Steve Albini

Latest Articles

Cloud Nothings | Attack on Memory

Carpark (2012)
With Attack on Memory , the third full-length from Cleveland-based Cloud Nothings, 20-year-old frontman Dylan Baldi approaches new, drastically darker material with the same empty-bottle angst that made his previous releases so appealing.
By PATRICK MCDERMOTT | January 24, 2012

Let's Wrestle | Nursing Home

Merge (2011)
Let's Wrestle are another pack of young British guitar owners, and although they haven't crafted much of an identity outside of being amiable wiseasses, that's all you need if your songs are catchy enough.
By GARRETT MARTIN | June 22, 2011

A talk with legendary producer and musician Martin Bisi

‘Tired of recording’
Since opening BC Studio in Brooklyn in 1979, Martin Bisi has recorded dozens of records on the fringe of the avant-garde scene, including early Sonic Youth, Michael Gira's Swans and Angels of Light, and the cabaret breakout debut record from Boston's Dresden Dolls.
By NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | February 23, 2011

The Big Hurt: Corgan vs. Malkmus: 15-year grudge

Feud reunions
As a child of the '90s, I sure find it heartwarming to see a classic feud of my youth re-form for a big festival appearance.
By DAVID THORPE | November 23, 2010

Tribute: Friends remember Billy Ruane

The heart of Boston rock
Billy Ruane died on a Tuesday night.
By PHOENIX STAFF | November 24, 2010

A Steve Albini vitriol sampler

Shellackings
The Steve Albini of today is a relatively jovial figure: hard-working, straight-talking, practical — but with the contented air of one who's been able to find his own way in a tricky field.
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | August 31, 2010

2009: The year in local pop

The '09 mixtape
When I think back on 2009, I feel the same pleasant discomfort you get at the end of a John Hughes movie, when suddenly all the jocks and dorks and punks are good friends. This year, hardcore denizens of time-worn niches came out of hiding and acted all presentable and all sorts of scenes and sounds went behind the bleachers for some unlikely scores.
By MATT PARISH | December 28, 2009

Same old song

Reissued and remastered CDs give classic releases a fresh face
Most music fans can probably be forgiven, at this point, for being doubting Thomases at the alleged demise of the major-label music industry.
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | December 08, 2009

Same old song

Dirty old men

The Jesus Lizard return to rewreck rock
"We were kind of just . . . normal guys who liked to . . . enjoy stuff."
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | November 12, 2009

Major laser

Naked Raygun assess their legacy
Of Naked Raygun's many conquests, perhaps their greatest was impressing Steve Albini. In a 1992 Maximumrocknroll interview, Albini — the sharp-tongued musician/producer who, among other things, once dismissed Nirvana as "R.E.M. with a fuzzbox" and the Pixies as "blandly entertaining college rock" — offered a rare public endorsement.
By REYAN ALI | August 31, 2009

Major laser

Magnolia Electric Co. | Josephine

Secretly Canadian (2009)
Even though it arose in part from tragedy, Josephine , the latest from Jason Molina and his band Magnolia Electric Co., may be one of Molina's lightest releases.
By RYAN STEWART | July 22, 2009

Scrunk happens

We're not fans, but the kids seem to like it
According to AbsolutePunk's Jason Tate, brokeNCYDE "epitomize everything that music (and human beings) should not be."
By LEOR GALIL | July 14, 2009

Jarvis Cocker | Further Complications

Rough Trade (2009)
For his second solo album, the former Pulp frontman lays waste to his typically polished sound with the help of de-prettier Steve Albini.
By ZETH LUNDY | May 12, 2009

Nine-step program

The best pedals ever to happen to rock music
The history of rock, as a technical story, is a mix of skilled craftsmen and total doofuses sticking their fingers in wall sockets over and over.
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | September 08, 2008

The shores of cool

Interview: Liz Phair paddles back to Guyville
I’d love to get all swept up in the hullabaloo surrounding Liz Phair’s 1993, now seminal, now reissued Exile in Guyville , I really would.
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | August 26, 2008

The Wedding Present

El Rey | Manifesto
Time has sweetened David Gedge’s barrel-throated yawp.
By DANIEL DeNORCH | May 20, 2008

A Peapod grows in Portland

A young label sports sonic wisdom
Harrity’s albums sound like the work of an invisible hand, and it’s apparent that he likes it that way.
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | May 07, 2008

Oddballs and noisemakers

Looking back 20 years to the Pixies' Surfer Rosa and the beginning of the Best Music Poll
Twenty years ago, the American Top 40 was nothing like Boston’s live music scene.
By TED DROZDOWSKI | May 07, 2008

Déjà vu

Spring Arts Preview: R.E.M., B-52’s, Counting Crows, Breeders: what year is it again?
Prepare yourselves: R.E.M. have decided to become a rock band again.
By MATT ASHARE | March 10, 2008

Repackaged treasures

The ongoing survival of the box set
Repackaging music in box-set format and in newer, more-deluxe versions is a marketing ploy that’s been around at least since the dawn of the CD age.
By MATT ASHARE | December 11, 2007

Excellent Italian interview

Steve Albini speaks
Steve Albini is a pretty nerdy guy.
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | October 23, 2007

Chairmen of the boards

Our critics pick the 14 producers with the fattest, meanest beats
Not unlike Swedish, Tagalog, and Esperanto, music is a language, with its own conjugations and (lewdly) dangling participles.
By PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | October 18, 2007

Singles scene

Local bands dig in with digital
It’s old news: this series of tubes they call the Internet has revolutionized the way music is distributed.
By WILL SPITZ | September 12, 2007

Shellac

Excellent Italian Greyhound | Touch + Go
The blueprint for Shellac’s attack is as straightforward as it is severe.
By MICHAEL T. FOURNIER | July 23, 2007

Foo!apalooza

AS220’s annual fest is a sensory overload — and then some
What began life as the comparatively modest Fool’s Ball has mutated into an unruly (but lovable) behemoth.
By ANDREA FELDMAN | July 10, 2007

Appetite for instruction

Get Him Eat Him get focused on Arms Down
As expected, Matt LeMay was musing on his favorite subject, indie rock, on which he demonstrated some pretty impressive insight.
By BOB GULLA | June 12, 2007

Just the Fax

Kurt Cobain to the Phoenix : ‘F--- off!’
This article originally appeared in the August 13, 1993 issue of the Boston Phoenix.
By BRETT MILANO | March 29, 2007