Thundercat | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Stephen "Thundercat" Bruner spent the last part of the new millenniums first decade as the go-to bassist for practically every artist in black vanguard music. His nimble, syncopated, groove-heavy basslines were heard on albums by Erykah Badu, Sa-Ra, Flying Lotus, and others. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Bruner had the good fortune to be raised in a musical family. His father, Ronald Bruner, Sr., was an accomplished drummer, working with artists like Diana Ross, the Temptations, and Gladys Knight. Bruners older brother, Ronald Jr., a Grammy-winning drummer, has worked with esteemed artists such as Kenny Garrett and Stanley Clarke. The Bruner brothers were members of Young Jazz Giants, a quartet with Kamasi Washington and Cameron Graves, who released a self-titled album in 2004. Bruners first major work came as a teenager. While still in high school, he joined Ronald as part of the L.A.-based punk band Suicidal Tendencies, replacing Robert Trujillo, who moved on to play with Metallica. At live shows, the young Bruner displayed flair and dexterity, playing some of Trujillos three-finger riffs with just his thumb. Possessing a kinship and interest in the L.A.-led movement of genre-mixing black music, Bruner began collaborating with some of its foremost creators. His basswork on "The Cell" was, perhaps, the standout performance on Badus New Amerykah, Pt. 1. He appeared on J*Daveys version of Frank Zappas "Dirty Love," Sa-Ras "Love Czars," Shafiq Husayns "Cheeba," and Bilals "Levels," and even collaborated with bass legend Bootsy Collins on Snoop Doggs "We Rest in Cali," among dozens of other cuts. During that time, he performed live with conductor Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, who led the Suite for Ma Dukes orchestra, a contemporary ensemble that revisited J Dillas Donuts. Bruners most prolific and fruit-bearing musical relationship has been with DJ/producer/instrumentalist Flying Lotus, for whom he provided both bass and vocals for 2010s Cosmogramma. Flying Lotus then served as executive producer for Bruners 2011 debut, The Golden Age of Apocalypse, released under the Thundercat moniker on Brainfeeder. Golden Age received considerable acclaim, notably for Bruners acrobatic bass and his repurposed take on 70s-inspired fusion from George Duke and Jaco Pastorius, the bassist to whom hes most compared. Bruners darker second album, 2013s Apocalypse, was recorded after the death of close friend and collaborator Austin Peralta. During that year and the few that followed, Bruners session highlights included crucial contributions to a handful of Mac Miller releases, Flying Lotus Youre Dead!, Kendrick Lamars To Pimp a Butterfly and Untitled Unmastered, Kamasi Washingtons The Epic, and Terrace Martins Velvet Portraits. Bruners own The Beyond/Where the Giants Roam, an EP released in 2015, functioned as a prelude to the 2017 album Drunk. The expansive full-length featured appearances from Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald on the single "Show You the Way." A chopped and screwed version from OG Ron C and DJ Candlestick followed in early 2018. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 6 Title: Shenanigans pt.1 Released: 2011-08-04 Tracks: 1 Duration: 30:22 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Shenanigans pt.1 (30:22) |
 | Album: 2 of 6 Title: The Golden Age of Apocalypse Released: 2011-08-06 Tracks: 13 Duration: 37:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 HooooooO (00:22) 2 Daylight (02:56) 3 Fleer Ultra (02:14) 4 Is It Love? (05:37) 5 For Love I Come (03:35) 6 It Really Doesn’t Matter to You (03:33) 7 Jamboree (03:45) 8 Boat Cruise (03:45) 9 Seasons (02:18) 10 Goldenboy (03:04) 11 Walkin’ (02:06) 12 Mystery Machine (The Golden Age of Apocalypse) (02:05) 13 Return to the Journey (02:04) |
| The Golden Age of Apocalypse : Allmusic album Review : Bassist Stephen "Thundercat" Bruner has been on a peculiar path. For a moment during the early 2000s, he was in No Curfew, a boy band successful enough to be included on German hits compilations beside Destinys Child and Gorillaz. He then joined his brother Ron, a Grammy-winning drummer, in the long-running skatepunk band Suicidal Tendencies. A few years later, while still in ST, Thundercat initiated a long-term interface with the black avant-garde network; J*Daveys version of Frank Zappas "Dirty Love," Erykah Badus "The Cell," Sa-Ras "Love Czars," Shafiq Husayns "Cheeba," and Bilals "Levels," among dozens of other cuts, all benefited greatly from his knotty, tremulous basslines. Thundercat can also be heard throughout Flying Lotus Cosmogramma. That albums dreamy, astral "MmmHmm," featuring not just his bass but his becalming falsetto, was a precursor to the simultaneously offhanded and life-affirming sound of The Golden Age of Apocalypse, his first album. Though Thundercat was born in the mid-80s, hes clearly inspired by spaced-out jazz fusion and R&B from the previous decade, with the spirit of George Dukes six MPS albums (1973-1976) almost always present. Even without the introductions use of "For Love (I Come Your Friend)" and a later cover of that very song, it would be detectable. In fact, Bruner sounds like hes attempting to clone Dukes blissful and easygoing voice, yet hes more skilled and never strains. He calls upon many of the musicians he has helped in the recent past, including everyone listed above, as well as additional members of the connected Mochilla, Brainfeeder, and Plug Research families -- Eric Coleman, Miguel-Atwood Ferguson, and Austin Peralta, among others. Several cuts are instrumental workouts, unpredictable and flagrantly noodle-y. Others venture into tranquil folk-soul and soft jazz-pop; for all the animated instrumental flexing on display, its those atmospheric and simpler songs that move the most. The best of all is "Walkin," half-Todd Rundgren, half-Melodies-era Jan Hammer Group -- a casual, rubbery, heart-on-sleeve ditty with Badu doubling Bruner during the "la-la-la" chorus. This is unequivocally recommended for anyone who owns anything featuring Thundercat, enjoys 70s bass-playing wizzes (Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius, Alphonso Johnson, Paul Jackson), and who has ever spent half an hour listening to the first minute of the Crusaders "Cosmic Reign." | ||
 | Album: 3 of 6 Title: Apocalypse Released: 2013-06-03 Tracks: 12 Duration: 40:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Tenfold (03:05) 2 Heartbreaks + Setbacks (03:24) 3 The Life Aquatic (02:37) 4 Special Stage (02:56) 5 Tron Song (02:34) 6 Seven (02:17) 7 Oh Sheit It’s X (03:47) 8 Without You (04:41) 9 Lotus and the Jondy (04:53) 10 Evangelion (02:21) 11 We’ll Die (00:56) 12 A Message for Austin / Praise the Lord / Enter the Void (06:36) |
| Apocalypse : Allmusic album Review : One of the many charms of Thundercats first album, The Golden Age of Apocalypse, was the manner in which the supernaturally skilled bassist seemed to wing his way through songwriting -- stumbling upon ideas, going with the flow, goofing off -- and come up with brilliance. On his sharper, more focused second album, he works through anguish -- the loss of close friend and musical partner Austin Peralta -- with some staggeringly emotive and tightly composed content. Theres less room for instrumentals and noodling, but even those moments are purposeful. The half-ebullient, half-turbulent, wholly absorbing "The Life Aquatic" adds some timely lightness after the heavy-hearted opening combination of "Tenfold" and "Heartbreaks + Setbacks." The odd-signatured "Seven," part of which resembles one of those wild-card Yes interludes, is an alternately showy and frivolous set-up for the delirious dancefloor funk jam "Oh Sheit Its X." For all the darkness and depth, one of the most moving songs here is "Tron Song," a falsetto ode to his cat and the greatest example of his fearlessness. Animal-loving touring musicians finally have a song that speaks directly to them: "I always come back to you/Dont you worry about me." Even the melodic ditties that skirt smooth soul and soft rock supply more resonance here; the sweetly forlorn "Without You" comes across like a missing Twennynine-era Don Blackman cut. The driving "Lotus and the Jondy," like early-2000s Radiohead with humor and fusion chops, is a fantastical adventure with moody riffing. Executive producer Flying Lotus and Peralta evidently are present as characters in the story, "Straight trippin in the darkness, straight-up seein goblins," while Thundercats older brother Ronald is present in material/musical form to finish it with a supreme drum freak-out. Denser and fathoms deeper, this is some kind of leap. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 6 Title: The Beyond / Where the Giants Roam Released: 2015-06-22 Tracks: 6 Duration: 16:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Hard Times (01:13) 2 Song for the Dead (02:48) 3 Them Changes (03:07) 4 Lone Wolf and Cub (05:28) 5 That Moment (00:42) 6 Where the Giants Roam / Field of the Nephilim (02:46) |
 | Album: 5 of 6 Title: Drunk Released: 2017-02-24 Tracks: 24 Duration: 54:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Rabbot Ho (00:38) 2 Captain Stupido (01:41) 3 Uh Uh (02:16) 4 Bus in These Streets (02:24) 5 A Fan’s Mail (Tron Song Suite II) (02:38) 6 Lava Lamp (02:58) 7 Jethro (01:34) 8 Day & Night (00:37) 9 Show You the Way (03:34) 10 Walk on By (03:19) 11 Blackkk (01:59) 12 Tokyo (02:24) 13 Jameels Space Ride (01:09) 14 Friend Zone (03:12) 15 Them Changes (03:08) 16 Where Im Going (02:09) 17 Drink Dat (03:35) 18 Inferno (04:00) 19 I Am Crazy (00:25) 20 3AM (01:15) 21 Drunk (01:42) 22 The Turn Down (02:29) 23 DUI (02:18) 24 Hi (03:00) |
| Drunk : Allmusic album Review : Between Apocalypse and Drunk, his second and third albums, bassist Stephen Bruner contributed to a slew of remarkable recordings by fellow Los Angeles dwellers -- Flying Lotus Youre Dead!, Kendrick Lamars To Pimp a Butterfly and Untitled Unmastered, Kamasi Washingtons The Epic, and Terrace Martins Velvet Portraits among them. Several months before Bruner picked up a Grammy for "These Walls," off To Pimp a Butterfly, he issued an EP anchored by "Them Changes." His funkiest, sweetest, most vulnerable song, it reappears as the top highlight on Drunk, a fragmentary and scattered program relative to the Thundercat full-lengths that preceded it. Bruner is still fueled by numerous forms that immediately preceded his birth -- smooth soul, soft rock, jazz fusion, synth funk, new wave, all late 70s/early 80s -- and filters them through his soft-hearted, mischievous personality. He surrounds himself with a slightly different cast of old and newer associates, including the first three figures listed above, keyboardist Dennis Hamm, drummer Louis Cole, and producer Sounwave. For better and worse, theres a lot of foolishness occurring here. Bruner dreams about being a cat (replete with meowing background melody), pens a tribute to Japanese pop culture ("Just point me to the Pachinko machines"), and delivers a sarcastic jingle regarding social media fatigue ("Im out here probably doing the most"). At times, the whimsicality sinks into middle school humor ("Captain Stupido") and misogyny ("Friend Zone"). Love and mortality remain Bruners strongest subjects, placed on full display in terse but touching ballads like "Lava Lamp," "Jethro," and "3AM." In "Show You the Way," another bright spot, he swaps verses with Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins, two of his heroes, to swirling and balmy effect. Additional guests Kendrick, Pharrell, and Wiz Khalifa add to the star power, but the main attraction is Bruners singular combination of tremulous yet fluid bass and aching falsetto. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 6 Title: Drank Released: 2018-02-02 Tracks: 24 Duration: 1:08:51 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Rabbot Ho (Chopnotslop remix) (00:42) 2 Drink Dat (Chopnotslop remix) (05:54) 3 Lava Lamp (Chopnotslop remix) (03:28) 4 Weakstyle (Chopnotslop remix) (00:54) 5 Show You the Way (Chopnotslop remix) (04:36) 6 Where I’m Going (Chopnotslop remix) (01:48) 7 Tokyo (Chopnotslop remix) (02:47) 8 Uh Uh (Chopnotslop remix) (02:20) 9 Inferno (Chopnotslop remix) (04:56) 10 Them Changes (Chopnotslop remix) (05:03) 11 I Am Crazy (Chopnotslop remix) (01:05) 12 3AM (Chopnotslop remix) (02:03) 13 Jethro (Chopnotslop remix) (02:10) 14 The Turn Down (Chopnotslop remix) (04:02) 15 Walk On By (Chopnotslop remix) (04:30) 16 Day & Night (Chopnotslop remix) (00:25) 17 A Fan’s Mail (Tron Song Suite II) (Chopnotslop remix) (03:17) 18 Jameel’s Space Ride (Chopnotslop remix) (01:36) 19 Captain Stupido (Chopnotslop remix) (03:00) 20 Friend Zone (Chopnotslop remix) (03:12) 21 Bus in These Streets (Chopnotslop remix) (03:07) 22 DUI (Chopnotslop remix) (02:50) 23 Blackkk (Chopnotslop remix) (02:36) 24 Drunk (Chopnotslop remix) (02:21) |