Powell is trolling Steve Albini

Steve Albini sent a damning email about “club culture” to producer Powell

In a rather unexpected turn of events legendary record producer Steve Albini has responded to a sample request from Powell in typically curmudgeonly style. The exchange came after Powell requested the use of a sample of Albini’s on-stage patter from a Big Black gig. The sample has appeared on Powell’s upcoming single Insomniac for XL Recordings after being cleared by Touch and Go.

Powell did also approach Albini directly but the producer had this to say about the matter:

“I am absolutely the wrong audience for this kind of music. I’ve always detested mechanized dance music, its stupid simplicity, the clubs where it was played, the people who went to those clubs, the drugs they took, the shit they liked to talk about, the clothes they wore, the battles they fought amongst each other… basically all of it, 100 percent hated every scrap. The electronic music I liked was radical and different, shit like the White Noise, Xenakis, Suicide, Kraftwerk, and the earliest stuff form Cabaret Voltaire, SPK and DAF. When that scene and those people got co-opted by dance/club music I felt like we’d lost a war. I detest club culture as deeply as I detest anything on earth. So I am against what you’re into, and an enemy of where you come from”

Strong words indeed from the producer of bands like Nirvana and the driving force behind cult indie rockers Shellac. Albini did add a caveat to his response with a further email stating:

“I have no problem with what you’re doing. I haven’t bothered listening to the links, mainly because I’m in a hotel with crappy internet at the moment but also because it probably wouldn’t be to my taste and that wouldn’t help either of us. In other words, you’re welcome to do whatever you like with whatever of mine you’ve gotten your hands on. Don’t care. Enjoy yourself.”

Undeterred by Albini’s vitriolic response Powell then asked the producer if he could use the email exchange to promote the album and use the exchange in his new video. Albini’s response was simple “Still don’t care.” Hopefully he won’t care that the exchange is now plastered across a billboard on London’s Commercial Street either. Well played Powell.

(Via: The Quietus)