by Roy Scopazzi
I’m not going to lie, the thing I took away the most from this Thundercat performance is that this dude’s teeth are white as hell.
‘Round about half way through the set, Stephen Bruner’s expression turns into what I can only describe as a rictus, something approximating a painful, toothy smile as he slaps and shreds his bass for the 8th minute of what is originally around a 4 minute song. I can never tell if he’s having the time of his life or if he’s in excruciating pain. Or both. Each song is punctuated by these extended solos, the way to show off that this dude is mad talented and the main reason that you come to see him rather than just sitting at home and listening to his albums. Each solo ripples with the kind of skill that you can only gormlessly gawk at for it’s length and they almost never get stale or boring.
The funny thing is that Thundercat is what I would call a “Deeply Uncool Dude”. He wields a Neon Genesis Evangelion bass with an incredibly thick neck and Asuka on the body (who is the best girl so I’ll give him points for that). He has a Sonic the Hedgehog necklace, he has a hat with like eight nerdy pins on it. In other words, he’s just like me! I appreciate when someone of his talent and skill isn’t a high minded snob and shows his nerdy passions on his sleeve (and the rest of his clothing) and I have a feeling the crowd at the Regency Ballroom are huge fans of him for that as well. You don’t get an entire venue to meow along with you unless they’re a little dorky as well.
Screw the Dodgers, though.
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