Apocalypse

The 2013 sophomore album by bass guitar virtuoso Stephen Bruner (A.K.A. Thundercat) is remarkably ahead of his already-impressive 2011 debut LP The Golden Age of Apocalypse. Having lent his magic-fingered skills to everyone from Erykah Badu to Suicidal Tendencies, it’s interesting to hear what he has cultured and crafted for his own album. Over retro-modern analogue blips and bleeps that recall vintage Sun Ra recordings, Bruner croons through murky fidelity that recalls Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti. Throughout the opening song, his bass pulses with a less-is-more foundation of pedaling rhythms. But this allows plenty of room for Bruner to overlap dense layers of progressive playing on other instruments. The following “Heartbreaks + Setbacks” pushes the advanced musicianship to the side, encouraging barbed melodies and a robust rhythmic groove to take center stage. On “Tron Song,” he deviates from the indie-infused R&B to bestow an astral folk tune trimmed with spacey filigree; it’s sure to hit home with anyone into Terry Callier’s 1972 opus What Color Is Love.