{"id":15048,"date":"2020-04-21T17:19:18","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T16:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wasserbassin.com\/site\/?post_type=product&p=15048"},"modified":"2020-10-03T02:47:48","modified_gmt":"2020-10-03T01:47:48","slug":"thundercat-it-is-what-it-is-lp-picture-disc","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.wasserbassin.com\/site\/product\/thundercat-it-is-what-it-is-lp-picture-disc\/","title":{"rendered":"Thundercat – It Is What It Is – LP (Picture Disc)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thundercat<\/strong> has released his new album \u201cIt Is What It Is<\/strong>\u201d on Brainfeeder Records<\/strong>. The album, produced by Flying Lotus and Thundercat<\/strong>, features musical contributions from Ty Dolla $ign, Childish Gambino, Lil B, Kamasi Washington, Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington, BADBADNOTGOOD, Louis Cole and Zack Fox.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt Is What It Is<\/strong>\u201d follows his game-changing third album \u201cDrunk\u201d (2017). That record completed his transition from virtuoso bassist to bonafide star and cemented his reputation as a unique voice that transcends genre. \u201cThis album is about love, loss, life and the ups and downs that come with that,\u201d Bruner says about \u201cIt Is What It Is<\/strong>\u201d. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit tongue-in-cheek, but at different points in life you come across places that you don\u2019t necessarily understand\u2026 some things just aren\u2019t meant to be understood.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tragic passing of his friend Mac Miller in September 2018 had a profound effect on Thundercat <\/strong>and the making of \u201cIt Is What It Is<\/strong>\u201d. \u201cLosing Mac was extremely difficult,\u201d he explains. \u201cI had to take that pain in and learn from it and grow from it. It sobered me up\u2026 it shook the ground for all of us in the artist community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unruly bounce of new single \u2018Black Qualls\u2019 is classic Thundercat<\/strong>, teaming up with Steve Lacy (The Internet) and Funk icon Steve Arrington (Slave). It\u2019s another example of Stephen Lee Bruner\u2019s desire to highlight the lineage of his music and pay his respects to the musicians who inspired him. Discovering Arrington\u2019s output in his late teens, Bruner says he fell in love with his music immediately: \u201cThe tone of the bass, the way his stuff feels and moves, it resonated through my whole body.\u201d \u2018Black Qualls\u2019 emerged from writing sessions with Lacy, whom Thundercat describes as \u201cthe physical incarnate of the Ohio Players in one person – he genuinely is a funky ass dude\u201d. It references what it means to be a black American with a young mindset: \u201cWhat it feels like to be in this position right now\u2026 the weird ins and outs, we\u2019re talking about those feelings\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Thundercat<\/strong> revisits established partnerships with Kamasi Washington, Louis Cole, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Ronald Bruner Jr and Dennis Hamm on \u201cIt Is What Is Is\u201d but there are new faces too: Childish Gambino, Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington, plus Ty Dolla $ign and Lil B on \u2018Fair Chance\u2019 – a song explicitly about his friend Mac Miller\u2019s passing. The aptly titled \u2018I Love Louis Cole\u2019 is another standout – \u201cLouis Cole is a brush of genius. He creates so purely,\u201d says Thundercat<\/strong> \u201cHe makes challenging music: harmony-wise, melody-wise and tempo-wise but still finds a way for it to be beautiful and palatable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on the album, \u2018Dragonball Durag\u2019 exemplifies both Thundercat\u2019s love of humour in music and indeed his passion for the cult Japanese anim\u00e9. \u201cI have a Dragon Ball tattoo\u2026 it runs everything. There is a saying that Dragon Ball runs life,\u201d he explains. \u201cThe durag is a superpower, to turn your swag on. It does something\u2026 it changes you,\u201d he says smiling.<\/p>\n

Thundercat<\/strong>\u2019s music starts on his couch at home: \u201cIt\u2019s just me, the bass and the computer\u201d. Nevertheless, referring to the spiritual connection that he shares with his longtime writing and production partner Flying Lotus, Bruner describes his friend as \u201cthe other half of my brain\u201d. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be the artist I am if Lotus wasn\u2019t there,\u201d he says. \u201cHe taught me\u2026 he saw me as an artist and he encouraged it. No matter the life changes, that\u2019s my partner. We are always thinking of pushing in different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comedy is an integral part of Thundercat<\/strong>\u2019s personality. \u201cIf you can\u2019t laugh at this stuff you might as well not be here,\u201d he muses. He seems to be magnetically drawn to comedians from Zack Fox (with whom he collaborates regularly) to Dave Chappelle, Eric Andre and Hannibal Buress whom he counts as friends. \u201cEvery comedian wants to be a musician and every musician wants to be a comedian,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd every good musician is really funny, for the most part.\u201d It\u2019s the juxtaposition, or the meeting point, between the laughter and the pain that is striking listening to \u201cIt Is What It Is<\/strong>\u201d: it really is all-encompassing. \u201cThe thing that really becomes a bit transcendent in the laugh is when it goes in between how you really feel,\u201d Bruner says. \u201cYou\u2019re hoping people understand it, but you don\u2019t even understand how it\u2019s so funny \u2018cos it hurts sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thundercat<\/strong> forms a cornerstone of the Brainfeeder<\/strong> label; he released \u201cThe Golden Age of Apocalypse\u201d (2011), \u201cApocalypse\u201d (2013), followed by EP \u201cThe Beyond \/ Where The Giants Roam\u201d featuring the modern classic \u2018Them Changes\u2019. He was later \u201cat the creative epicenter\u201d (per Rolling Stone) of the 21st century\u2019s most influential hip-hop album Kendrick Lamar\u2019s \u201cTo Pimp A Butterfly\u201d, where he won a Grammy for his collaboration on the track \u2018These Walls\u2019 before releasing his third album \u201cDrunk\u201d in 2017. In 2018 Thundercat<\/strong> and Flying Lotus composed an original score for an episode of Golden Globe and Emmy award winning TV series \u201cAtlanta\u201d (created and written by Donald Glover).<\/p>\n

Brainfeeder
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brainfeeder
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Thundercat<\/strong> has released his new album \u201cIt Is What It Is<\/strong>\u201d on Brainfeeder Records<\/strong>. The album, produced by Flying Lotus and Thundercat<\/strong>, features musical contributions from Ty Dolla $ign, Childish Gambino, Lil B, Kamasi Washington, Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington, BADBADNOTGOOD, Louis Cole and Zack Fox.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt Is What It Is<\/strong>\u201d follows his game-changing third album \u201cDrunk\u201d (2017). That record completed his transition from virtuoso bassist to bonafide star and cemented his reputation as a unique voice that transcends genre. \u201cThis album is about love, loss, life and the ups and downs that come with that,\u201d Bruner says about \u201cIt Is What It Is<\/strong>\u201d. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit tongue-in-cheek, but at different points in life you come across places that you don\u2019t necessarily understand\u2026 some things just aren\u2019t meant to be understood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u25ba CLICK HERE TO LISTEN<\/a><\/p>\n

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