This author wrote the essay “The Problem with Music” for The Baffler and a letter titled “I would like to be paid like a plumber.” For 10 points each:
[10m] Name this notoriously prickly champion of analog tape, a self-proclaimed “recording engineer” who offered bands very cheap fees to record at his Electrical Audio studio. He passed away at age 61 in May 2024.
ANSWER: Steve Albini [or Steven Frank Albini]
[10h] Albini’s work on the Shellac song “Wingwalker” is lavishly praised in a Greg Milner history titled for this two-word phrase “forever.” These two words precede “whatever” in the title of a James Acaster book that argues that 2016 was the “best year for music ever.”
ANSWER: perfecting sound [or perfect sound; accept Perfecting Sound Forever or Perfect Sound Whatever] (Acaster’s book takes its title from a Jeff Rosenstock song, which in turn may take its name from a chapter title of Perfecting Sound Forever.)
[10e] In an interview, Robbie Fulks alluded to Albini’s admiration for this creator of Cantometrics. With his father John, this ethnomusicologist influenced the folk revival by making recordings of artists like Muddy Waters.
ANSWER: Alan Lomax
<YFL, Other Culture>