Jul 17, 2025 12:44 PM
DownBeat’s 73rd Annual Critics Poll: One for the Record Books
You see before you what we believe is the largest and most comprehensive Critics Poll in the history of jazz. DownBeat…
Thundercat will release, Drunk, his third studio album, on March 10.
(Photo: )Raise your glasses, jazz fans. Bassist and producer Thundercat, aka Stephen Bruner, will release his third full-length studio album, Drunk, on Feb. 24 via Brainfeeder.
The album is a 23-track excursion through the creative process of the Grammy-winning artist, and features a host of chart-topping jazz , hip-hop and r&b artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell, Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Wiz Khalifa, Kamasi Washington and Brainfeeder label head founder Flying Lotus.
Drunk is the follow up to Thundercat’s widely praised 2015 album The Beyond/Where The Giants Roam. The new project features fan favorite tracks “Bus In These Streets” and “Them Changes.”
“Show You The Way” is the first single from Drunk, and the ballad features two of Thundercat’s idols: vocalists Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald. The partnership stems back to Thundercat’s professed admiration of Loggins and McDonald during the bassist’s press tour for The Beyond.
Regarding the collaboration, Thundercat notes, “That song to me is about going down the rabbit hole, taking you to another place ... On the edge of dark, there’s the brightest light. It means a lot to me in the sense of ... the experience that I’ve had growing up with friends and people that I’ve been around where it’s inviting them into where I come from emotionally. Sometimes it’s a pretty intense thing. The point is how weird things can get. I feel like it’s very funny that, in a way, of course Michael McDonald and Kenny would be there.”
Drunk will be available Feb. 24 in digital and CD versions on Brainfeeder. The vinyl format—comprising four red 10-inch albums housed in a lift-off box featuring photography by Eddie Alcazar and artwork by Zack Fox—will be released on March 10. (On a familial note, Thundercat’s brother, the drummer/producer Ronald Bruner, will release his own debut album, Triumph, on Alpha Pup Records on March 3.)
All formats are available to preorder now via http://brainfeeder.net/thundercat. Thundercat is also set to tour internationally in support of the album, including a return performance at Coachella Music & Arts Festival. For tour dates and additional info, visit Brainfeeder’s website. DB
James Brandon Lewis earned honors for Artist of the Year and Tenor Saxophonist of the Year. Three of his recordings placed in the Albums of the Year category.
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