almost Was Good Enough” and “John Henry Spit My Heart.”

(14)Superchunk – No Pocky for Kitty: This is my jam.  When I think of the early ‘90s and college, my mind first goes to bands like Pavement, Guided by Voices, Fugazi, the aforementioned Uncle Tupelo, and of course Superchunk.  Albini doesn’t get a credit on this album, but the band traveled from its home base in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to Chicago so he could record them.  Like so many other Albini recordings (and Superchunk albums), No Pocky for Kitty is both ferocious and tuneful.  The follow-up to their self-titled debut, the album contains the bangers “Skip Steps 1 & 3,” “Seed Toss,” “Cast Iron,” “Punch Me Harder,” and “Throwing Things.”  I saw Superchunk most recently a few years ago at the Black Cat, and they still put on a killer live show.  Longtime drummer Jon Wurster recently left the band, but Mac MacCaughan and crew are still going at it – they released a new single in January called, ironically enough, “Everybody Dies.”

(15)The Jesus Lizard – Goat:  The best album by arguably Albini’s favorite band – Albini recorded their first four albums, including Goat.  The Jesus Lizard continue the noise-rock tradition that Albini started with Big Black and refined with Shellac.  Listen to songs like “Mouth Breather,” “Nub,” or “Seasick” and it’s almost like the drums take the lead, the heavy guitars are supporting the drums, and lead singer David Yow’s vocals are in the background supporting everyone else (or put on “Monkey Trick” to give the bass equal billing with the guitar).  The Jesus Lizard never achieved mainstream success despite influencing too many bands to count and having major supporters in Albini and Kurt Cobain.  It was initially rumored that Albini stopped recording them when they signed with a major label, but Albini himself disputed that several times.

(16)Low – Things We Lost in the Fire:  My favorite album by the Minnesota slowcore husband-wife duo Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker.  And despite being recorded by Albini, it couldn’t be more different from the previous album on this list.  “Sunflower” is precise in its musicianship and the harmonies between Sparhawk and Parker are gorgeous.  The same goes for the melodic, purposeful “Dinosaur Act.”  Parker’s vocals are haunting on “Embrace,” but in a much different way than, say, PJ Harvey – her quiet singing along with the pounding bass drum are as terrifying as any scream, even more so as the vocals rise, then fall again.  Low had a resurgence starting in 2018, with the albums Double Negative and Hey What (the latter being one of my favorites from that year) receiving critical acclaim.  Sadly, Parker died of ovarian cancer in 2022.

(17)Cloud Nothings – Attack on Memory:  Another favorite (hence the title of this section).  It was one of the best albums released in 2012 and the best work this band has ever done.  Albini brought the best out of Dylan Baldi’s trio – Attack on Memory sounds like a recorded live show, but in a studio.  “Fall In,” from its iconic (for indie rock) intro to the main verses, is the controlled chaos of a live performance that rarely comes through on a recording.  And yes, Albini brings those drums to the forefront yet again.  He does the same on “Stay Useless.”  Baldi’s vocals and guitar playing are the centerpieces of the band, but Albini’s recording also highlights the rhythm section to present Cloud Nothings as a cohesive unit and not just a showcase for its leader.  Cloud Nothings didn’t work with Albini again until 2021’s The Shadow I Remember, in which they came close to matching what they had on Attack on Memory but fell a little short.  Their latest release, this year’s Final Summer, is best described as unfocused.

(18)Screaming Females – Ugly:  This was also one of the best albums from 2012, and should be on the short list for the best rock albums from the 2010s.  The band’s first and best studio collaboration with Albini (he also engineered the outstanding Live at the Hideout from 2014), he was a perfect fit for Ugly’s raw, driving punk-infused rock.  As always, Albini’s recording brings the rhythm section to equal levels with the churning guitar as if to highlight the backbone of each song.  The band is relentless on tracks like “Rotten Apple,” “Tell Me No,” “Extinction” and “Something Ugly.”  Screaming Females continued to release excellent records until their breakup in 2023.  But subsequent albums failed to fully reproduce the “live in studio” sound that Albini captured on Ugly. (Brian)

Brad’s additions: Hard to top Brian’s choices, though I feel like I could still probably add another 25 records.  But want to flag just a few more artists from the “Albini as engineer” category before we issue our true farewell transmission (see #13, if you weren’t reading closely).  I do have to say, though, as Brian noted, for as many all-time records that Albini had a hand in, the thing that’s astonishing when you review his discography is that, even as something of a music geek, I have no idea who at least 75% of the artists are who we worked with. He was an engineer to all, both the relative unknowns and the stars (not included on our list are records he recorded for Page/Plant, Cheap Trick, Scott Weiland, and Helmet, among others) as long as you paid the basic fees and were willing to be yourself to the fullest and most immediate extent.

·       Pussy Galore – Dial M for Motherfucker: Albini had a long collaboration with Jon Spencer, including so many Boss Hog and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion records, but this 1989 record runs together with Big Black in my mind.  The sounds are different, but the ethos is the same.  Where Albini was brooding and scary on stage, Spencer was a hyper showman, and yet, given how uncompromising they were, they ended up in very similar musical places.  

·       Poster Children -- Daisychain Reaction: Albini recorded a few albums for the Champaign, IL indie noise band, and they’re all worth checking out.  But the back to back of “Cancer” and “If You See Kay” at the start of this 1992 album packed as much punch, with a sneaky pop bounce, as anything they produced.

·       Silkworm – Libertine: As this excellent revisit made clear, Silkworm is a band that never got its due. Like Albini, they hailed from Missoula, MT, and Albini engineered 7 studio albums for them (and some collections). You could start anywhere, but this one from 1994 is where I would go, especially as it includes Joel R.L. Phelps on guitar and vocals, who added a unique texture to their early work (Albini also recorded his first solo record).  I also start here because Albini himself is quoted on the Bandcamp page as saying, "Very few bands make even one great album. Silkworm made several, and this is the first."   

·       Palace Music -- Viva Last Blues: Continuing the trend of artists who worked with Albini across many years, Will Oldham came back for projects under multiple names, including two as Bonnie “Prince” Billy.  But whenever I need a dose of Oldham, this one from 1995 is what I pull out. To get a sense of Albini’s ability to go not only loud-quiet-loud but to do so across genres, just check out the flow of “Tonight’s Decision (and Hereafter)” to “Work Hard/Play Hard” to “New Partner.” Just gorgeous.  

·       Dirty Three – Ocean Songs: Now breaking that trend, we turn to one of the more unique bands of the 1990s, Australia’s Dirty Three, which produced a series of powerful instrumental records consisting of guitar, drums, and violin (or viola).  The violin was as brash and cutting as you could ever imagine a violin to be, and the compositions would take remarkable turns over lengthy quieter segments.  It was captivating, and as always, Albini managed to get the most out of them on this 1998 record, which was the only one that they made together.

·       Bedhead – Transactions de Novo: Another band that only made one record with Albini (though, to be fair, they only made two), and as with some of Brian’s choices, one you would not have guessed.  Marc rightfully made sure we played this on the show, and along with Low among others, showed off how Albini could bring his immediacy and power to slowcore.  I’ll admit that their previous record, WhatFunLifeWas, still gets my attention more often, but Albini managed to capture their brilliance and also turn it up a notch or two.  

·       Metz – Strange Peace: Rounding out the list with something out of the 1990s.  If there is a band that has emerged since the 2010s that feels like they’re carrying on the Albini legacy, it is Metz.  This was the only time they worked together, and it delivered all of the power and noise you could have hoped for (and I highly recommend their non-Albini records as well). 

Could have added Brainiac, Scrawl, Dazzling Killmen, Ty Segall, or so many more, but let’s end here at 25 and hope you can spend some time honoring the legacy of one of rock’s greatest figures. (Brad)