Thundercat

Tame Impala Joins Thundercat For The Dreamy New Collaboration ‘No More Lies’

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Thundercat has been busy. Stephen Lee Bruner joined Gorillaz on stage during their Coachella sets alongside Bad Bunny, De La Soul, and Beck. He performed “Bad Habit” with Steve Lacy at this year’s Grammys. He’s going to be on tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Yet “No More Lies,” his new track with Tame Impala out today, is his first song in three years. It’s quite a strong comeback, shimmering with a radiant atmosphere and hypnotic vocals: “You and I both know it’s harder than it seems / Love is a two-way street / I’m letting go because the both of us don’t need to drive / Baby, it’s one at a time,” Thundercat sings. Kevin Parker’s voice adds another layer of serenity: “I’ll just be on my own / I’ll just be home alone / My troubles are my own,” he croons.

“I’ve wanted to work with Kevin since the very first Tame Impala album,” Thundercat shared about “No More Lies” in a statement. “I feel that I knew that us working together would be special. I’ve been excited about this song for a long time and hope to create more with Kevin in the future.”

The track ends with a conflicted monologue, ending with the unreal lines: “It just looks like I don’t care / Because my emotions have been sanded off / I live in LA, sweetie, what do you expect?”

Listen to “No More Lies” above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

NFL Announces Bizarre Lineup For Draft Concert

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The NFL is a brand that has always strived to appeal to younger audiences. Whether that’s through promotions, the Super Bowl halftime show, or just generally trying to be the most exciting sport America has to offer. According to a poll of 1000 Gen Zers in 2022, 53% of them listed the NFL as their favorite sports league.

By extension, the NFL wants young people to tune into the NFL Draft. With the next crop of young players entering the league, the NFL wants people invested. As part of this, the NFL Draft has become a three-day spectacle that takes over an entire city. This includes the NFL Draft Concert series, a trio of musical performances that close out each day of the draft. In the past, performers have included MGK and Marshmello. But we have some questions about the 2023 lineup.

Fall Out Boy, Mötley Crüe, and Thundercat Headline NFL Draft Concert 2023

In an announcement earlier this week, the NFL revealed that the NFL Draft Concert 2023 would feature Fall Out Boy, Mötley Crüe, and Thundercat. Fall Out Boy would follow Round 1 on April 27, Mötley Crüe would come on after Round 3 on April 28, and Thundercat would close out proceedings on April 29. The concert is free on a first-come, first-served basis in Kansas City. 2022 featured a lineup of Weezer, Ice Cube, and Marshmello. Starting to think people might not want to play the NFL Draft…

Fall Out Boy and Thundercat are decent if slightly unusual choices. Thundercat is a nice way to close out the draft while Fall Out Boy is currently promoting their new album. But Mötley Crüe? The 80s metal band who is currently feuding with one of their band members? The band that hasn’t released a new album in 15 years? It’s a weird move from an organization that has the money and power to get any number of big-name stars. Furthermore, the NFL literally just had Rihanna magically vibe all over the Super Bowl. Was Mötley Crüe seriously the best they could do? Regardless, all three acts will be in attendance when the NFL Draft kicks off next week.

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Gorillaz Got De La Soul, Thundercat, And More Guests For Their Electric Coachella Performance

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gorillaz de la soul
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Given their range of collaborations with artists, it was not surprise that Gorillaz had a lot of special guests for their Coachella set Friday. The band kicked things off by bringing out Thundercat, who played “Cracker Island,” the title track off their most recent album.

Shortly after, Damon Albarn brought out Peven Everett for “Strobelite” and Jamie Principle for “Hollywood.” After a brief interlude in which the band played “Andromeda,” Albarn brought out Bootie Brown to perform “New Gold.”

For one of Gorillaz’s best-known songs, “On Melancholy Hill,” Albarn dedicated it to his daughter, Missy.

Brown returned later in the show to play “Dirty Harry.” Next up was Slowthai, who dropped by to perform “Momentary Bliss,” one of Gorillaz’s songs from their record Song Machine.

The band closed out with some classics, with Del The Funky Homosapien playing “Rock The House” before returning for the closer, “Clint Eastwood.”

In between, De La Soul did “Feel Good Inc.,” giving the crowd a chance to hear all their favorite Gorillaz standards.

“Dave would’ve loved being out there,” one fan who uploaded the performance noted, referencing the late Trugoy.

Check out some clips from Gorillaz’s Coachella set above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Anderson .Paak, Herbie Hancock, Thundercat, And More Are Set To Headline Newport Jazz Festival 2023

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Anderson Paak Concert PNE Amphitheatre 2019
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Another day, another legendary music festival lineup to announce. This go-’round is one of the most iconic festivals dedicated to jazz music lovers: the Newport Jazz Festival.

The multi-day outdoor event is set to celebrate its 69th anniversary, making its highly-anticipated return to Fort Adams State Park in Rhode Island. The Newport Jazz Festival will take place between August 4 and 6. Opening day, Friday, August 4, will be headlined by Kamasi Washington, DJ Pee .Wee (also known as Anderson .Paak), and Big Freedia. Whereas Jon Batiste and Thundercat are billed to headline the following day, Saturday, August 5. Closing out the festival is none other than jazz legends Herbie Hancock and Diana Krall.

Other notable acts include Grammy’s newest Best New Artist winner Samara Joy, Charles Lloyd, Vijay Iyer, DOMi & JD Beck, Arooj Aftab, Big Gigantic, Alfa Mist, Cautious Clay, Durand Jones, and The War & Treaty.

Tickets for the festival will go on sale to the public on Wednesday, March 22, at 1 p.m. est. The organizers are offering a student discount rate for those between the ages of 10 and 25. For more information, click here.

View the full lineup organized by day via the poster below.

Newport Jazz Festival 2023 Flyer
Newport Jazz Festival

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Steve Lacy And Thundercat Delivered An Infectious Performance Of ‘Bad Habit’ At The 2023 Grammys

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STEVE LACY GRAMMYS 2023
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Taking the stage for his first-ever Grammys performance tonight was Steve Lacy. During his performance, he sang his Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, “Bad Habit.”

On stage, Lacy was joined by Thundercat, who supplemented the poignant love song with a seductive, groovy guitar bridge.

Throughout the performance, several of Lacy’s fellow musicians were seen singing and dancing along to the song, including Machine Gun Kelly, Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift, and the queen herself, Beyoncé.

While this may be his first time performing at The Grammys, Lacy is certainly no novice. Last week, Lacy spoke with CBS Mornings about receiving his first Grammy nomination when he was 17 years old, for his work on The Internet’s Ego Death album.

When asked what the nomination meant to him at the time, Lacy replied “It meant that my mom could get off my ass about going to college.”

Fortunately, this nomination was no flash in the pan for Lacy. In 2020, he was nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album for his solo debut album, Apollo XXI.

Earlier in the night, Lacy won the Best Progressive R&B Album Grammy for his 2022 album, Gemini Rights. “Bad Habit” is also up for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.

In the meantime, you can check out the performance of “Bad Habit” above.

Vic Mensa And Thundercat Team Up On The Spaced-Out ‘Strawberry Louis Vuitton’

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Vic Mensa Thundercat
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Vic Mensa teams up with jazz-soul superproducer Thundercat on his latest single, the spaced-out “Strawberry Louis Vuitton.” Thundercat offers a cotton candy backdrop for Mensa to pen a lyrical love letter to a woman who’s got a hold on him.

Singer Maeta provides backing vocals, bolstering Vic’s own sung chorus, and as the song progresses, the instrumentation grows more and more elaborate, culminating in Thundercat’s falsetto bridge and a crunchy bass breakdown. Check it out below.

Mensa is fresh off the success of his and Chance The Rapper’s Ghana-based music festival, Black Star Line Festival, which also created the opportunity for Vic to build water boreholes that will provide clean water to over 200,000 Ghanaians. Over the holidays, Vic also gave away $10,000 of gas money in his hometown, Chicago, continuing the streak of philanthropy and activism which has defined his career so far. Musically, his last collab was with Chance on The Rapper’s “Wraith (Writing Exercise #3),” the latest in a string of new collaborations they’ve created since reuniting a few years ago.

Thundercat, meanwhile, has been working on some interesting projects of his own, including a contribution to a tribute album for Japanese jazz great Ryuichi Sakamoto and an upcoming tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Flea called ‘Cat his favorite modern bassist). He also popped up on the title track for Gorillaz’s upcoming project Cracker Island, kicking off his 2023 with plenty of high-profile appearances.

A Moment-Seeking Thundercat Fan Rushed The Stage And Tried To Sing

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Thundercat RHCP 2022
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Surely many people dream of being able to sing on stage with their favorite artists and hopefully, it goes a bit better than it did for a particular fan. On Tuesday (August 16), a local singer rushed the stage in an attempt to sing with Thundercat during his show at College Street Music Hall in New Haven, Connecticut.

A video of the moment, posted to Twitter, opens with the young lady hugging Thundercat before grabbing the microphone. She enthusiastically says, “I’m here,” reveals she is a singer, and asks if she can sing before a stage manager escorts her out as the audience boos the stage crasher. It isn’t exactly the easiest job to do so a large security guard has to offer his services as well. No one was harmed nor did it appear the young woman had malicious intent, so the show’s attendees and Thundercat all got a laugh out of this.

Thundercat has had a relatively quiet year release-wise, offering “Fly Like An Eagle” from the Minions: The Rise Of Gru soundtrack and appearing on Gorilaz’s “Cracker Island.” His 2020 album It Is What It Is featured Childish Gambino, Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington, Zack Fox, Ty Dolla Sign, Lil B, and more. It makes sense someone would want to be in his aura.

Check out the video of the singer rushing the stage while Thundercat performs above.

Thundercat Shares A Warped Cover Of ‘Fly Like An Eagle’ For The ‘Minions 2’ Soundtrack

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The soundtrack to Minions: The Rise Of Gru is out today, which has Phoebe Bridgers covering The Carpenters, HER covering Sly And The Family Stone, St. Vincent covering Lipps Inc., Kali Uchis covering Stan Getz And João Gilberto, and Tame Impala and Diana Ross contributing a new song.

Along with these gems, there’s also Thundercat taking on “Fly Like An Eagle,” originally by Steve Miller Band. The idiosyncratic musician does what one would expect — he makes the song weirder and woozier. It’s full of sparkling synths and warped bass, but his vocals are clean, guiding the track forward. It ends by slowly fading away into echoes.

Last month, he shared a collaboration with Gorillaz for “Cracker Island,” about which the Gorillaz virtual band member 2D said, “It’s nice to be back, I’m well into our new tune, it brings back weird and scary memories of stuff that hasn’t happened yet.” The narrative of the tune was explained as “the world’s biggest virtual band have relocated to Silverlake, California where it turns out that the answer to life’s question — the one truth to fix the world — is to invite fans to join ‘The Last Cult,’ with Murdoc as its self-appointed Great Leader.”

Listen to Thundercat’s cover of “Fly Like An Eagle” above.