Thundercat's Apocalypse

Steven Brunner, aka Thundercat, was never one to be nailed to a single genre. Working alongside the likes of Eryka Badu and Suicidal Tendencies in the past, Brunner has melodically displayed dexterity both audibly and technically, his style as slippery as his opposition to classification. So it's only fitting that in an era rekindling love for the lost art of single producer/artist collaborations, an act of musical providence brought Thundercat and Flying Lotus together.

FlyLo, staying within the shaky lines of his musical ancestry, is always more Coltrane than Soul Train, eliciting free-jazz emancipation, long forgotten, through his MPC. And this partnership couldn't have been more fruitful. Together Cat and Lo paint broad brush strokes with emotive undertones. The undeniable angst evident in "Heartbreaks +Setbacks" is almost washed away by the acceding harmonies bathed in hope, breathing life into the lyrical despondence.

The mellow mourning of "A Message To Austin" is pristine, a loving sendoff to a friend and fellow musician. It's almost as if they're speaking their own musical nomenclature between Heaven and Earth, and we're allowed to eavesdrop, if only for three brief minutes.

Brunner and FlyLo have created a tight airspace to operate in, and within that vacuum exists an colorful array of universal feelings. While Thundercat’s Apocalypse may have been overshadowed by the release of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, rest assured these gentleman aren't “up all night to get lucky”; their insomnia is symptomatic of looking out into that darkness and creating light from inside themselves. Some people find therapy in record sales and others just need to create, release, and repeat. That's how important music happens.

• Album: Apocalypse
• Artist: Thundercat
• Label: Brainfeeder
• Songs: (1) Tenfold (2) Heartbreaks + Setbacks (3) The Life Aquatic (4) Special Stage (5) Tron Song (6) Seven (7) Oh Sheit It’s X (8) Without You (9) Lotus and the Jondy (10) Evangelion (11) We’ll Die (12) A Message for Austin/Praise the Lord/Enter the Void