If you read these blog posts, you might get the sense that they're written quickly with no particular plan in mind. I spend little time editing and it probably shows. I'm giving myself a break because I do not consider myself to be a serious writer.
There were some things I had in mind regarding Steve Albini I didn't include in the previous posting. Here goes:
Usually every spring semester, I have to teach an education course. "Technology in the Music Classroom" I think is the official course title. This past spring semester, I had two students; both were returning adults, both with families. Despite the 8am call, seeing and talking to them was a highlight of my week in something of a laborious semester.
Anyway...one of these two students is deeply involved with hip hop and sampling, and interested in the historical and social ramifications of this technology. To my surprise, in a class discussion once, he said, "Steve Albini disagrees with sampling, he thinks it's cheating." My response was, "Ah, don't listen to him, he's an old crank."
I think I understand Albini's position and he's probably not entirely wrong. My position on sampling is, there are interesting and uninteresting ways to do it. There are legal ramifications though; how do you legislate interesting vs uninteresting sampling? I myself am involved with some sample-based performances, in the groups Throckmorton Plot and Sound/Unsound. I know that my cohort and collaborator David Throckmorton likes non-sequitor, disembodied voice samples. When I choose to sample voices, I try not to go for the obvious. Simpsons quotes? Trump samples? Obvious. A NASA engineer enthused about space flight? More interesting, less obvious. Or a quote that would transform if you knew the source. (As I write that, I assure you, no Fascism or illegalities.)
And what of Plunderphonics? There's an entire category of sample-based music about the rearrangement of previously existing recordings. Sampling and rearranging the results is the essential point.
So I'm sorry Steve, if your position is that sampling is cheating, it's more complicated than that. (And I apologize, am I trying to have an argument with someone who's just died?)
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Steve expressed his dislike or disinterest in jazz. So be it, I don't care. When acting as the master recording engineer, he urged bands to come into the studio prepared, lay down one or two takes when possible, and capture what it is that they do with as little dress-up as possible. Rough edges and all.
Maybe the music is very different, but that approach sounds very much like jazz to me. Thelonious Monk almost never did more than two takes of anything, the notable exception being "Brilliant Corners".
I recently took Thoth Trio into the studio, for the first time in many years. In two days we recorded 19 works, only four of which were covers. With one possible exception, we never did more than two takes of anything. Listening back on the recordings, I could be happier with how I played, but to hell with it. This is who we are. Releases to come.
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In my previous post, I chose a picture of Steve wearing an MX-80 Sound tshirt. (Clearly, band shirts were his garb.) This was intentional. Maybe our tastes weren't as divergent as I might have described. I spent a lot of time with MX-80's first Ralph Records LP Out of the Tunnel as a college freshman. Part of it was my enthusiasm for Ralph productions in general. But...I spent far more time with that album than either of the Yello records.
If Steve claimed to be a rock-n-roller, yes, fine. I don't either define myself that way, nor limit myself to that descriptor. He was dedicated, so as I've written before I admire that.
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I read notes from Steve about playing with Big Black and making a career out of it. If they were playing a smaller town, it was usually a weekday. There weren't that many events happening, and anyone would come out, thrilled to support this group in their town. Weekends were reserved for bigger cities, when there was more competition. Smart tactics.
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In the Marc Maron podcast, he expressed his wish to engineer albums by Neil Young and Willie Nelson. Well heck yes man, sorry that it never came to be.
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Maybe there were other points, I forget. The world's just less of an interesting place now.
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