Release Date: August 30, 2011
Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner is something of a renaissance man. For starters, he’s a hell of a bassist—and a versatile one, at that. Currently, he slappa da bass for the thrash metal band Suicidal Tendencies, but has played on songs for Shafiq Husayn, Erykah Baddu and Flying Lotus.
Stylistically, Bruner is amorphous, taking cues from funk and soul sounds of the ’70s but doing so with a perspective set squarely on the future. It comes as no surprise, then, that Flying Lotus would scoop the guy up and sign him to his Brainfeeder imprint. Lotus would even takes it a step further, sitting behind the boards and producing Bruner’s debut, The Golden Age of the Apocalypse, a long-gestating collection of jazz tunes that are indicative of Lotus’ own classically-influenced sounds.
What separates The Golden Age of the Apocalypse from similar albums is Bruner’s aversion to deconstruction. Sure, the album doesn’t sound like a typical jazz record—but it’s also not a spuriously postmodern attempt to reinvent the wheel, either. In lesser hands, the album would be a claptrap of repetitious synth sounds and inauthentic drum loops.
Instead, The Golden Age of the Apocalypse is a malleable and expressionistic experience, made all the more impressive by Lotus’ nimble production.
The record plays like some sort futuristic jam session, with tracks coming and going in seamless fashion. “Jamboree” and its lively rhythm section bleeds effortlessly into the spaced-out “Boat Cruise,” while the minimalist tune “Goldenboy” stands out as a deliciously tranquil respite from an album that, at times, can be quite frenetic.
Bruner sometimes has trouble sticking to his aesthetic, and as a result, the album quickly becomes tiresome. In fact, straight out the gate, “Daylight” proves to be a borderline unlistenable track. With its Miami Vice-ish keyboard licks and intrusive drum pattern overpowering Brune’s playful bass line, the track starts the album off on the wrong foot.
Up next is “Fleer Ultra,” another song that’s too busy for its own good. Unlike the rest of the album, which unfolds at a leisurely and decidedly relaxed pace, the overly kinetic melodies of “Fleer Ultra” are akin to a 13-year-old’s first experience with GarageBand, the incoherent boops and beeps coming off as grating and unnecessary.
Luckily, Bruner settles in nicely by the time he reaches his cover of George Duke’s “For Love I Come,” setting the tone for the rest of the album. The hauntingly majestic track is boasted by the kinds of chord progressions Charlie Parker and John Coltrane hung their hats on, but thanks to Bruner’s decidedly avant-garde style, classic song structure sounds ample and invigorated.
The jazz style remains something of a fixation for modern musicians, but The Golden Age of Apocalypse avoids the shortcomings that plague similar projects. As much as many hip-hop artists have made “jazzy” music—producers like Madlib and Pete Rock, as well as rapper Guru among them—it rarely elevates beyond the realm of homage.
Thundercat and Flying Lotus, however, have embraced the canon, proving to be influenced by it in ways their peers simply aren’t. There’s a passion for the sound at play, making The Golden Age of Apocalypse the rare kind of album that’s as fashionable as it is creditable.
Thundercat – The Golden Age of Apocalypse Tracklist:
- “Hooooooo”
- “Daylight”
- “Fleer Ultra”
- “Is It Love?”
- “For Love I Come”
- “It Really Doesn’t Matter to You”
- “Jamboree”
- “Boat Cruise”
- “Seasons”
- “Golden Boy”
- “Walkin'”
- “Mystery Machine (The Golden Age of Apocalypse)”
- “Return to the Journey”
