Thundercat – “Distracted” review

Los Angeles, California musician, singer/songwriter & producer Thundercat returning for his 5th studio LP. Emerging in the 2000s as the bassist for Suicidal Tendencies, he would subsequently sign to Brainfeeder Records & make his full-length debut The Golden Age of Apocalypse nearly a week before I started high school. He would follow it up with the sophomore effort Apocalypse a couple summers later & his debut extended play The Beyond / Where the Giants Grow a month succeeding my graduation became popular due to the inclusion of his most lauded single “Them Changes”. It would eventually be included on Drunk, which is his most cohesive musical statement & an essential within the Brainfeeder discography. It Is What It Is mourned the loss of his friend Mac Miller & he’s having Greg Kurstin produce most of Distracted.

“Candlelight” gets things going with this smooth R&B intro singing about a lighting burning at both ends whereas “No More Lies” co-produced by Tame Impala fuses psychedelic soul, neo-psychedelia, boogie, synth-funk & synthpop suggesting he’s better off staying on his own. “She Knows Too Much” by Mac Miller blends funk, neo-soul, pop rap, jazz rap, jazz-funk & disco rap to talk about a woman out of his league leading into “I Did This to Myself” featuring Lil Yachty hops over a Flying Lotus instrumental combining neo-soul, funk, nu disco & disco rap to discuss relationships.

A$AP Rocky appears on “Funny Friends” rapping & singing about being homies until the very end just before the yacht rock-tinged “What’s Left to Say?” courtesy of Kenny Beats assures this person that the can spend their whole lives trying to figure out how they feel inside even if it’s a lie. “I Wish I Didn’t Waste Your Time” goes for a psychedelic neo-soul vibe with hints of jazz fusion & synth-funk addressing an ex-girlfriend of his while “Anakin Learns His Fate” compares himself to Darth Vader from the original Star Wars trilogy.

“Walking on the Moon” calmingly kicks off the 2nd half singing about a woman who takes him higher while “This Thing We Call Love” featuring Channel Tres tells their partners to take their time since it’s only them. “ThunderWave” featuring Willow Smith experiments with neo-soul, neo-psychedelia, tribal ambient, nature recordings, chillout & new age yearning for their lovers to hold them until reaching shore while “Pozole” suggests maybe he’s out of touch & only showing this person exactly who he is.

The song “A.D.D. Through the Roof” embraces a neo-soul sound talking about his attention deficit disorder going insane while “Great Americans sings over 1 last FlyLo beat about everything he does being a learned behavior of it’s own & landing on his feet every time he continues to fuck up. The self-produced closer “You Left Without Saying Goodbye” concludes the album clarifying that he hasn’t lost his sense of humor, hinting at posting his feet on OnlyFans being his new side hustle.

Exactly 6 years to the day since his previous full-length, Distracted could be my least favorite installment in Thundercat’s discography although there are some tracks I see myself revisiting & enjoyed it top to bottom slightly less than Big Mama last month. Greg Kurstin’s production culminates in psychedelic soul, neo-soul, alternative R&B, progressive soul, pop soul, jazz rap, nu jazz, synth-funk, jazz-funk, smooth soul, neo-psychedelia, boogie, synthpop, funk, pop rap, jazz fusion, disco rap, funk music, nu disco, tribal ambient, nature recordings, chillout, new age & yacht rock capturing the tensions between overstimulation & introspection.

Score: 3.5/5

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Thundercat – “It Is What It Is” review

This is the 4th full-length album from Los Angeles, California musician, singer/songwriter & producer Thundercat. Emerging in the 2000s as the bassist for Suicidal Tendencies, he would subsequently sign to Brainfeeder Records & make his full-length debut The Golden Age of Apocalypse nearly a week before I started high school. He would follow it up with the sophomore effort Apocalypsea couple summers later & his debut extended play The Beyond / Where the Giants Grow a month succeeding my graduation became popular due to the inclusion of his most lauded single “Them Changes”. It would eventually be included on his previous LP Drunk, which is his most cohesive musical statement & an essential within the Brainfeeder discography. 3 years later, he’s accepting that It Is What It Is.

The 5th & final single “Interstellar Love” co-produced by Flying Lotus after the “Lost in Space / Great Scott / 22-26” intro embraces a heavy nu jazz fusion sound with elements of psychedelic neo-soul singing about us decaying over time whereas “I Love Louis Cole” featuring the real Louis Cole himself finds the 2 describing their friendship. The 2nd single “Black Qualls” featuring Childish Gambino & Steve Arrington goes for a funky psychedelic soul vibe singing about the state of no longer living in fear leading into “Miguel’s Happy Dance” going synth-funk offering a tune to dance your pain away too.

After the “How Sway?” interlude, “Funny Thing” takes it back to the Drunk era conceptually describing himself at a part that’s on the verge of reaching it’s peak just before the funky “Overseas” reaches the halfway point singing about a chick who blows his mind. The 3rd single “Dragonball Durag” ranks amongst his greatest blending neo-soul, psychedelic soul, nu jazz, funk, alternative R&B & acid jazz looking to be accepted by a woman no matter what it takes while the lead single “King of the Hill” after the “How I Feel” interlude samples “Girl Dinner.” by THABANG! thanks to BADBADNOTGOOD wondering how different things would be if they focused on the more important things.

“Unrequited Love” details the actual experience of romance from what some would call “the one that got away” to different shades of what people would think love is while the 4th single “Fair Chance” lets Lil B & Ty$ handle the verses over a funky alternative R&B/psychedelic neo-soul instrumental Sounwave helped cooked up remembering the late Mac Miller. After the 51 second “Existential Dread” interlude, the title track written after learning of Mac’s passing spans the last 5 minutes saying goodbye to their late friend while “Bye for Now” featuring Michael McDonald technically ends with the pair singing about the struggles of moving on.

Mac Miller was a very close friend & collaborator of Thundercat’s, so it was a guarantee that It Is What It Is was going to be dedicated to his memory & I wouldn’t say it’s better than Drunkalthough it lands close to The Beyond / Where the Giants Grow amongst his top 3 projects. The production between him & Flying Lotus feels like a continuation of sorts to the neo-soul & psychedelic soul sounds that made Drunk additionally taking inspiration from jazz fusion, nu jazz, alternative R&B & synth-funk to lesser extents & he retains his signature sense of humor in the midst of grieving Mac’s death.

Score: 4/5

Thundercat – “Drunk” review

Thundercat is a 32 year old musician, singer/songwriter & producer from Los Angeles, California who emerged in the 2000s as the bassist for Suicidal Tendencies. He would subsequently sign to Brainfeeder Records & make his full-length debut The Golden Age of Apocalypse nearly a week before I started high school. He would follow it up with the sophomore effort Apocalypse a couple summers later & his debut extended play The Beyond / Where the Giants Grow a month succeeding my graduation due to the inclusion of his most lauded single “Them Changes”. His 3rd album however has been shaping up to be the most special entry in his entire catalog & some of the names involved further proved my point.

“Rabbit Ho” properly kicks things off singing about being bored & wanting to getting drunk out of boredom over a gloomy bassline as well as some somber keys whereas “Captain Stupido” co-produced by Flying Lotus describes monotony. “Uh Uh” comes through with a compositionally high-tempo jazz-funk interlude that seems taken from a Mario Kart game soundtrack while the lead single “Bus in These Streets” sings about technology in a very intriguing way fusing neo-soul, psychedelic soul & hypnagogic pop.

A sequel to “Tron Song” off Apocalypse called “A Fan’s Mail (Tron Song II)” & although the songwriting is just as repetitive as it was on the predecessor, I’d say the instrumental on this one’s a lot more funky. The next couple tracks “Lava Lamp” & “Jethro” both explore the concept death, except the latter has more lively beat in contrast to “Lava Lamp”‘ having a dreamier instrumental courtesy of Sounwave, but then “Show You the Way” featuring Kenny Loggins & Michael McDonald after the “Day & Night” interlude combines neo-soul, smooth soul funktronica & yacht rock to sing about making the most out of life.

“Walk on By” featuring Kendrick Lamar finds the 2 individually addressing the topic of loneliness & trying to right one’s wrongs while “Blackkk” tropically sings about walking into the light & the instrumental on here sounds pretty tropical. “Tokyo” reaches the halfway point with a fast-paced ode to the capital of Japan while “Jameel’s Space Ride” talks about being free over an uplifting beat gets the 2nd leg going by comparing his younger brother to 大江錦太郎 from the comedic ゴールデンボーイanime series.

“Friend Zone” depicts himself as a gamer who doesn’t get laid making numerous reference blending neo-soul, syth-funk & funktronica for the 3rd & final single while “Them Changes” reappears with no complaints since it’s easily the best song he’s ever made. “Where I’m Going” embraces the funktronica influences a bit heavier singing about doing fine even if he’s getting weak while “Drink Dat” lets Wiz Khalifa handle the verses, spaciously rapping about this party girl.

As for “Inferno”, we have Thundercat over a funky psychedelic soul beat singing about going insane while “3AM” after the 26 second “I’m Crazy” intermission ends the trilogy split into it’s own individual portions by singing about the streets calling him. The title track intoxicatingly describes getting wasted while “The Turn Down” featuring Pharrell takes a more conscious approach lyrically. “DUI” reprises the same melody “Rabbit Ho” used starting his drinking anew while “Hi” by Mac Miller talks about several events possibly occurring in our lifetime.

The Beyond / Where the Giants Roam was said to be a prelude to Drunk & considering how much he artistically stepped up throughout that EP, it had me hoping he’d surpass both The Golden Age of Apocalypse & Apocalypse as much as I enjoyed those LPs during my adolescence. Lo & behold: He gives us the most cohesive offering in his career & an essential within the Brainfeeder catalog. FlyLo helps him expand the neo-soul direction it’s predecessor went for sprinkling elements of psychedelic soul, progressive soul, funk, funktronica, acid jazz, jazz fusion, neo-psychedelia, alternative R&B & yacht rock along the way for a trip inside of the former Suicidal Tendencies bassist’s humorous yet dark mind.

Score: 4.5/5