Given that she’s a cat from the internet (or outer space, depending on your tolerance for elaborate transgalactic mythology when paired with an adorably dopey-looking pet), online phenomenon Lil Bub has a surprisingly deep catalog of musically credible friends. She’s “worked” with Andrew W.K., hung out with Steve Albini, and been interviewed by The Jesus Lizard’s David Yow, right here at The A.V. Club. Now, hot off the release of Run The Jewels’ epoch-defining cat-rap album Meow The Jewels—which she appears on, naturally—Lil Bub and her keepers are dropping an album of their own.
Science & Magic (subtitled “A Soundtrack For The Universe”) is set for a December 4 release, making it the ideal Christmas gift for anyone in your life looking to own some music created by a special needs cat from space. (Sadly, the limited 500-disc run of vinyl emblazoned with a picture of Bub’s permanently smiling face and “signed” by the prolific kitty has already been completely pre-purchased by fervent feline fans.) The songs (“by” Bub, via the hands of her “creative vessels,” owner Mike Bridavsky and his friend Matt Tobey), are all instrumentals, and, if the trailer clip they released today is anything to go by, sound a bit like Ratatat or a chiptunes band by way of a meowing cat.
An unsurprisingly game Andrew W.K. wrote a statement that accompanied the album’s release announcement, in which he declares that Science & Magic “is not a novelty item or a cheap and disillusioning gimmick,” but a “musically gratifying concept album, which entirely emerged from the soul and spirit of Lil Bub herself,” because Andrew W.K. has never met a concept immune from his torrent of high-energy, bloody-faced sincerity. People on the fence about whether to follow their inner W.K. and buy into the album’s aura of gently smiling ridiculousness may be swayed by the knowledge that 25 percent of the net profits from Science & Magic will go to Lil Bub’s Big Fund For The ASPCA, which raises money to support shelters that assist and improve the lives of special needs animals.
And now, in case your day was missing it, here’s a track listing for an electronic music album written by a cat:
Science & Magic:
01 Hello Earth
02 New Gravity
03 Assimilation
04 A Friend
05 GOOD JOB
06 Another Voyage
07 Science and Magic
08 Space Sister
09 Earth Sister
10 Rebirth