Brainfeeder

On his second album for mentor Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder imprint, Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner appears to be more focused on spanking booties than slapping the bass. Sure, Apocalypse exhibits some of the dizzying four-string wizardry that has earned him tasty session man gigs for prolific artists like Snoop Dogg and Erykah Badu as well as a touring member position with Los Angeles thrash masters Suicidal Tendencies. But the crux of these dozen songs – executive produced by FlyLo himself – aim to showcase Bruner’s aptitudes as a songwriter and composer beyond his technical prowess, as evidenced by the Michael McDonald-meets-Jonzun Crew bounce of key tracks like “Heartbreaks + Setbacks,” “Tron Song” and “Without You.” Not only is this cat an ace of bass, he can throw one hell of a party to boot.