The Witzard

While his primary band is taking what at least seems to be an honest, yet semi-active, indefinite hiatus, TV on The Radio frontman Tunde Adebimpe has crafted a new mouth-full of a band, Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band . Here, Adebimpe is joined by 3 equally busy long-time friends: Ryan Sawyer, Josh Werner , and Alex Holden ... members of Lone Wolf and Cub , Lee "Scratch" Perry/CocoRosie, and Big Numbers (respectively). Higgins Waterproof have recently announced a 5-track self-titled EP that's set for an October 1st release on their own imprint, ZNA Records , along with a month-long (October) Sunday night residency at Brooklyn 's own Union Pool venue. I think it's pretty safe to assume that this is in fact the same 5-song collection Tunde Adebimpe was describing to SPIN just a few months ago: "You have friends in bands and you realize you've known each other 15 years and never played together, maybe out of respect for your friendship. We star...

VH1 's downright gorgeous Carrie Keagan keeps throwing to Jim James' newly-released music video/single, "A New Life" during Big Morning Buzz 's commercial breaks. It's an oddly endearing acoustic-R&B hybrid jam from his premier My Morning Jacket -less solo album, Regions of Light & Sound of God . Jim James says it's all partially based off a 1929 wood-cut book where a struggling artist sells his soul to The Devil in exchange for a magic paintbrush... "A New Life" [obviously] finds him @ the part where he falls off a cliff/in love with a woman who nurses him back to health. Man, I've gotta admit, Jim James really has that whole crazy/weird Hipster -fied cool vibe down pat these days; We're talkin' about a buffalo-headed girl, sharply-dressed back-up dancers, Jim James and a time-crippled lover, portal-opening doors, and just general desert weirdness. Regions of Light & Sound of God has been in-the-works since...

Musicians have been releasing additional video content ("Bonus DVD's") along with their albums since the decline of the CD format - roughly since the early 2000's. I literally have a stack of 10-15 band DVD's in jewel cases down in my basement, but TV on the Radio have quite arguably executed the strongest DVD format-utilizing release. Nearly a year after it's original [digital] release, TV on the Radio have since decided to give Nine Types of Light a proper re-release. Now available on DVD for the first time, the film helps transform 11 lush, Experimental tracks into an intricate, yet completely "sound" video album. Nine Types of Light has since been nominated @ the upcoming Grammy's (2012) in the category of "Best Long Form Music Video." TV on the Radio commissioned various directors and friends to create clips for each of Nine Types of Light 's 11 tracks... an album which was then slightly re-arranged to form an hour-lon...