Kindness.

I remember when Swinging Party came out a couple years ago I thought it was a pretty original take on covering The Replacements. I like Cyan too. I haven't made up my mind about the whole thing, but large swaths of it immediately strike me as more pastiche than solid, memorable songs. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I have to recalibrate my brain for it.

Swingin' Party is great. Very Arthur Russell feeling, especially the vocal.

I remember when Swinging Party came out a couple years ago

wow, that old? I didn't start hearing about this guy until the album came out. think he made/is about to make his live NYC debut at Fixed.

I can't really pigeonhole this sound, electronic pop like Hot Chip but more earnest? the only one that sounds pastichey to me is the overblown '80s hip-hop/freestyle one (That's Alright), can't really get with that. rest of the album is nice though.

"Cyan" and "House" have gotten blanket airplay on my iPod for the last two weeks.

lol, i have been VERY CONFUSED as to why a lot of people i know have been repping for this weak shit. turns out they all know him irl.

i had been comforted by the dearth of caring about it on ilm.

ha god he knows everyone. glad this is out and he's doing well. still need to get round to giving this a proper listen, i heard some of these a few years ago when he was putting it together and recruiting band members. glad it hasn't changed all that much- it still has that warm bedroom naïve <3 feel

okay, well seod is waaay different from the version i have, pretty sure the version i have is 1:40.

those pad sounds on swinging party weren't there before, nor was that tomtom hit. and there were more layers on his vocals, and they've shaved too much off the top end of that ostinato synth part, blahh

I listened to the first three track yesterday and it was fucking shit. Would have been tolerable without the vocals.

Apparently he has a cover of the Eastenders theme which is a contender for worst record of 2012.

that would have been the third track you heard

Ha, I know him too. He's always been super coy about "what he does" and then it's posters everywhere in London.

album is kind of hit or miss but "house" is great and i love the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmwCxCVsWV4

i just feel sorry for that kid when he's 22 years old and looking back at who he used to hang around with

Ha, his talking voice is very similar to the guy who does Zero Punctuation lol. Such a rad looking dude IMO.

Can't believe no one's talking about his new album: http://www.npr.org/2014/10/05/352735198/first-listen-kindness-otherness

Some really gorgeous moments on this. Reminds me of late-era Talk Talk + R&B.

Lovely moments all through this new one. Almost hope it stays a bit of a secret treasure tho.

I know it's nothing out of the ordinary but I really enjoy his production on the debut. Is that one all home made? If so it's very impressive he got such a warm sound for a dude with almost no experience in his bedroom.

thought the debut was big studio stuff and lots of major label £££.

hence why the second album was self released and disappeared.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/world-you-need-a-change-of-mind-mw0002293927/credits

Oh wow! Ok that makes more sense. Never cared to check the credits. Now I'm dissapointed in him but Erol Alkan gets more points.

This probably deserves another thread but how come bedroom musicians very rarely do the mastering in their albums?

Take Panda Bear's Person Pitch per example. I love that one and Noah did pretty much everything except the artwork and the mastering.

I could have sworn I read Kindness' debut was made by him in his bedroom. Now I'm sad that it's apparently impossible or very difficult to get that sound without a proper studio. Any recommendations of bedroom albums that make studio albums take a run for their money?

At least Lorde did made Royals all by herself in her room, right?

bedroom albums = a whole different thread.
how do you distinguish between an album actually made in a bedroom, and an album made elsewhere but on a laptop which could effectively be in the bedroom, kitchen, toilet etc ?

it's a good idea for a thread; bedroom albums. or very cheaply made albums. i never knew until watching one of those 'Soundbreaking' docs recently but the big early Eurythmics hits (Sweet Dreams, Love Is A Stranger etc) were recorded stupidly cheaply in a loft somewhere. Annie Lennox commented that they preferred 'the Volkswagen to the Rolls Royce' when it came to recording.

i have no recollection of Kindness at all weirdly.

I really liked some of that first album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abI3NHYKB_w

New album is out today, with some interesting guests: Robyn, Jazmine Sullivan, Cosima, Seinabo Sey (Kelela co-wrote the track on which she features), and Samthing Saweto of "Akanamali" fame.

https://open.spotify.com/album/3EIYi24x5X0US5vJyso0cv

I want to believe you mean Cosima Devito

i want to believe you mean people in general

Few people talking about this one. Highlights for me are the 2 Robyn tracks.

Few people talking about this one. Highlights for me are the 2 Robyn tracks.

Jazmine Sullivan track for me. Some not so great reviews around but heh some of these have soundtracked my summer.

The track with Jazmine just clicked hugely with me (I was enjoying the album generally but no one track has really jumped out, similar experience with the previous one). Maybe this is why he gets ignored on lists and in general plus although the influences are evidently diverse they're all rather obvious and he can never really at least match them, only homage in a pleasing but ultimately unremarkable way. Still deserves more love though.