Much to our delight, during the Memorial Day Weekend NPR provided a First Listen of Thundercat’s latest album Apocalypse,which is the much anticipated follow-up to The Golden Age of Apocalypse.  We were hoping to have a sneak peek before the official June 4th release, but the NPR Music white glove treatment is impressive along with the Executive Producer role of Flying Lotus (and also fellow Brainfeeder label mate Mono/Poly).

In our earlier write-up of the single ‘Heartbreaks + Setbacks,’ we hoped for a positive outcome in Apocalypse as we had faith in the artist’s proven talent, albeit with some mention of the  previous project which was a bit lackluster.  Ultimately, we find the album to be one that will absolutely be revisited over the coming summer months.  Not only is Thundercat’s ‘astral soul music’ trademark sound honed here as a much more refined experience, but the noted tribute to the late Austin Peralta (fellow musician/keyboardist) is touching and quite beautiful.

The delicate quality of Thundercat’s musical arrangements are superb.  The extra help of FlyLo is evident in that the album tells a story this time without necessarily requiring any predicated order.  As far as any criticisms, maybe the only would be that the lyrics became a little monotonous at times in comparison to the richness of the other elements.  At one point during ‘Oh Sheit It’s X’ we were reminded a little of Michael McDonald á la ‘Yah Mo B There’… but perhaps that made it more likeable.

As of today ‘The Life Aquatic’, ‘Tron Song’, ‘Seven’ and also the final track dedicated to Peralta are our standouts for the album.  That will probably change again by the end of week which means we really love it.

Please Enjoy (courtesy of NPR/Brainfeeder)… link.