Frontman for ‘noise rock’ bands Big Black and Shellac acclaimed for his production of albums by Nirvana, Pixies and PJ Harvey
Steve Albini, the musician and frontman of the alternative rock bands Big Black and Shellac, who has died from a heart attack aged 61, was more widely known for his huge list of credits as a producer, or – as he preferred to be called – recording engineer, of albums by independent artists from the mid-1980s to the present.
Notable recordings bearing the Albini imprint include Pixies’ Surfer Rosa (1988), the Breeders’ Pod (1990), PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me (1993), the Auteurs’ After Murder Park (1996) and Manic Street Preachers’ Journal for Plague Lovers (2009). He collaborated with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page on Walking Into Clarksdale (1998), recorded The Weirdness with punk pioneers the Stooges (2007), and worked with Cheap Trick and the B52s’ Fred Schneider, but sought to treat unknown acts and superstars equally.
