Photograph: Misha Vladimirskiy/FilterlessThundercat’s playing is instantly recognizable, and his warm, slap-happy space bass has rounded out the tracks of Flying Lotus, Kendrick Lamar and Erykah Badu. His 2015 to 2016 run -- including collaborations with Kendrick, Shabazz Palaces, and Kamasi Washington, as well as his own, excellent EP, The Beyond, Where The Giants Roam -- has been monumental. Here, he curates a playlist of his favorite basslines. Joe Henderson’s “A Shade of Jane” is sly and virtuosic modern-day post-bop jam, and you can hear the seedlings of Thundercat’s own bass style in “Spring Yard Zone,” which was originally the music for Sonic the Hedgehog video game. It’s a little hard to accept that the bassline for Spandau Ballet ranks among the all-time greats, but this is a generally enjoyable, sometimes revealing playlist.
