Fugazi release shelved ‘Albini Sessions’ for charity
In celebration of Bandcamp Friday, Fugazi has released the Abilini Sessions, their 1992 recordings with late engineer and indie icon Steve Albini at his Electrical Audio studios.
The original mix, which is now available in full for the first time ever, features all of the songs the band would re-record and release for 1993’s In On The Killtaker.
Fugazi have announced that they will donate a share of the proceeds to Letters Charity, a nonprofit organisation “on a mission to use art as a conduit to transform passive compassion into immediate assistance through the distribution of money given, without expectation or judgment, directly to families experiencing poverty.” This charity was a huge part of Albini’s legacy.
On Bandcamp, where fans can purchase the entire record, the band has revealed more information about the shelved recording, writing that “The hang itself was epic and in the downtime, when they weren’t recording, a deeper affinity and friendship was quickly realized.”
The nostalgic recollection continued, “Steve would then traumatize the band with screenings from his collection of outré videos and they would spend hours talking about punk rock. The laughter was non-stop.”
Over the three or four days together, the collaboration sparked 12 songs which were recorded and mixed. However, once the band left for DC, they decided not to release the session.
They wrote, “It’s difficult to explain the issue, but, for as incredible as things felt while at Electrical, the songs sounded flat in subsequent listens. A few days after returning home, Albini wrote to the band with a similar opinion and it was decided to nix the recording.”
However, in a move to “honour Steve” and to support the work Albini and his wife, Heather Whinna, have done at Letters Charity, Fugazi have made the entire original mix available for the first-time in transfers pulled directly from the master tapes.
Albini tragically passed away at the age of 61 on May 7th, 2024, after suffering from a heart attack.
The digital album contains twelve tracks, opening with ‘Cassavetes’ and ending with ‘Sweet and Low’. It is available for purchase on Bandcamp now.
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