And Finally Artist News Beef Of The Week Releases

CMU Beef Of The Week #276: Steve Albini v Powell

By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 2 October 2015

Every week, I head out in search of a beef to write about here in the Friday edition of the CMU Daily. Some weeks it’s more of a chore than others. There can be obvious contenders, but sometimes I have to plough through piles of tabloid nonsense to find a pop dispute worthy of the esteemed Beef Of The Week title. But this week was a dream come true, because the beef brought itself to me.

Let me explain. Earlier this week, the billboard that stands right outside CMU’s office was updated with a new advert. Not an uncommon occurrence, I’m sure you’ll understand. But this was different. As I stepped outside into the glorious sunshine, I was faced with the equally glorious sight of Steve Albini being… well, Steve Albini.

The poster, in fact, turned out to be an advert for the latest single by Powell, ‘Insomniac’, which is due out shortly on XL. This information does not feature though. The simple black on white text of the ad is just a blown up email that was sent by Albini after Powell requested permission to use a sample from a Big Black live recording.

According to The Quietus, Powell had got in touch with Albini to explain that ‘Insomniac’ features a sample of him introducing a song. He told the guitarist that the music of Big Black meant a lot to him and he would like Albini’s blessing to use the vocal clip.

“Sounds like you’ve got a cool thing set up for yourself”, began Albini, seemingly in a positive mood in his email response. But, he went on, “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% hated every scrap”.

“The electronic music I liked was radical and different, shit like the White Noise, Xenakis, Suicide, Kraftwerk, and the earliest stuff from Cabaret Voltaire, SPK and DAF”, he continued. “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”.

I bet you think he’s just building up here to a big reveal where he says, despite all of this, he actually quite likes the Powell track, right? Well, not exactly. He stresses: “I am against what you’re into, and an enemy of where you come from, but I have no problem with what you’re doing”.

So, that’s sort of a positive I guess. And anyway, it’s not like Albini’s actually heard the track he’s supposed to be commenting on: “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”.

Of course, despite the negativity, this email was a double win for Powell. He had permission to use the sample plus he had the ranty email itself. Thinking fast, he wrote back to Albini asking if he also meant he could also use the rant to promote the record.

“Still don’t care”, apparently came Albini’s unequivocal reply.

And so that is the tale of how an email from Steve Albini came to be standing six foot high outside my office. If musicians want to make this a regular thing, it would honestly help me out quite a lot.