So short after Steve Albini passed away, and the albums of Big Black and Shellac reappeared in Spotify. Being critical to Spotify’s code of conduct (to the music industry in general) prioritizing the interests of labels over bands, he removed his music from Spotify.
Happy to have them back in my playlist.
PS the city of Chicago recently named a street after Albini.
This week Steve Albini passed away. For someone of my generation an icon so a shock.
In addition to musician (Big Black, Rapeman, Shellac) and producer (Pixies, Nirvana, PJ Harvey, you name it), he was a music industry critic. He explained how the big record labels abuse musicians but also explained to musicians that they should make the music they want and not let the record companies push them around. Musicians should make music they think is cool and perform.
He explained that in plain language, as square and hermetic as his music.
A striking person I will miss.
In 2017, I took these photos at Shellac’s performance in Vera, Groningen.
New work. Digital prints, 40x40cm, limited edition. I think I’ve been done with digital work for a while now. There are a few more to go, but analog work is also coming.
