Don’t Miss New Albums From Tunde Adebimpe; Julien Baker & TORRES; Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson + More

TV On the Radio frontman Tunde Adebimpe issued his debut solo album, Thee Black Boltz, through Sub Pop Records. Adebimpe co-produced Thee Black Boltz with Wilder Zoby, who also served as executive producer of the 11-track LP. Among others providing additional production and contributions were Adebimpe’s TVOTR bandmates Jaleel Bunton and Jahphet Landis. The album’s title is said to be Adebimpe’s “response to the macro unease of a post-pandemic world careening towards violent authoritarianism and the personal grief that has come from loss in recent years, specifically the sudden passing of his younger sister while making it.” “Also, it’s a good name for a cool metal band,” Adebimpe said. “And I think that most people would describe me as akin to a very cool metal band.”

Additionally, Adebimpe shared the below statement about writing songs for his solo album:

“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 [TVOTR guitarist] Kyp [Malone] will have five brilliant ideas on where it can go. But for Thee Black Boltz, I didn’t have that scaffolding to hang on. That was both terrifying and exhilarating.”

The ongoing collaboration between Julien Baker and TORRES today released their debut album Send A Prayer My Way, through Matador Records. The seeds of their unexpected country record were planted in 2016, when a casual comment after their first shared stage – “You know, we should make a country album” – sparked what would become an eight-year journey to its creation. Baker is coming off the massive success of boygenius’ 2023 album, The Record. The trio’s debut full-length album scored three Grammy Awards for Baker and bandmates Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers. TORRES (Mackenzie Scott) released her sixth studio album, What An Enormous Room, in January 2024.

Rhiannon Giddens teamed back up with her former Carolina Chocolate Drops bandmate Justin Robinson for the newly released album, What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, out now via Nonesuch Records. The pair drew inspiration from late musical heroes Etta Baker and North Carolina Piedmont musician Joe Thompson. Press materials further detailed the album:

Giddens and Robinson recorded outdoors at Thompson’s and Baker’s North Carolina homes, as well as the former plantation Mill Prong House. They were accompanied by the sounds of nature, including two different broods of cicadas, which had not emerged simultaneously since 1803, creating a true once-in-a-lifetime soundscape.

Giddens commented on the record as well:

“With the assaults on reality going on in the world today, we wanted to offer another kind of record, like walking back onto a gravel or dirt road while a stampede goes the other way. With the cicada choir, this record could’ve only happened at a certain time in the last 120 years. We doubled down on place, time, realness, and old-fashioned front porch music. It’s a reminder that another way exists, with music made for your community’s enjoyment and for dancing–not solely for commercial purposes.

“What is the role of music in our society?” How do we de-couple it from unfettered capitalism, where music is a product and musicians are incidental? How do we use the tools and system that we have been bequeathed in a way that reminds us of other ways of being?”

Musician Zach Condon released a new album for his project Beirut, A Study of Losses, through his Pompeii Records label. The 18-track album serves as the musical accompaniment for Swedish circus Kompani Giraff. Along with being commissioned by Kompani Giraff, the 18-track A Study of Losses was also inspired by the German novel Verzeichnis einiger Verluste by Judith Schalansky. Press materials explained:

A Study of Losses journeys through eleven songs and seven extended instrumental themes, named after the lunar seas and inspired by the chilling tale of a man obsessed with archiving all of humanity’s lost thoughts and creations. Like Verzeichnis einiger Verluste, A Study of Losses finds Condon writing about disappearance, preservation and the impermanence of everything known to us – extinct animal species, lost architectural and literary treasures, the process of aging and other abstract concepts.

Thunderball is the new Melvins album, released under the Melvins 1983 moniker through Ipecac Recordings. The five-song, 34-minute album features the Melvins 1983 lineup of founding frontman Buzz Osborne and original drummer Mike Dillard, along with Void Manes and Ni Maîtres. Osborne shed light on the process of making the record:

“Thunderball is the third Melvins 1983 record we’ve made together, and I wanted it to be bombastic. I also wanted to do something with electronic artists Void Manes and Ni Maîtres for a long time. Both of them are exceptional talents. Their out-of-the-box use of electronics pushed Thunderball beyond my expectations.”

Musician/producer Adrian Younge released Something About April III, the third and final installment in his self-described “psychedelic soul trilogy.” The follow-up to 2011’s Something About April and 2016’s Something About April II, sees Younge similarly exploring the sounds of American and European cinematic soul, with Part III incorporating elements of Brazilian psychedelica. Younge recorded the final chapter with the 30-piece Linear Labs Orchestra. Younge shared the below insights regarding the new album:

“Something About April III is the album I wanted to make when I created the first album in 2011. However, I didn’t have the musical knowhow and experience to create the sound that was buried deep in my soul. Essentially, SAA III is the album that has taken me fifteen years to uncover and fully realize. From a cratediggers’ perspective, it’s the album I’ve been diggin’ for in the deepest crates of my soul. A lost album I finally found. I hope this LP resonates with you as much as it has for me.”