Steve Albini: Rock, Electronic Music & Digital Recording / Samples
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- čas přidán 21. 12. 2020
- Steve Albini shares his thoughts on electronic music's influence on rock, digital recording & more.
ROCK IS DEAD? FULL FILM: • Rock is Dead? Full Fil...
WHAT IS CLASSIC ROCK? - CANADA & USA:
- CZcams bit.ly/2Kbji5C
- iTunes apple.co/2KNOCD2
- Vimeo bit.ly/2Iv1ywd
- XBOX bit.ly/2K8AF6Z
- Google Play bit.ly/3cwDybU
WHAT IS CLASSIC ROCK? - WORLDWIDE:
- Vimeo vimeo.com/ondemand/whatisclas...
Cheers,
Daniel - Hudba
Rock is Dead? Full Film: czcams.com/video/qMlLfrU5fjs/video.html
What is Classic Rock? - Canada & USA:
- CZcams bit.ly/2Kbji5C
- iTunes apple.co/2KNOCD2
- Vimeo bit.ly/2Iv1ywd
- XBOX bit.ly/2K8AF6Z
- Google Play bit.ly/3cwDybU
What is Classic Rock? - Worldwide:
- Vimeo vimeo.com/ondemand/whatisclassicrock2
Cheers,
Daniel
I wish Steve Albini took a year to run a weekly radio show. I’d love to hear the sounds and people he’s taking about.
That's such a good idea that I'm surprised it hasn't been done already . The dude is pretty fascinating, and almost as opinionated as me (but I can't back mine up with knowledge, or talent of any kind)
RIP a legend.
I'm with Steve. There is some electronic music I enjoy, but most of it isn't the dancey/club/Euro-type stuff that is generally more popular. I don't think I've ever felt more out of place as a rock guy then when I was accompanying my friends to a rave towards the end of high school.
Dude, you did a great job interviewing - just sat back and let him run. Steve is like a rock encyclopedia and I love how he can describe so many instruments in detail to back up his opinion and we certainly lost a Great One
Thanks Colin, appreciate it & agreed, RIP Steve. Here’s the full interview: czcams.com/video/lH9NVZX_byQ/video.html
Silver Apples blew me away when I first heard them. Easily 20 years ahead of their time, you could even debate for longer
I totally agree. Some electronic is really original and interesting. Most is so formulaic that doing the exact same thing as the next guy but 2 BPM slower is seen as creating a whole new genre.
I recently posted a jam with a monotonic synthesizer stuffed inside a skull. Glad Steve mentioned the term "tempered" because I had no better way to describe the randomness of notes haha. Love these clips!
Great topic! Keep it up 🤟
First program on the drum machine!
RIP STEVE ALBINI THE LEGEND!!
I like Albini and have always been eager to hear his perspective on various topics since High School, but the older I get the more hypocritical and pretentious what he has to say becomes and that's no exception here. To criticize electronic and industrial music for becoming formalized styles is pretty silly since that literally happens to all innovations in art once they've been done. What Albini's argument in this video distills to as far as I can see is that he thinks the trailblazers like Throbbing Gristle and Kraftwerk are the only bands with valid artistic expressions. I can't speak on Kraftwerk because I know less about them but TG designed industrial music with the idea of constructing a scene. Their label, Industrial Records, had the motto "Industrial Music for Industrial People" to indicate that the music their label put out was a soundtrack for the industrial age with groups like Cabaret Voltaire, Nurse with Wound, and Test Dept. Big Black could just as easily be seen as becoming part of the noise rock scene along with bands like Sonic Youth, Swans, and the Butthole Surfers. You dont judge a painter for expressing their art through a particular style that they themselves didnt pioneer. The art is assessed for how well it says what it wants to say and for whatever personal qualities the painter brought to the style. A band like Front 242 may not have made electronic or industrial music but their unique flavor continued its evolution through the 80's in the same way Big Black's brand of distorted aggressive rock pushed noise rock. Calling a band lame for not reinventing the wheel like their predecessors is hardly fair.
I think maybe this clip especially feels that way since we didn't hear the question? So it's like he just launched into an opinionated diatribe. But I didn't get the impression he was calling artists lame for being part of a scene. I think we're usually just hearing him interviewed about his own experiences and ethos, and how they inform his approach in the studio. But it always seems like he has total respect for the vision of any artist he records, regardless of genre, and generally doesn't impart his tastes or expect people to like what he likes. And it might actually be hard for any of us to completely articulate our taste in music without coming off a little bit like that. Like, it's easy to distinguish between the different artists we enjoy, but many of the artists on our least favorite radio station might seem to sound pretty similar, and it might not be easy to explain why they don't resonate with us without sounding as though we think our own taste in music is the right one. But then again, if Albini did actually call them lame for fitting into a set genre, then I apologize for yet another one of my annoyingly long comments which didn't make a valid point. 🙏😞
@@Rompler_Rocco that's fair. These clips are cut up so whether or not an accurate representation of Albini's views can be found here is up in the air. Based on the multitude of Albini interviews I have seen though I dont think its a stretch to say he's just being an opinionated windbag here.
@@Jackmonster3231 Also fair.. "Opinionated windbag" got me! Touché, good sir 🤺✔️👍
I make exclusively "electronic" shit, even when I work with bands. In fact, I get hired because bands want to not be standard bands anymore.
I get where you're coming from Jackmonster, but it legitimately comes down to him having an opinion.
He can think that, he can be old and grumpy, he can be dismissive. I'm not looking at him as an authority when it comes to an unbiased looked at the evolution of music. He makes raw records with people who play instruments. That's fine.
I don't disagree with anything you said. Most people are hypocritical and pretentious; Steve's just the one all of us nerds look up to for some reason. He'll never disagree with you if you call him those two things. That is what makes him HIM. Yes, he is an opinionated douchebag, why else would you like him? His records are... lazy, because it's more "true". He's got stupid opinions, he's a fucking boomer... and all of those things are why we love him.
I didn't start thinking like this until I got older though, so it might click in your head later once you realize anyone who makes cool shit is a dick.
"What Albini's argument in this video distills to as far as I can see is that he thinks the trailblazers like Throbbing Gristle and Kraftwerk are the only bands with valid artistic expressions."
That's a loaded sentence that completely changes the way his opinion is being presented, since he didn't say anything about "valid artistic expressions".
In fact, the way you frame the argument makes it seem like he's making a case as to why NO ONE should like electronic music, but when you watch the clip, I think it's pretty clear that he's just making the case for why HE doesn't like electronic music. I've also seen a lot of interviews with him and I'm pretty sure he thinks that pretty much all music counts as a valid artistic expression. He's just articulating why he doesn't like this particular type of music.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Daniel and all people who watch the channel! Be healthy and happy!
I'm surpried, so many people knows morton Subotnick's silver apples of the moon. A life changer album
Well, yeah I agree that Drugs are a part of the scene of electronic music but it does not define it. I've performed and met with producers who (including myself) compose, play, mix, perform AND dance in clubs sober and who enjoy the genre for the emotions it brings up, the groove, etc. So its kinda hurtful to hear albini mentioning the drug taking so much rather than idk... the real musical, technical aspects or whatever!
I took him more to mean, “The music is for the particular social scene and activities, which I’m not part of.” Steve has often talked about music being only one part of a movement or scene.
Also a lot of the important dj’s and producers in the early House scene in Chicago were doing it to escape the drugs.
Tbh I find his arguments on concidering dance music ignorant as hell
C'mon, Nancy Reagan. You want a full blast House experience to drop on your head? Pop a Tesla and lose your sh!t. You'll never listen to House or Techno the same. Always was. Always will be.
I’m 36, when I was in High School there was this weird resurgence of techno/house/trance music that a lot of kids got into. My friends and I were the nerdy, outsider, punk kids. Everyone else listened to Bad Boy Bill or DJ Irene, they all wore the baggy pants, they all took XTC & they all went to raves. That’s literally ALL they talked about or did, we never did but everyone in that “scene” did. We hung out with a lot of those kids because some were old friends & they had a place to smoke weed, so we got an inside look into that subculture. Now I’m sure I could be called ignorant because I don’t know the history of early techno artists & I’m sure not 100% of those kids in my HS took X but it was such a huge part of that subculture that I’ve always associated the drugs with the music so I’m sure Steve is just speaking from his experience with that “scene”......
He doesn’t like the music so why bother getting to know how some early pioneers of the genre didn’t use drugs. I don’t like the music, I didn’t know that, all I know is what I was exposed to.
I won’t lose sleep knowing I’m a little ignorant when it comes to my rave music knowledge, I’m sure Steve will as well.
As if guitar based Rock musicians didn’t take drugs in their various Rock scenes…Steve’s hypocrisy is off the charts when it comes to music that he doesn’t deem “worthy”…
I agree with many of Albini's viewpoints but I personally viewed this one as a bit reductive. To reduce a lot of electronic modern music and its methods of digital recording, usage of digital tools into the cohort of "club going", "drug taking" music I always found a bit of an uneducated take. House records like DJ Sprinkles' Midtown 120 Blues (which was produced digitally) purposefully reject the reductions and gentrification of a very cultural diverse music scene. Another good example of that sort that also rejects this reductive notion was the experimental, unquantized glitchy hip-hop of Injury Reserve's new record, which actually samples Shellac's "End Of Radio", and funny enough was released last year after this interview, to be fair. Can people fall into the pitfalls of having their work reduced to a formulaic creation as a result of their dependency on the genres, recording methods/techniques, and tools they use? Absolutely, but I think that happens with all genres is my point.
Steve was Correct.
consumer operating systems are the new ticket master for studio productions
You might not always like what SA says, but it's hard to disagree with 90% of it!
If you want to hear some great examples of the Buchla, check out Suzanne Ciani’s 70s stuff.
Or Headboggle from today.
Morton Subotnick ruled the Buchla!!
Another home run. Albini is endlessly interesting.
Just wait, 2021 is the year that that style of electronic music making changes from beat based electronic to melody based electronic because it's what has never been done professionally yet
You need to dig deeper my friend. Jon Hopkins. Boards Of Canada. Aphex Twin. Tycho. Floating Points. Four Tet. Nils Frahm. Nicolas Jaar. Susumo Yokota. Just to name a limited few. There is an abundance of beautiful electronic music that is extremely popular. It’s been being done for 30+ years.
You don't have to take the drugs Steve to enjoy dance music...funny that's what my dad said when I wanted to see AC/DC
What’s a drum machine? 😜 lol
you either get it or you don't, steve. frankly techno/house/drum and bass/whatever is more punk rock than punk rock ever was imo without being angsty and irritating.
The KLF shot machine gun blanks into the audience at the British Music Award Show, dumped a dead sheep at the aftershow party, deleted their discography, and burned a million pounds. That's pretty fucking punk rock for a house/techno group.
Yeaaaah, no.
I love Steve, but he’s unfairly judging things… early house and techno were the very definition of DIY, and I just knowing what he’s into I could bet he’d get a kick out of things like Cardinal & Nun and Broken English Club.
I love Steve and a lot of musicians he mentions but c'mon - there's still loads of people making interesting, experimental electronic music. Sure there's a sea of pretty conventional and boring electronic music. But there's also a sea of pretty conventional and boring ROCK music. (Fortunately, there's also a rock underground making interesting, experimental music.)
This man is so incredibly pretentious and hypocritical. He praised early electronic music for using electronics to distinguish itself, but doesn’t like new electronic music for trying to do the exact same thing.
From what is new electronic music trying to distinguish itself?
@@hubblebublumbubwub5215 at the very beginning of the video he says that people were being distinctly personal with there music production. If new electronic artists want to make music for when they are popping drugs in the dance hall, that is distinctly personal for them. I’m okay with him saying that it’s not his taste, but just because it’s not his scene doesn’t mean that it’s not distinctly personal and far distinguished from previous artists to the new artists making that music.
@@Quist9511 That's not distinctly personal. Individual artists can be very hard to tell apart.
Recently I watched this video:
czcams.com/video/LKiWt8IcMmM/video.html&
I didn't pay close attention but when I heard the Bjork pattern I immediately noticed that it stood out, whereas the others could've been made by anyone. That's the essential difference.
@@hubblebublumbubwub5215Good Charlotte?
We got it Steve, if it’s not white guys playing electric guitars you don’t like it…How Johnny Punk Rock of you…Yawn…
It’s almost like people are allowed to admire/appreciate what they like shocker.
Missed the entire point but whatever...what a shocker indeed...🤦🏿♂️🚶🏿♂️