Joanna Newsom has paid tribute to the late Steve Albini with a performance of ‘Cosmia’ at Kilby Block Party.
Albini recorded Newsom’s 2006 album ‘Ys’, and in her first advertised live performance since 2020, the musician dedicated a song from the album to him.
The legendary record producer – who was the mastermind behind iconic albums such as Nirvana‘s ‘In Utero‘, Pixies’ ‘Surfer Rosa’ and Manic Street Preachers‘ ‘Journal For Plague Lovers’– died on May 8 of a heart attack while at Electronic Audio, his recording studio in Chicago. His death was confirmed by the studio’s staff members.
Watch Newsom’s tribute below:
Newsom introduced the song with a personal tribute to Albini, who she described as someone “who I love very, very much and admire in every possible way you can admire a person”.
“I was saying to my friend this morning that on the list of all the reasons why he’s my hero, music and music-related stuff doesn’t even crack the top ten. He’s been so enormously important in my life musically for so many years but still just as a human, as a person, as a hilarious, loving, loyal friend to so many people.”
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“I miss him. I’m gonna miss him so much,” she continued. “I haven’t accepted it yet. He recorded the album that this next song is on, as well as so much other stuff that I’ve done. I can’t believe I don’t get to record with him again, but I love Steve. I love you, Steve. This one’s for you.”
Newsom is not the first to pay tribute to Albini from the stage since his passing – Foo Fighters also dedicated a rendition of ‘My Hero’ to the late producer in Charlotte, North Carolina this week.
“Tonight I’d like to dedicate this song to a friend that we lost the other day, who I’ve known a long, long time,” Foos frontman Dave Grohl told the crowd. “He left us much too soon. He’s touched all of your lives, I’m sure. I’m talking about Steve Albini. For those of you who know, you know. For those of you who don’t know, just remember that name: Steve Albini. Let’s sing this one for him.”
Elsewhere, Yourcodenameis:milo have spoken to NME about how the 20th anniversary of their LP ‘All Roads To Fault’ was made all the more profound by the passing of Albini who produced the album.
Remembering their time with the punk and production legend, Lockey said: “We paid attention, saw everything he did, asked questions that he would gladly spend ages answering”.
“He once stopped the session and proceeded to give us a lecture on how the peanut built America. He schooled us in billiards, then showed us his favourite cooking shows that he’d recorded. It was all so natural and encouraging, we could do what the fuck we wanted and he’d capture it. That’s the deal, and we fucking loved it.”
Comparing their experience to other bands who had told them that recording debut albums came with “re-recording with different producers, loads of different mixers, A&R bods cutting different versions, edits – all that shit”, Lockey said that the making of ‘All Roads To Fault’ was anything but a chore.
“We had absolutely none of that, just a week in a studio with the dude who made our favourite records steering the ship in the most hands-off but confident way imaginable,” he said. “We’d had the experience we wanted and what would eventually set us up to be the best band we could be.”
Jarvis Cocker has also recalled the impact that working with Albini during ‘Further Complications’ had on him, and The Cribs shared their fond memories of the icon. PJ Harvey also said he “changed the course of my life” during sessions for her 1993 LP ‘Rid Of Me’. See further tributes here.