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Not only was the late Steve Albini a legendary recording engineer, musician, and poker player, but he was also a longtime collector of underground memorabilia. Now, thousands of his belongings—rare vinyl, weird books, vintage t-shirts, CDs, cassettes, singles, zines, art, and “mysterious bargains”—are being sold via a new website that operates as a weekly digital estate sale. A new batch of items from his archives will be released every Friday through the end of 2025. Byron Coley (old contact/friend) of Forced Exposure runs the site, with all money going to the late Albini’s estate.
All items from the first round of available belongings have since been purchased, including the master of Neurosis’ A Sun That Never Sets and Albini’s personal copies of records by Dead Moon, Big Boys, Can, U-Men, Elvis Costello, Buzzcocks, Cinerama, Didjits, and dozens more. According to the site’s categories, though, it looks like there’s plenty more to come beyond vinyl records and CDs in the coming weeks, including poker-related belongings (he won two World Series of Poker gold bracelets, BTW), old fliers, concert posters, and even awards. Last summer, the city of Chicago named the 2600-2700 block of West Belmont Avenue, which is home to Albini’s recording studio Electrical Audio, as "Steve Albini Way." The man is much-missed but the stuff that sold out in the first round (such as Nick Cave's original Birthday Party recordings, known as Boys Next Door) only portends better/weirder things to come.
May 12, 2025
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For me Steve Albini drum sounds are the best drum sounds. there are endless “how to produce drums like Albini“ articles, but no one else can was doing it like him imo. You think of Nirvana’s Scentless Apprentice, and you can feel that super specific drum sound. That distinctive snare. He somehow makes drums sound really immediate and tight while also spacious. My favourite combination is when Albini produces Rob Ellis on PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me. Rob Ellis is one of my favourite drummers and the combo is killer. Just LISTEN to the drums on 50ft Queenie (linked).
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So heartbroken to hear of his death. He produced 4 of my favourite records -
PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me
The Breeder’s Pod
Pixies’ Surfer Rosa
Nirvana’s In Utero
My favourite producer and it was one of my big music goals to record with him one day. I’m so sad. If you haven’t listened to his work, please do. I’ve attached Pod which I think is a perfect record.
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s/o @LLQ the format you used was good..
1. My X/1999 collection (ignore Ai) Actually Ai being included is kinda perfect. X was never finished but I love it dearly. I loved Oshi No Ko until it was finished because the ending was actually so bad it undermined everything that happened in the 4 year run it had. CLAMP's art is beautiful.. I stumbled upon it once many years ago online scraping through anime websites. Much later on I was trying to remember it's name and had to dedicate a few days of searching to rediscover it. Now I own it all as well as the short anime run it had. 2. Signed Tailwhip 7" Yeah so I camped out after the first Men I Trust headline show I went to. I waited outside with maybe 6 other people for an hour and a half. It was freezing mid December in Boston but it was a nice time talking with them. This was the first show I went to alone. To this day I feel awful about it because it was the last night of their tour and they probably wanted to just drive home but at the time I was ecstatic. Just saw them twice this weekend I love the band so much still 3. Cloud Cuckoo Land So I believe this is the first book I read as an adult outside of school. It was either this or Richard Powers' Overstory. Both of which are fantastic. This book in particular is a $50 Barnes and Noble collectors version which I bought for $2 at a used bookstore. It was essentially brand new. I then proceeded to nosebleed on it while reading in the car. So it is mine now and forever. 4. Quasi zine On their last run of US shows, I bought this on the first night up in Boston. Later that summer I spent a couple nights in Manhattan to see Liana Flores and Quasi again back to back. This was a week before my knee surgery and effectively the last cool thing I would be doing for the summer. I finally got to talk to Sam after this show. He's one of my favorite music people ever and was so surreal to talk to for a bit. 5. Lady Brown single The first record I ever bought. This is my favorite Nujabes song. Never took it out of the plastic 😛. I grew out of records anyways, too big and fragile.. I always treat them like I'm handling glass and it makes me anxious.. but anyways, he defined my late middle school/early high school music taste. The sample used would later get me *wayy* into classical guitar. On a lot of fronts this music was super formative for me and the record had a place on my wall for a very long time before moving it to a crate.
1. My X/1999 collection (ignore Ai) Actually Ai being included is kinda perfect. X was never finished but I love it dearly. I loved Oshi No Ko until it was finished because the ending was actually so bad it undermined everything that happened in the 4 year run it had. CLAMP's art is beautiful.. I stumbled upon it once many years ago online scraping through anime websites. Much later on I was trying to remember it's name and had to dedicate a few days of searching to rediscover it. Now I own it all as well as the short anime run it had. 2. Signed Tailwhip 7" Yeah so I camped out after the first Men I Trust headline show I went to. I waited outside with maybe 6 other people for an hour and a half. It was freezing mid December in Boston but it was a nice time talking with them. This was the first show I went to alone. To this day I feel awful about it because it was the last night of their tour and they probably wanted to just drive home but at the time I was ecstatic. Just saw them twice this weekend I love the band so much still 3. Cloud Cuckoo Land So I believe this is the first book I read as an adult outside of school. It was either this or Richard Powers' Overstory. Both of which are fantastic. This book in particular is a $50 Barnes and Noble collectors version which I bought for $2 at a used bookstore. It was essentially brand new. I then proceeded to nosebleed on it while reading in the car. So it is mine now and forever. 4. Quasi zine On their last run of US shows, I bought this on the first night up in Boston. Later that summer I spent a couple nights in Manhattan to see Liana Flores and Quasi again back to back. This was a week before my knee surgery and effectively the last cool thing I would be doing for the summer. I finally got to talk to Sam after this show. He's one of my favorite music people ever and was so surreal to talk to for a bit. 5. Lady Brown single The first record I ever bought. This is my favorite Nujabes song. Never took it out of the plastic 😛. I grew out of records anyways, too big and fragile.. I always treat them like I'm handling glass and it makes me anxious.. but anyways, he defined my late middle school/early high school music taste. The sample used would later get me *wayy* into classical guitar. On a lot of fronts this music was super formative for me and the record had a place on my wall for a very long time before moving it to a crate.
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The man responsible for dozens of Teenage Symphonies to God
"Sad songs about happy things" (the first time, as a kid, I can recall the sweet/sour combo of melodies that could make you cry attached to songs about endless, bottomless love)
I've long since lost track of how many weddings and funerals I've attended that have featured this song; suffice it to say, "a lot."
God only knows what we'd been without him 🙏🏻
Jun 11, 2025
May 22, 2025
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Hey tyler hopefully this doesn’t violate some PI.FYI golden rule
But after nearly two years of writing, editing and arguing, my book about the EP is coming out in May and can be preordered here:
https://hozacrecords.com/product/aifl/
The book is about the origins, history and cultural impact of the EP since these little objects first started coming out in the 50s. Over 50 of my music biz friends then helped me shape the list and review the top 200 ever released, according to us (ha). For those of you who are into this kind of geekery/snobbery, I can’t wait to hear what you think. A labor of love, as all books are! ❤️
https://hozacrecords.com/product/aifl/
The book is about the origins, history and cultural impact of the EP since these little objects first started coming out in the 50s. Over 50 of my music biz friends then helped me shape the list and review the top 200 ever released, according to us (ha). For those of you who are into this kind of geekery/snobbery, I can’t wait to hear what you think. A labor of love, as all books are! ❤️
Mar 27, 2024