Onstage, Thundercat wears neon green Nike socks and a fox head hat, complete with real fur and eyes. It’s a sight of absurd pairings bound together by funk–a look that very much matches his music.
On his newest EP, Thundercat returns with his signature bass and jazz-influenced riffs, only this time with a little more heart in the mix. The release’s title-track, “Them Changes”, borrows a sampled beat from the Isley Brothers’ “Footsteps in the Dark” and quickly runs off, darting in and out of Flying Lotus and Kamasi Washington’s contributions. Masked in a thick ’70s groove, his opening words (“Nobody move there’s blood on the floor/ And I can’t find my heart”) pierce the lovelorn number.
The fine folks at Brainfeeder managed to make the song even more fascinating. In the music video, two modern day samurais duke it out in a dusty garage. Cardboard boxes break, swords slash, and family portraits remain framed. Even though there are limbs lost and pooling blood, it’s mostly an emotionally devastating video. The father in the video lets loose on the piano and lives on to dream of the days when he could solo on forever. Several gut-wrenching stares right at the camera leave you feeling nervous and overwhelmed, as well as the lonely guinea pig sighing in a corner. Watch for Thundercat’s cameo as a salesman on TV, too, while the heartbreak wades on. Check it out above.
