TV on the Radio‘s Tunde Adebimpe has announced his debut solo album, Thee Black Boltz, which will be out April 18 via Sub Pop. “It’s a good name for a cool metal band,” Tunde says of the title, “and I think that most people would describe me as akin to a very cool metal band.”
“I’ve been doing this thing with this group of people for so long, that I can just have a vague sketch of a concept and I know Jaleel or Kyp will have five brilliant ideas on where it can go,” he says of making this album. “But for Thee Black Boltz, I didn’t have that scaffolding to hang on. That was both terrifying and exhilarating.” He actually did have a little scaffolding, as his TVOTR bandmates Jaleel Bunton and Jahphet Landis contributed additional production and music, while the album was co-produced Tunde and Wilder Zoby (who also gets an Executive Producer credit).
The album includes last year’s “Magnetic” and he’s just shared new single “Drop” which mixes beatboxing into a typically soaring Tunde melody. Watch the video, and check out The Black Boltz artwork, below.
In related news, during their run of reunion shows last year, TV on the Radio taped an episode of NPR’s Tiny Desk series, playing “Wolf Like Me,” “Could You,” Satellite,” and Young Liars.” You can watch that below.
Thee Black Boltz:
1. Thee Black Boltz
2. Magnetic
3. Ate The Moon
4. Pinstack
5. Drop
6. ILY
7. The Most
8. God Knows
9. Blue
10. Somebody New
11. Streetlight Nuevo