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Not only was the lateĀ Steve AlbiniĀ a legendary recording engineer, musician, and poker player, but he was also a longtime collector of underground memorabilia. Now, thousands of his belongingsārare vinyl, weird books, vintage t-shirts, CDs, cassettes, singles, zines, art, and āmysterious bargainsāāare being sold via a new website that operates as a weekly digital estate sale. A new batch of items from his archives will be released every Friday through the end of 2025. Byron Coley (old contact/friend) of Forced Exposure runs the site, with all money going to the late Albiniās estate.
All items from the first round of available belongings have since been purchased, including the master of NeurosisāĀ A Sun That Never SetsĀ and Albiniās personal copies of records by Dead Moon, Big Boys, Can, U-Men, Elvis Costello, Buzzcocks, Cinerama, Didjits, and dozens more. According to the siteās categories, though, it looks like thereās plenty more to come beyond vinyl records and CDs in the coming weeks, including poker-related belongings (he won two World Series of Poker gold bracelets, BTW), old fliers, concert posters, and even awards. Last summer, the city of Chicago named the 2600-2700 block of West Belmont Avenue, which is home to Albiniās recording studio Electrical Audio, as "Steve Albini Way." The man is much-missed but the stuff that sold out in the first round (such as Nick Cave's original Birthday Party recordings, known as Boys Next Door) only portends better/weirder things to come.
4d ago
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For me Steve Albini drum sounds are the best drum sounds. there are endless āhow to produce drums like Albiniā articles, but no one else can was doing it like him imo. You think of Nirvanaās Scentless Apprentice, and you can feel that super specific drum sound. That distinctive snare. He somehow makes drums sound really immediate and tight while also spacious. My favourite combination is when Albini produces Rob Ellis on PJ Harveyās Rid of Me. Rob Ellis is one of my favourite drummers and the combo is killer. Just LISTEN to the drums on 50ft Queenie (linked).
Jul 24, 2024
So heartbroken to hear of his death. He produced 4 of my favourite records -
PJ Harveyās Rid of Me
The Breederās Pod
Pixiesā Surfer Rosa
Nirvanaās In Utero
My favourite producer and it was one of my big music goals to record with him one day. Iām so sad. If you havenāt listened to his work, please do. Iāve attached Pod which I think is a perfect record.
May 8, 2024
this isn't a particularly rare vinyl release at all - it's still widely in print and very affordable. it's an album very very widely considered a classic. but it is, I think, the moment when I realised what makes buying music more satisfying of an experience than the lifetime of piracy I'd built up to that point.
it comes with a handful of prints and illustrations that really expand upon the feeling of the album. the record itself isn't even labelled, there's no tracklist, the sides are engraved with their descriptions "nervous, sad, poor" and "bleak, uncertain, beautiful". but most notably of all, each of these releases comes with a penny flattened on train tracks behind the studio it was recorded in. I've heard stories of copies of this album coming with handwritten notes of thanks from the label.
it was the first time I think I realised the love and the immense effort that goes into putting music out independently like this, even long after the recordings are done. I mean, I get that this one's a very special case - a lot of high-effort touches to really drive home the art, and to keep doing them decades after the album released. but I think picking this up is a big reason why I'm still buying vinyl ten years later.
the album still absolutely rips, of course.
Jan 10, 2025
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Hey tyler hopefully this doesnāt violate some PI.FYI golden rule
But after nearly two years of writing, editing and arguing, my book about the EP is coming out in May and can be preordered here:
https://hozacrecords.com/product/aifl/
The book is about the origins, history and cultural impact of the EP since these little objects first started coming out in the 50s.
Over 50 of my music biz friends then helped me shape the list and review the top 200 ever released, according to us (ha).
For those of you who are into this kind of geekery/snobbery, I canāt wait to hear what you think. A labor of love, as all books are! ā¤ļø
Mar 27, 2024
āSongs Of a Lost Worldā coming to a goth listening station near you Nov 1 š¤
The fr FW Me Friday the 13th the world was looking for
Sep 14, 2024
Oct 4, 2024