Fred Armisen's 100 Sound Effects album coming soon!

Fred Armisen—everyone's favorite drummer, comedian, actor, and all around awesome human — recently announced that he'll be releasing his new album, called 100 Sound Effects, on September 26, 2025. With the announcement he also gifted seven of the 100 (actually, according to Pitchfork and Armisen's Bandcamp page, there are a total of 101) tracks, collected under the title "Music Venues."

They include: "Needle on Record," "Drum Sound Check at Medium Sized Venue," "Guitar Tuned but Still Somehow Out of Tune," "Band Sound Check Sound Guy and Band Agreeing for Too Long," "Romanian Crowd at Rock Club Shouting for an Encore," "Sparsely Attended Show Encore With Someone Shouting 'Where's Jim?'," and "Music Venue Employee Kicking Everyone Out While Throwing Away Bottles."

The other tracks on 100 Sound Effects, coming soon, include car-themed sounds, like "Car Door Closing 1958 Ford;" theater- and performance-themed sounds, like "Small Theater Small Audience," "Disappointed Crowd Dublin," and "Fake Applause;" drink and glassware-themed sounds, like "Champagne Glass Breaking on Wood Floor;" businessman-themed sounds, like "Business Man on Phone On Plane Before Takeoff — Work Tone;" camping-themed sounds, like "Camping Breakfast Conversation;" sports-themed sounds like "Basketball Bouncing;" haunted house-themed sounds like "Haunted House Piano;" European hotel-themed sounds, like "European Hotel Elevator;" and much more!

Pitchfork quotes Armisen discussing the inspiration behind and the process of making the album, which is dedicated to the late Steve Albini:

"I was thinking about haunted house sound effects albums and how fun those seemed to record. I wanted to do it at Steve Albini's studio in Chicago, Electrical Audio, but since this wasn't a collection of songs and I didn't know how long it was going to take, I needed to do this where I live, in Los Angeles," Armisen explained. "I told Steve what I was doing and asked if he knew of any engineers I could work with in L.A. He was very excited about the idea and asked Dave Grohl who might be available to help. Dave recommended Darrell Thorp, and we started working at Studio 606, and then later Sunset Sound. Darrell was really inventive and a lot of fun to work with. Because Steve was so instrumental in making this happen, I dedicate the album to his memory. I miss him every day."

I truly love this project. The seven sounds already released are terrific. Some, like "Needle on Record," are just classic, perfect sounds. Some are actually really helpful and educational — "Drum Sound Check at Medium Sized Venue" helped me understand the process of sound checking, which will come in handy when my band plays our first show next month (thanks, Fred!). And some, like "Sparsely Attended Show Encore with Someone Shouting 'Where's Jim?'" are super funny. I love them all and can't wait to hear the rest!

You can pre-order 100 Sound Effects here.