Thundercat

One Liner: Weird mix of funk and depression from awesome bassist who collaborates with Kendrick and Flying Lotus
Wikipedia Genre: Soul, jazz fusion, electronic, funk
Spotify Says Similar To: Flying Lotus and Kamasi Washington
Home: L.A.

Poster Position: 10
Slot: Saturday, 4pm

Thoughts:  I'm going to shamelessly crib from my previous post about this guy's most recent album to talk about him here, because I'm lazy.
This guy is super weird, but he can play the bass like its going out of style. The general tone of the music is best described in my mind as To Pimp a Butterfly. You can tell that this dude was heavily involved in that project, because they sound very similar, that finger-picking bass meandering around in the background of tracks, creating a beat and melody at the same time.  
He brings on a bunch of guests, including Kendrick, Pharrell, and Wiz Kalifa (as well as Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald on one weird tune).  One track seems to be a love song to his cat.  The album opener has him saying that he feels weird, so he reminds himself to comb his beard and brush his teeth and beat his meat and go to sleep. The crazy thing is that the album is 23 freaking songs long, which seems ridiculous, but then it is only 51 minutes, which is significantly more manageable.  Its an interesting album, a pretty similar sound runs throughout, and the guy's voice is this gentle falsetto the whole time, makes it kind of just pass by in the background without much friction.  And then you end up with the album closer, which is just so oddly bleak (with these kind of jazzy synth trills in the music) that I had to make note of the lyrics:

"Sometimes you're alive
Sometimes you are dead inside
With the time to read between the lines of life and death
Sometimes it's okay
Sometimes it's the worst thing ever
Hopefully you work it off and get a DUI
You will see that it's not so bad
There's always tomorrow
Bottom of the glass
At this point you've made an ass
And your friends will let you know tomorrow
I am so tired
One more glass to go
Where this ends we'll never know"

Jeez, dude.  Freaking bleak, man.  

When I previously reviewed this album, the most listened to track was the one with Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald, but since that time another track has absolutely obliterated that one - "Them Changes" with 19 million streams.

Samurai battle in a garage!  During some funky shit bass!  So funky.  I like that bass for sure.  But I feel sad for the sad samurai.  Poor sad, retired samurai.

I'll also give you "Walk on By," which is only his fourth most listened to track, but it has the Kendrick verse on it.  Now has 3.3 million streams, up from 1.5 million streams when I first reviewed this album.

Those eyes are terrifying.  But Kendrick is a damn national treasure, so I dig that track more than the rest of the album.  Other track to note is "Uh Uh," because the man flies all over his bass in that track.  Just bounces all over the place with jazzy funk freakouts.  If the songs were a little bit happier, I might be on board with keeping this one around, but damn its depressing.  

Now, before that happy go lucky album he had 2011's The Golden Age of Apocalypse and then 2013's Apocalypse.  Cheery guy.  The songs sound very similar to me, compared to the new album, and I dig the funkiness.  "Oh Sheit It's X" is a funky ass ode to accidentally getting f'ed up at a party, and it is a Funkadelic jam.

Like George Clinton and Prince hooked up to get funky and throw down on how to party. Gimme some mo.

The most listened to track from these two older albums is "Heartbreaks + Setbacks," with 4.2 million.  I'll give you a live version.

Like much of this guy's catalog, kind of depressing.  But look at his fingers fly around on that bass neck.  Damn.  I wish he would make a super group with Slash, Neil Peart, and Michael Stipe and destroy all known records for awesomeness.  Love the bass action, not quite so hot on the falsetto festival and bummer lyrics.  Well, I guess after listening again, this one has some hope to it, but it doesn't feel that way.  "You know we tried way too hard to find, 
A love that's really blind so why even try? Because we know that there's still hope, Just don't let go."  *plays super moody synth riff and diddles the bass like a madman, then drives off a cliff into a pot of lava*

I can't really decide what I think about this.  I love the funkiness of the music, but its so damn depressing sounding at the same time.  Something about like downward chord progressions and smeary synths that just brings me down.  I've left it playing all day, and ended up in a 2015 EP called The Beyond/ Where the Giants Roam, and again, its pretty damn good and groovy, but then I feel all bummed out when I pay attention.  I think I'm going to say I won't go see him, but part of me knows I'd do it if the other bands against him aren't strong.