The music world was saddened on May 7, 2024, to learn that legendary sound engineer Steve Albini (07/22/1962, Cancer Tiger) had died of natural causes. While Albini famously rejected the label, “producer”, he was instrumental in producing some of the most famous independent rock albums of all time, including notably the Pixies’ breakthrough album Surfer Rosa(1988), the Nirvana masterpiece In Utero (1993), and the acclaimed Rid of Me (1993) by PJ Harvey (10/09/1969, Libra Rooster). 

For those who believe in astrological cusps (discussed in our April feature here), Albini seems to have reflected a quintessential cusp personality. Cusp individuals are thought to be potentially synonymous with rebellion and expressiveness, driven to challenge the status quo at any and every available turn. For those like Albini who are born on the cusp of Cancer and Leo (around July, 19–25), their inner defiance can be especially prominent. These souls potentially embody a stark transition, from the compassionate and inward sensitivity of Cancer, to the dazzling, performance-oriented leadership of Leo. Famous people born on this cusp across time include the larger-than-life novelists Alexandre Dumas (07/24/1802)], Leo Dog and Ernest Hemingway (07/21/1899), Cancer Pig, the trailblazing performers and businesswomen Selena Gomez (07/22/1992, Cancer Monkey) and Jennifer Lopez (07/24/1969, Leo Rooster), and other irrepressible, convention-defying luminaries such as aviator Amelia Earhart (07/24/1897), Haile Selassie I (07/23/1892, the one-time Emperor of Ethiopia whom many regard as the messiah or a prophet of the Rastafari religion), and the musician Yusuf Islam / Cat Stevens (07/21/1948, Cancer Rat). 

Throughout his life, Albini asserted a reputation as a reflective yet prodigious provocateur. As a university student, he famously stood behind a plexiglas screen for an art project, taunting 100 friends and 100 enemies to throw whatever they wanted at him. As he memorably described, 

You were allowed to bring anything you wanted. The stipulation was that you had to throw it at me. You couldn’t run up and try to hit me with it; you had to throw it at me from ten yards away, and if you hit me I had to suffer. People brought the most amazing things. A guy brought a brick and he also brought a jar of phlegm and snot that he poured over the brick before he threw it. Somebody brought a bowling pin. A five-pound tub of laundry detergent. Yogurt. Lard. Dog s—. Human s—. A bunch of live baby chicks… 

As he developed into one of the most influential recording engineers of his generation, he maintained this same quality of forcefully asserting himself and his seeming inner contradictions, goading and challenging orthodoxies at every turn. His own infamous musical project “Rapeman” attracted protests, about which he said, “[T]he majority of the people on the picket line were precisely the kind of people that we would have liked at the gig.” After recording one of the most influential independent records of all time in Surfer Rosa, he said about the Pixies, “Never have I seen four cows more anxious to be led around by their nose rings.” Of course, two founding members of the Pixies—Black Francis (04/06/1965, Aries Snake) and Joey Santiago (06/10/1965, Gemini Snake)—were both born in the year of the Snake, making their energy match with Albini, a Tiger, one of the most difficult in the Chinese zodiac. 

But, for many, Albini’s true legacy lies in his approach to capturing rawness and spontaneity in the albums he recorded. PJ Harvey said about Rid of Me, “I really wanted [Albini’s] very bare, very real sound. I knew that it would suit the songs. It’s like touching real objects or feeling the grain of wood. That’s what his sound is like to me. It’s very tangible. You can almost feel the room.” Ahead of Albini’s probably most high-profile achievement, recording Nirvana’s In Utero, Albini explained his approach with customary forthrightness: 

I think the very best thing [Nirvana] could do at this point is exactly what you are talking about doing: bang a record out in a couple of days, with high quality but minimal “production” and no interference from the front office bulletheads…I’m only interested in working on records that legitimately reflect the band’s own perception of their music and existence. If you will commit yourselves to that as a tenet of the recording methodology, then I will bust my ass for you. I’ll work circles around you. I’ll rap your head with a ratchet…I do not want and will not take a royalty on any record I record. No points. Period. I think paying a royalty to a producer or engineer is ethically indefensible. The band write the songs. The band play the music. It’s the band’s fans who buy the records. The band is responsible for whether it’s a great record or a horrible record. Royalties belong to the band. I would like to be paid like a plumber…

Notably, Albini and Nirvana’s lead singer, Kurt Cobain (02/20/1967, Pisces Sheep), shared not just the highly compatible Cancer/Pisces energy match (as well as the harmonious Sheep and Tiger combination), but they were also both born on the cusp of their respective signs, which can be conducive to a powerful bond. In a 2023 interview, Albini described how, long before they collaborated, Cobain approached him after a gig to ask if he could take a piece of smashed-up gear. Albini recounted, “Many years later when we were working on ‘In Utero’ at the studio in Minnesota, Kurt showed me this little piece of this guitar that he had saved. He had brought it with him after all those years. He had been that kid.”

Beyond individual projects, Albini advocated strongly for struggling or unestablished bands. In a landmark 1993 article about the music industry at that time, “The Problem With Music”, he explained the likelihood that a band who received a $250,000 advance would generate over $3 million for the industry, yet wind up earning less than they would at a 7–11. With a characteristic lack of subtlety, the first paragraph opened: “Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label…I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying s—.” 

With this kind of brazen assault on establishment values, putting the interests of struggling musicians and the integrity of independent music ahead of his own financial interests, Albini arguably fulfilled not only the Cancer/Leo cusp side of his personality, but equally the majestic and honorable side of his Chinese sign of the Tiger. He may have personified the notion of making omelettes by breaking eggs, but by all reports Albini richly deserved his status as a legend of the music industry, and will be deeply missed by those who knew and worked with him.