Album: Thee Black Boltz by Tunde Adebimpe (2025)
Genre: rock
Record Label: Sub Pop Records
Format: CD

Description: Tunde Adebimpe’s solo debut faced a long, hard road to fruition. In the wake of TV on the Radio going on hiatus in 2019, Adebimpe’s efforts were stalled by the pandemic, label disinterest and, most tragically, the death of his sister Jumoke. By happenstance, Thee Black Boltz arrives in the midst of TV on the Radio’s reunion campaign, and if lead single “Magnetic” had been released under the TVOTR banner, no one would bat an eye: The song boasts a minimalist electro-punk sound that harkens back to the band’s early-2000s days in the Brooklyn DIY scene, and a buzzing energy that will satisfy anyone who regularly dials up the band’s raging performance of “Wolf Like Me” on Letterman when they need an instant adrenaline boost.

But Thee Black Boltz is, naturally, a much more personal statement than TVOTR’s definitive life-during-wartime addresses. It’s distinguished not just by its open displays of grief (see: “ILY”, aka “I Love You”, a tender acoustic elegy for Jumoke), but in its defiant embrace of joy: “Somebody New” channels the pure discotheque ecstasy of mid-’80s New Order, while the stuttering synth-pop of “The Most” wraps its heart-warming sentiments in twinkling psychedelic flourishes and a mid-song flip of Wayne Smith’s dancehall classic “Under Me Sleng Teng”.

Artist Background: Artist from US, known for Various musical styles

Music Scene: Part of the US music scene

Tags: rock, 2020s, CD, Sub Pop Records

Tunde Adebimpe’s solo debut faced a long, hard road to fruition. In the wake of TV on the Radio going on hiatus in 2019, Adebimpe’s efforts were stalled by the pandemic, label disinterest and, most tragically, the death of his sister Jumoke. By happenstance, Thee Black Boltz arrives in the midst of TV on the Radio’s reunion campaign, and if lead single “Magnetic” had been released under the TVOTR banner, no one would bat an eye: The song boasts a minimalist electro-punk sound that harkens back to the band’s early-2000s days in the Brooklyn DIY scene, and a buzzing energy that will satisfy anyone who regularly dials up the band’s raging performance of “Wolf Like Me” on Letterman when they need an instant adrenaline boost.

But Thee Black Boltz is, naturally, a much more personal statement than TVOTR’s definitive life-during-wartime addresses. It’s distinguished not just by its open displays of grief (see: “ILY”, aka “I Love You”, a tender acoustic elegy for Jumoke), but in its defiant embrace of joy: “Somebody New” channels the pure discotheque ecstasy of mid-’80s New Order, while the stuttering synth-pop of “The Most” wraps its heart-warming sentiments in twinkling psychedelic flourishes and a mid-song flip of Wayne Smith’s dancehall classic “Under Me Sleng Teng”.

Tunde Adebimpe

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