Thundercat, Wooten, Claypool. Who is the King of the Bass?

While out for coffee this morning, a Thundercat song came on while we were driving back. I am a big Thundercat fan. He is a magician, a virtuoso if you will, on the bass.

When the song came on, my buddy Kirk mentioned that he just recently heard of Thundercat. I started to instantly sing his praises. I mentioned how I have seen other people online say that he is like a Transformer on the bass. He is an amazing bassist. I said, after heaping compliments on Thundercat, how I think he is one of the best bassists in the world. I mentioned that the only bassist that I think is better is Victor Wooten. Victor Wooten is truly one of a kind. I saw him live once, and boy oh boy was it amazing. I didn't know much about him when I went to the show, but I left a true convert. I was hooked. I devoured his whole catalog. I have been talking him up ever since. I said all of this to Kirk and my dad, and then Kirk hit me with a doozy. After saying that Wooten was the greatest bassist of all time, and Thundercat was second best, he asked me, what about Les Claypool? I had to sit back and think. I told him that he just shook my whole view on this topic. Les Claypool is also a wizard. He plays the bass like he is from another world. He also plays a bunch of different genres. He is stretchy. He can do some wonderful things on the bass.

Now I am stuck. I don't know who, of these three musicians, is the best at the bass. And I am sure that there are other bassists out there that I am forgetting. I don't listen to jazz or hard rock stuff where bass is a driving force. I don't know some of the underground or not yet discovered artists. Leave me alone. I am going totally based on my listening experience. These are the people I like. These are who I know and can talk a little bit about. If I didn't name your favorite bassist, I'm sorry. But also, get over it.

So, taking these three guys as my base, who is the best? Who plays the best? Who is the best writer of the three? Who has the longest staying power? Who is the most technically proficient? These are a few questions I have been pondering since we first talked about this about two hours ago. So, as far as who plays it best, or who is the most proficient, all three have their own high marks. Victor Wooten is the first person I ever heard play harmonics. He was also going wild at the live show. He was going fret to fret, string to string. He crushed. Thundercat, as previously mentioned, is a transformer. The stuff he does on the bass is second to none. He plays faster than Victor Wooten. He makes it look so easy, but what he is doing is incredibly difficult. He is the first person hip hop artists ask to be on their records. He is truly a virtuoso. As for Les Claypool, I mean, this dude is amazing. He literally shreds on the bass. He makes it sound like a guitar sometimes. He is almost too good at the bass. He has his own circus that he runs, and his band is who everyone wants to watch. He is the best of the best among a group of the best bass players in the US. As far as staying power, they all have a good deal. Thundercat has the hip hop community, as well as his solo stuff. Victor Wooten has a solo career, as well as playing with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. As for Claypool, he has his circus. He has played with many rock bands. He has his own band. They are all going to be around for a long time. As for writing, Thundercat isn't that great, but his playing hides that. Victor Wooten is more an instrumentalist than a writer. As for Claypool, I almost feel like he is goofing off when he writes songs, and that is a-okay. I also like his goofy lyrics. And his playing is pretty damn dope. So, I am still finding myself stuck. At moments it is easily Thundercat, but then I go back and remember all the stuff I just said about Claypool and Wooten. Wooten's live show is a core memory. But, I haven't seen Thundercat or Claypool in concert as of yet. And they are all incredibly proficient on the bass. If I had to make a pick, if I was somehow forced to, I'd go with Thundercat, but just by a hair. And that may change from moment to moment.

All in all, these three dudes are at the top of their craft. If you haven't heard these guys play, do yourself a favor and start right now. They are all more than worth your time. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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The SeedSing (half) Year in Pop Culture: The Top Five Albums of 2015

These are the records to put on

Day two of my Best of 2015 countdown will be my top five albums of the year. I'm a huge music fan and there has been a decent amount of music put out this year. Bands and musicians like Sleater-Kinney, Earl Sweatshirt, Thundercat, Kurt Vile and Father John Misty all put out excellent records. I've also been introduced to some older bands and albums from years past this year. For example, I love both Run The Jewels albums. Shit, I was this close to putting them on this countdown because they're so good and I just recently started listening to them. I also recently got way into AC/DC. Their older stuff is excellent rock and roll music, but it wouldn't be fair to put them in this countdown. I picked five albums that were released this year. They are my five favorites and the ones I go back to the most. They're all fairly popular, but that doesn't make the music any less listenable. On with the countdown.

At number five I have a band that I was just introduced to five days ago, but I can't stop listening to their record. The band is Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats and the album is self titled. This album is great. It hearkens back to the good old days of early alternative soul music. I was introduced to this band while listening to the Sklar Brothers music podcast and the guy that was talking about them gave the perfect comparison. He said that Rateliff sounds like Van Morrison and the band is like the studio bands for soul music in the 60's and 70's. I couldn't agree more. This album is good from top to bottom. Rateliff has that Morrison/old soul gruff voice and the band is tight. The highlight of the record for me is the song, "Howling at Nothing". It has everything you could want in this style of music. Great vocals, great background music and a kick ass guitar solo. This record is excellent.

Coming in at number four I have what every other publication has at number one, Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly". Oh my god, this album is so complex and so awesome. It's a total detour from his record last year, "good kid, M.A.A.D. city", but that's oaky. The funny thing about this record, I didn't care for it the first time I heard it, but on the second, third, fourth and so on and so forth listen, I grew to love this album. It's so god damn good. Lamar is a beast. He has taken over the throne as the best rapper out there right now. He is the best writer and his delivery is top notch. This is more an art piece than a rap album. Lamar pays tributes to the people that influenced him and the last track where he reads a letter to Tupac and has Tupac responding is chilling. I love this album. I'm a big rap fan and the things that Kendrick Lamar does on "TPABF" is light years ahead of any rapper out there right now. He's so much better than Drake or Kanye West, it's funny that they're mentioned in the same sentence as him. I cannot wait to see what he will do next.

My number three album is "Yours Dreamily" by The Arcs. I've heard some hipsters complain that this album is no good or complain that Dan Auerbach needs to stop doing side projects, but why not work with some good musicians and do some different, interesting things. Sure, it sounds a bit Black Keysish, but most stuff will if Auerbach is the lead singer. I think "Yours Dreamily" is better than any indie rock or alternative album that was put out this year, with one exception that I will get to at number two. The album spans many different genres of music and I like to hear what Auerbach can do with a full band. When I wrote about this album earlier this year, I said it was like a western movie soundtrack, but in the best way possible. Upon further listens, I still feel the same way, but I also think it's just a downright awesome rock album. Songs like "Velvet Ditch" or "Outta My Mind" are awesome rock/blues songs with Auerbach crushing on vocals and guitar. Auerbach can do no wrong musically. The best track on this album is "Stay in My Corner". There's a different singer, but the song is sweet, rock and roll and blues all mixed into one song. The vocals are great, the music is great and the chorus is memorable. This will be a wedding song for the hipsters that like this band for many years to come. "Yours Dreamily" is a great record, don't listen to the music snobs out there saying that it's not so good, they're wrong.

My number two record is the one alternative record I like more than "Yours Dreamily". That album is "Sound and Color" by the Alabama Shakes. I mean come on, how did they top their debut record, "Boys and Girls" so easily? "Boys and Girls" was a revelation to me, "Sound and Color" has the makings of a classic album. This is a record that I feel my kids will play for their kids. Alabama Shakes could've easily stayed in their little indie corner and make more swamp records and been very successful, but they took a huge chance by playing poppy prog rock and they hit a grand slam. This album is so different from their debut and I love that. "Sound and Color" proved that they were willing to take huge chances and showed a lot of diversity. This is the type of album you put on and listen all the way through without skipping one song. The highlights for me are "Sound and Color", "Future People" and "Dunes". "Sound and Color" is a super trippy, slow burning tune that works perfectly. You may have heard it on the most recent Apple Mac Air commercials. The marimba and Brittany Howards vocals are hauntingly beautiful. "Dunes" is another slow song with flat out awesome music in the back ground. Howard, once again, crushes the vocals as well. "Future People" is the high light of this phenomenal album. It's slow, it's heavy and it builds to be the perfect rock song. The guitar effect used during the chorus is one of the coolest things I've ever heard. "Sound and Color" is so good, Alabama Shakes is now one of the best and most talked about rock bands of the 21st century. Best alternative rock record of the year by far.

My number one album of 2015 is Leon Bridges "Coming Home". I've been on the Leon Bridges bandwagon for about nine months now. I've written about him twice on the website and my first blog on him was about a YouTube video I saw of him before he released his debut album. This album is so wonderful. It brings 60's soul and R&B into the 21st century. Bridges vocals are perfect for this style of music. His background band reminds me of the ladies that sang with guys like Rufus Thomas, Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes. The band plays and records on retro equipment. I mean, this is the coolest thing I've heard in quite some time. The fact that Bridges is only 25 years old makes this album all that more impressive. He is going to be a humongous star if he continues on this path. "Coming Home" is the best 30 minute album I've ever listened to. Songs like "Brown Skinned Girl" and "Better Man" sound like Stax Records re opened their doors and let him record there. Those songs are timeless. My favorite track on the record is "River". It's a quiet song that just builds and builds to a beautiful ending that has Bridges softly and smoothly singing the final lyrics. I love his voice and his band and everything about this album. "Coming Home" is far and away the best record I heard in all of 2015 and it was the first of my top five that I listened to. It's stayed with me all this time, that's how awesome it is.

So, there you have my top five albums of the year. Tell me why I'm right or wrong in the comment section and let me know what I left out. Come back tomorrow for my top five TV shows of the year.

Also, RIP Lemmy Kilmister, you were a guitar god and you will be greatly missed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. Next year he is planning on getting into the BeeGees and Black Flag. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.