Release Roundup: Thundercat, Silversun Pickups

Thundercat (photo: Daniel Boczarski / Contributor).

** Bass virtuoso Thundercat brings his signature style to a cover of the 1980 Diana Ross classic “Upside Down,” which is out now in collaboration with the game Candy Crush Saga and Brainfeeder. The track arrives in tandem with a playable in-game music video featuring “bursts of color” and other surprises. Fans can also obtain limited-edition bone-conduction lollipops “that literally let you taste the beat.”

In September, Thundercat brought forth his first new music since 2023 in the form of “I Wish I Didn’t Waste Your Time” and the Remi Wolf collaboration “Children of the Baked Potato.” Both were produced by Greg Kurstin.

** Veteran alt-rockers Silversun Pickups are readying their seventh album, Tenterhooks, for a Feb. 6 release on their own imprint, New Machine Recordings. The first single from the Butch Vic-produced LP, “The Wreckage,” is out now.

“We wanted to make a tight record that could fit on one vinyl with five songs on each side,” says frontman Brian Aubert. “To me, it’s an impatient, apprehensive and more aggressive album. We started recording when the world was changing again. You invariably wonder, what are we headed towards? Even if you’re not necessarily writing about it, it bleeds into how you’re feeling and approaching life. We stripped things down and went louder and rawer.”

Silversun Pickups will support Tenterhooks with a 30-date North American tour, beginning Feb. 19 in Santa Ana, Ca.