Re: Albini Rant
This is pretty long, but what I've read of it sounds pretty interesting. I believe that Steve Albini is a record producer. At least I know of a Steve Albini that does this. He is known for making pretty raw sounding stuff. He was the producer on Nirvana's "In Utero" disc. Perhaps what he says is similar to what happens with movie productions? The Problem With Music by Steve Albini excerpted from Baffler No. 5 Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit. I imagine these people, some of them good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end, holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed. Nobody can see what's printed on the contract. It's too far away, and besides, the shit stench is making everybody's eyes water. The lackey shouts to everybody that the first one to swim the trench gets to sign the contract. Everybody dives in the trench and they struggle furiously to get to the other end. Two people arrive simultaneously and begin wrestling furiously, clawing each other and dunking each other under the shit. Eventually, one of them capitulates, and there's only one contestant left. He reaches for the pen, but the Lackey says, "Actually, I think you need a little more development. Swim it again, please. Backstroke." And he does, of course. I. AR Scouts Every major label involved in the hunt for new bands now has on staff a high-profile point man, an "AR" rep who can present a comfortable face to any prospective band. The initials stand for "Artist and Repertoire," because historically, the AR staff would select artists to record music that they had also selected, out of an available pool of each. This is still the case, though not openly. These guys are universally young [about the same age as the bands being wooed], and nowadays they always have some obvious underground rock credibility flag they can wave. Lyle Preslar, former guitarist for Minor Threat, is one of them. Terry Tolkin, former NY independent booking agent and assistant manager at Touch and Go is one of them. Al Smith, former soundman at CBGB is one of them. Mike Gitter, former editor of XXX fanzine and contributor to Rip, Kerrang and other lowbrow rags is one of them. Many of the annoying turds who used to staff college radio stations are in their ranks as well. There are several reasons AR scouts are always young. The explanation usually copped-to is that the scout will be "hip" to the current musical "scene." A more important reason is that the bands will intuitively trust someone they think is a peer, and who speaks fondly of the same formative rock and roll experiences. The AR person is the first person to make contact with the band, and as such is the first person to promise them the moon. Who better to promise them the moon than an idealistic young turk who expects to be calling the shots in a few years, and who has had no previous experience with a big record company. Hell, he's as naive as the band he's duping. When he tells them no one will interfere in their creative process, he probably even believes it. When he sits down with the band for the first time, over a plate of angel hair pasta, he can tell them with all sincerity that when they sign with company X, they're really signing with him and he's on their side. Remember that great, gig I saw you at in '85? Didn't we have a blast. By now all rock bands are wise enough to be suspicious of music industry scum. There is a pervasive caricature in popular culture of a portly, middle aged ex-hipster talking a mile-a-minute, using outdated jargon and calling everybody "baby." After meeting "their" AR guy, the band will say to themselves and everyone else, "He's not like a record company guy at all! He's like one of us." And they will be right. That's one of the reasons he was hired. These AR guys are not allowed to write contracts. What they do is present the band
Re: Albini Rant
OOPS!!! That was supposed to go to a friend b/c. Tom Baker
Re: Albini Rant
Speaking of great rants, has anyone got a copy of that "How to make a major label album" rant that Ken Irwin from Rounder wrote and Jeff Wall posted to the list a few months back? Allen Baekeland *** Boot Heel Drag can be heard on CJSW 90.9 FM , Calgary,AB Tuesdays at 6:30 PM MST and on realaudio at www.cjsw.com.
Albini Rant
Since the Dingo Ate May Baby, er virus destroyed my files Ihave now lost the legendary Albini article with his breakdown of why bands on majors are screwed by *The Man.* If anyone has a copy, can you send it to me off-list? About every 8 minutes I remember something else I had on my hard drive, live the grainy real audio of the South Park christmas episode. That was some funny stuff. Albini, live it, know it. Jeff
Re: Albini Rant
Jeff, the last I saw the Albini text was when Purcell posted it way back, at least 18 months ago?... Maybe Dave still has the reference. --jr.
Re: Albini Rant
At 9:33 PM -0500 on 4/28/99, BARNARD wrote: Jeff, the last I saw the Albini text was when Purcell posted it way back, at least 18 months ago?... Maybe Dave still has the reference. I don't remember the exact search phrase Mr. P used, but if you search for "Albini" and "fucked" in your favorite search engine, you should find the page and some mighty interesting banner ads as well. Bob
Re: Albini Rant
Someone posted it to Postcard a week or two ago. Do a web search for "your friends are already this fucked." That should find it. mike dougherty
Re: Albini Rant
By popular demand... The Problem With Music by Steve Albini excerpted from Baffler No. 5 Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit. I imagine these people, some of them good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end, holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed. Nobody can see what's printed on the contract. It's too far away, and besides, the shit stench is making everybody's eyes water. The lackey shouts to everybody that the first one to swim the trench gets to sign the contract. Everybody dives in the trench and they struggle furiously to get to the other end. Two people arrive simultaneously and begin wrestling furiously, clawing each other and dunking each other under the shit. Eventually, one of them capitulates, and there's only one contestant left. He reaches for the pen, but the Lackey says, "Actually, I think you need a little more development. Swim it again, please. Backstroke." And he does, of course. I. AR Scouts Every major label involved in the hunt for new bands now has on staff a high-profile point man, an "AR" rep who can present a comfortable face to any prospective band. The initials stand for "Artist and Repertoire," because historically, the AR staff would select artists to record music that they had also selected, out of an available pool of each. This is still the case, though not openly. These guys are universally young [about the same age as the bands being wooed], and nowadays they always have some obvious underground rock credibility flag they can wave. Lyle Preslar, former guitarist for Minor Threat, is one of them. Terry Tolkin, former NY independent booking agent and assistant manager at Touch and Go is one of them. Al Smith, former soundman at CBGB is one of them. Mike Gitter, former editor of XXX fanzine and contributor to Rip, Kerrang and other lowbrow rags is one of them. Many of the annoying turds who used to staff college radio stations are in their ranks as well. There are several reasons AR scouts are always young. The explanation usually copped-to is that the scout will be "hip" to the current musical "scene." A more important reason is that the bands will intuitively trust someone they think is a peer, and who speaks fondly of the same formative rock and roll experiences. The AR person is the first person to make contact with the band, and as such is the first person to promise them the moon. Who better to promise them the moon than an idealistic young turk who expects to be calling the shots in a few years, and who has had no previous experience with a big record company. Hell, he's as naive as the band he's duping. When he tells them no one will interfere in their creative process, he probably even believes it. When he sits down with the band for the first time, over a plate of angel hair pasta, he can tell them with all sincerity that when they sign with company X, they're really signing with him and he's on their side. Remember that great, gig I saw you at in '85? Didn't we have a blast. By now all rock bands are wise enough to be suspicious of music industry scum. There is a pervasive caricature in popular culture of a portly, middle aged ex-hipster talking a mile-a-minute, using outdated jargon and calling everybody "baby." After meeting "their" AR guy, the band will say to themselves and everyone else, "He's not like a record company guy at all! He's like one of us." And they will be right. That's one of the reasons he was hired. These AR guys are not allowed to write contracts. What they do is present the band with a letter of intent, or "deal memo," which loosely states some terms, and affirms that the band will sign with the label once a contract has been agreed on. The spookiest thing about this harmless sounding little "memo," is that it is, for all legal purposes, a binding document. That is, once the
