“If a record takes more than a week to make, someone’s fucking up.”

in 2013, Steve Albini‘s reputation precedes him. He’s been responsible for engineering some of the finest rock records of the last couple of decades, and his stripped down ‘live’ sound has influenced countless would-be engineers. That’s probably what makes reading this proposa – which was sent to Nirvana by Albini – so absolutely gripping.

We all know what Albini is capable of at this point, so hearing him dryly explain his philosophy (“I’m only interested in working on records that legitimately reflect the band’s own perception of their music and existance.”) and methods (“I like to leave room for accidents and chance.”) is not only revealing but occasionally laugh-out-loud funny (“I’ll rap your head with a ratchet…”).

The entire letter is bundled with In Utero‘s 20th anniversary reissue, which is out now. [via Stereogum]