Electrical Audio, his recording studio based in Chicago, was a forge from which this sorcerer, as notoriously grumpy as he was honest and uncompromising, managed, from his console, to make groups bend in search of a grated sound at the same time. bone, its trademark. Celebrities have come under his label – the In utero from Nirvana (1993) was wowed by him (in such a frank manner that Major Geffen demanded to go over it again to give it a little more commercial patina). Major records came out of his hands: Surfer Rosa Pixies (1988), Rid of Me by PJ Harvey (1993), and a host of other productions, ranging from the Breeders to the Stooges, from Jesus Lizard to Neurosis, and up to the Lausannois of Honey For Petzi (Heal All Monsters, 2001).
Albini shaped this taste for rectitude through his career as a musician: in 1981, he founded Big Black, an electrified trio full of noise which chose to do without a drummer and replace it with a drum machine. (the epigones then did the same by the hundreds, it was the birth of what we would call industrial rock). In 1992, he created Shellac, another trio (purely human, this time): cutting music, made of often odd grooves and pylone guitars – in a dark irony, the group’s next record (To All Trains) will be available in ten days.
Albini was also a great poker player – he gained notoriety in this field two years ago, winning a highly rated competition in the industry. This May 8, the hand was no longer there.
