For eleven years there has been no new music from TV on the radio. One of the best bands of the zero years is silent. The members are active in other places, but the sparkling digital indie rock of the band is still missing. The fact that singer Tunde Adebimpe now publishes his first solo album is therefore good news. Especially since Thee Black Boltz initially offers music that does not leave a TV-on-the-radio fan at a loss.
Above all, the nervous “at the Moon” has the nested structures of the main band. But then the album takes a change of direction towards Pop: “Pinstack” sounds like Bubblegum from the 60s, “Drop” to Beach Boys, “Somebody New” to New Order, the folking love ballad “Ily” to Coldplay if they would concentrate on songwriting again.
The turn to pop is surprising because Adebimpe negotiates the grief of the death of the sister and powerlessness in the political climate of the present. But the album lives up to the title: a plate like a bolt in the roaring lake, which wants to give in a baseless times.
You can find out which albums were still published in April 2025 via our monthly publication list.