Pixies, Cloud Nothings, and More Indie Musicians Honor Steve Albini

Photo: John Bartley/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Few figures had arsenic acold of a scope successful autarkic euphony arsenic Steve Albini, who died astatine 61. As a musician, Albini influenced generations successful his formative post-punk set Big Black and his ongoing set Shellac (which is releasing a caller medium adjacent Friday). In the studio, helium recorded and engineered hundreds of albums, from influential stone records similar Nirvana’s In Utero and PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me to modern albums similar Joanna Newsom’s Ys and Cloud Nothings’ Attack connected Memory. Many admired Albini’s staunch independency successful the euphony industry. Upon Albini’s death, Pixies, who recorded their 1988 medium Surfer Rosa with Albini, honored him connected societal media. Cloud Nothings’ Dylan Baldi called Albini “a genuine, singular, principled person” successful a tweet.

Many much indie bands who looked up to Albini posted tributes, including Ratboys, Chat Pile, and Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis, who said Albini “changed my worldview.” A fig of autarkic grounds labels besides honored Albini, including Don Giovanni Records, who called him “the past idiosyncratic successful the euphony manufacture who really mattered portion maintaining a fierce codification of morals astir their work.” And the guitarist Bill MacKay, who recorded astatine his workplace Electrical Audio, remembered sharing “one unforgettable & hilarious Ramen dinner” with Albini. Below, much tributes to Albini.