First a primer on slowcore, now a long profile/interview with Steve Albini. What's next, Guardian? A 10,000-word review of Sonic Youth's entire recorded oeuvre to coincide with the release of Live In Brooklyn 2011 and the publication of Thurston Moore's memoir? I can only imagine so, given that the paper's music editors currently appear to be tailoring their policy for commissioning features and accepting pitches to my precise interests.
Jeremy Gordon's piece on Albini has been widely praised, and rightly so. The musician/producer - well, musician/recording engineer, to use his own terms - is a polarising figure who has over the course of his career regularly gone out of his way to offend people, and Gordon's gently probing questioning elicits some candid assessments of past (mis)conduct.
This isn't the first time that Albini has held his hands up in apology - he did so on Twitter and in conversation with Mel's Zaron Burnett III two years ago. But repeating that message remains a significant gesture, not only because he used to be such an incorrigible edgelord, but also because he accepts the error of his ways without making any attempt to fall back on feeble excuses or justifications - a rarity given the prevailing trend for public non-apologies.
Interestingly, there are parallels with Nicky Wire of the Manics, who worked with Albini on Journal For Plague Lovers. In his recent chat with Quietus co-founder John Doran, the one-time motormouth was strikingly contemplative and contrite. Albini too seems to have become less abrasive, or at least much more sensitive to the implications of what he says and does, newly conscious of his privileged position as a white, male musician.
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