Albini referenced the Jerky Boys crank call tape making the rounds in the early 90s!: “I'll work circles around you. I'll rap your head with a ratchet...”
This letter is everything. I want to fall in love with him, be his best friend and take a bullet for him - that's what he gets across in one letter. Lots of people don't get this across in a lifetime.
I can hear his voice even though I have no clue what he sounds like. Fabulous letter writer! “I also love the puke-inducing low end that comes off an old Fender Bassman or Ampeg guitar amp and the totally blown sound of an SVT with broken-in tubes.” Again no idea about most of this stuff but I totally get what he means! Gosh, what a great letter.
Sometimes it's refreshing to think about art that's made without money, or fame, or instagram 'likes', being the #1 priority. I choose not to get wrapped up in those exterior modes of validation, and I love Albini's approach to the speed and authenticity of recording a record, and it's similar to how I approach my substack and his letter provides a great reminder as to why that approach is so successful: the authenticity. I can still remember the first time I heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as a sophomore in high school downloading music from Napster / Limewire and how life changing that moment was.
Well it's not "strictly" an album, it's more of a compilation (although a compilation album is still an album I guess lol)-tyeres 4 different drummers on it and it's mostly b-sides, radio broadcasts, demos, outtakes etc... spanning different time frames-thats why I don't think of it as strictly and album, it's not an official follow up record to Nevermind. Saying that I do think that, along with Bleach and the Unplugged live session is their best work-im not a huge fan of Nevermind, that album got played to death and ruined it for me sadly and I can't stand "Smells like teen spirit" any more which shows what overplaying music can do 😔
Albini referenced the Jerky Boys crank call tape making the rounds in the early 90s!: “I'll work circles around you. I'll rap your head with a ratchet...”
This letter is everything. I want to fall in love with him, be his best friend and take a bullet for him - that's what he gets across in one letter. Lots of people don't get this across in a lifetime.
I feel this!
I can hear his voice even though I have no clue what he sounds like. Fabulous letter writer! “I also love the puke-inducing low end that comes off an old Fender Bassman or Ampeg guitar amp and the totally blown sound of an SVT with broken-in tubes.” Again no idea about most of this stuff but I totally get what he means! Gosh, what a great letter.
I only recently heard it for the first time, and it was almost exactly what I expected.
EDIT: Adding the link might've helped... This is from the Oh! Brother podcast hosted by the Hanley Brothers from The Fall.
https://shows.acast.com/oh-brother/episodes/steve-albini-didnt-we-deserve-a-look-at-you-the-way-you-real
RIP Steve!
Enjoyed it so much, I ended up featuring it in this (with credit to you, of course):
https://www.libertyrpf.com/p/267-crowdstrike-andy-jassys-1st-letter
Cheers 💚 🥃
Sometimes it's refreshing to think about art that's made without money, or fame, or instagram 'likes', being the #1 priority. I choose not to get wrapped up in those exterior modes of validation, and I love Albini's approach to the speed and authenticity of recording a record, and it's similar to how I approach my substack and his letter provides a great reminder as to why that approach is so successful: the authenticity. I can still remember the first time I heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as a sophomore in high school downloading music from Napster / Limewire and how life changing that moment was.
I remember reading that years ago -- classic! Thanks for re-surfacing it, it was a fun read! 💚 🥃
Try incesticide that was a album they released
Well it's not "strictly" an album, it's more of a compilation (although a compilation album is still an album I guess lol)-tyeres 4 different drummers on it and it's mostly b-sides, radio broadcasts, demos, outtakes etc... spanning different time frames-thats why I don't think of it as strictly and album, it's not an official follow up record to Nevermind. Saying that I do think that, along with Bleach and the Unplugged live session is their best work-im not a huge fan of Nevermind, that album got played to death and ruined it for me sadly and I can't stand "Smells like teen spirit" any more which shows what overplaying music can do 😔
One of the best letters I have read! Thank you for introducing this marvelous man to me.