Devil's Ride

Steve Albini was not a friend, but I spoke with him a couple times at Augenblick. He was generally more interested in talking to Kristina Bozic who bartended there. Never ran him at Northcenter Bowl even though we both shot pool there, but I did see him last at Harvest Time Foods right after Covid's total lockdown. In any event, for me, he came to represent a certain sound that came out of Chicago (late 80s-early 90s). A post-punk sound that was noisy yet precise. Incredible punch and clarity. A sound that went beyond 1-4-5 punk and hardcore. The Jesus Lizard, Pixies, Nirvana and The Stooges will be mentioned in many bios, but a great example of his work is Tar's "Clincher". Of course all these folks wrote and performed their own music well, but they were attracted to the sound Albini could engineer. He was not for those who thought a Les Paul into a four hole Marshall close mic'ed with a 57 was the ultimate sound and nothing should ever change. He attracted the adventurous who thought there might be other sounds in heavy rock. Here's a couple of his favorite tools I happen to have in my stash: an Octava small condenser mic (favored for snare) and a copy of the Harmonic Percolator.