The Be Rad Blog

Kindness, aka Adam Bainbridge, released a new album today called World, You Need A Change Of Mind and I really like it. I’ve been excited about this release as I completely fell in love with all that Kindness had put out before this debut release (I wrote about “Gee Up” and “Cyan” already). The album didn’t have enough Gee Uped hunky-funk to WOW me, but it’s still a good listen. Here’s my track-by-track break down:

1. “SEOD” – Old song, already heard it, it already got a release, but it’s a good song. Nice intro with silly lyrics about dancing. Can we just stop singing about dancing now? Still a good sounding song. You’ll listen to it more than once.

2. “Swinging Party” – Another old song, actually a cover of a Replacement’s song (which I’ve never heard but all the music critics act like they have cause they’re so in the know). It’s another groovy track that I like.

3. “Anyone Can Fall In Love” – Finally a song I haven’t heard yet! It’s kind of lame and the bass is overwhelming and annoying. I will probably skip this song most of the time. The lyrics are kind of cute.

4. “Gee Wiz” – Another new song! Yay! Nothing about this song really stands out. It has a kind of new age ambient sound that’s slowing growing on me.

5. “Gee Up” – Old song, new production! Killer song that peaked my interest in Kindess and will always be my favorite. So short though. Shucks.

6. “House” – New song and probably the best one of the album. The piano, the darkness, the bass (it’s not overwhelming on this track) – they all come together to make for amazing song that catches you off guard. This song will penetrate you. Good good stuff.

7. “That’s Alright” – This song sounds like what certain hipsters look like, and it’s good and fun. Listen to this song and feel the sexy sax!

8. “Cyan” – Old song, old production, still good and worth the listen.

9. “Bombastic” – The song opens up sounding like a cheap attempt at a jazz and/or lounge song, then it get’s all Serge Gainbourg. Skip/listen ratio of 1 to 1.

10. “Doingsong” – Funky song along the same lines of “Gee Up.” I wish the whole album was like this – it’s really what this guy excels at. Good track.

So what’s the verdict? Good or bad album? I’ll say good – it has its rad moments, which are unique and original, and listening to the whole thing is actually an enjoyable experience.

40% of the album is old material, granted 50% of that 40% got a new production polish that may or may not have been needed – they should have redone ALL the old songs. Of the remaining 6 tracks, 3 of them are stellar while the other 3 are just meh – but when I say meh, I don’t mean bad, just meh in the sense that I haven’t gotten used to them yet.

All in all, the album is funky, rad, and a good listen! Kindness totally created a new genre with this album – it’s called hunky-funk.

Buy World, You Need A Change of Mind here.

Be Rad. Enjoy.