Producer Steve Albini has written the foreward to Lil Bub: The Earth Years, a new coffee-table book that will look at the late cat’s legacy.

Abini, who is also known for playing in Shellac, befriended the internet’s favourite cat via her owner, the audio engineer Mike Bridavsky, whom Albini once worked with at Chicago’s Electrical Audio studios.

Now, Lil Bub: The Earth Years, which is available to pre-order ahead of its April 23 release (limited to 3,000 copies), will celebrate the late cat with contributions ranging from EL-P to Jack Black.

Lil Bub, who attracted huge numbers of fans due to her unusual appearance, died in 2019 aged eight. She released her debut album (yes, really) called ‘Science & Magic’ back in 2015.

In the new book’s foreword, Albini describes what he loves about Bridavsky and Lil Bub, and reflects on the feline’s musical impact.

“Of all the remarkable things about Bub, the medical miracles she manifested, the charitable nature she induced in others, the worldwide love and appreciation, the staggering sums she raised for animal welfare, the parties, the TV shows, the fame and adoration of movie stars and celebrities, the literal empire of business… I still think her purr was the best part,” Albini writes.

“It was outsize, like a rhythm section, and along with her spectrum of odd little mews and yaps, it formed a kind of language, one she used to craft an alien poetry, all verbs and nouns being synonyms for ‘love.’”

You can read more from the foreward extract over on Rolling Stone.

Meanwhile, Albini hit out recently at Joe Rogan and “all the anti-woke comics” in a new interview.

The producer-engineer was speaking to Oxbow frontman Eugene Robinson last month for the singer’s ‘5 Easy Pieces’ feature, which saw Albini label podcaster Rogan as “trash garbage”.

Claiming that some forms of transgressive art are “just a veneer used to justify being a fucking creep”, Albini spoke of the media companies he has “always hated” – including Barstool Sports.

He then mentioned Rogan specifically. “Rogan, Barstool, all the anti-woke comics, just fuck them all in the eye,” he said.

“It’s trash garbage and I want it all to fail. What if all the stupid shit your racist neighbour you can’t stand said was typed up and put on a blog? Nope, still trash, still fuck it. I want them all out looking for work. Into the chipper with all of it.”