Kindness (musician)

Kindness

Kindness in 2019

Background information
Birth name| Adam Bainbridge
Born|  (1982-05-07) 7 May 1982 (age 42)
Peterborough, England
Genres| Electronica, synthpop, disco, lo-fi, indietronica, downtempo
Occupation(s)| Singer-songwriter, musician, director
Years active| 2009–present
Labels| Female Energy, Terrible Records, Casablanca Records
Website| kindness.es

Musical artist

Kindness is the solo project of English singer Adam Bainbridge.

## History[edit]

In 2007, Adam Bainbridge was a recipient of the Eric James Johnson Memorial Fellowship,[1] at The Philadelphia Institute for Advance Study.[2]

> Live in Philly was Adam Bainbridge's contribution to the Eric James Johnson Memorial Fellowship program. It consists of an album recorded during their stay at the Institute in May 2007, and a small pamphlet illustrating the work, typeset by hand. Employing a variety of musicians from the Institute and the rest of Philadelphia, as well as sound sources and records found or recorded in the city, the Kindness album is a personal and welcome contribution to the Institute's body of work.

> — The Philadelphia Institute for Advance Study

Live in Philly was released in 2007 as a free MP3 download and CDr, with no label.[3]

In 2009, Moshi Moshi Records released Kindness debut single Swingin’ Party. Gee Up was included on the vinyl b-side and a VHS video directed by Jack Latham accompanied it.[4]

In October 2011, Cyan was released as a limited edition 12" vinyl through Kindness's own record label Female Energy in the UK and Terrible Records in North America. The B-side contained 3 unnamed lock grooves.

Kindness's debut album, World, You Need a Change of Mind, co-produced & mixed by Grammy Award-winning producer Philippe Zdar[5] was released on 16 March 2012. Live sessions were recorded for Radio 1's Zane Lowe[6] and Rob da Bank[7] as well as BBC Radio 6 Music's Lauren Laverne, Live from Maida Vale.[8] Kindness also played the iTunes Festival 2012\.

In 2013, Kindness contributed to production and instrumentation on Blood Orange's Cupid Deluxe.[9]

On 13 October 2014, Kindness released their second album Otherness featuring contributions from Robyn, Dev Hynes, Kelela and more.

During a 2015 lecture for Red Bull Music Academy, Kindness discussed their recent music career, and their gender identity and sexuality.[10]

'World Restart' from 2014's Otherness is the theme to the New York Times podcast, Still Processing.[11]

## Live[edit]

As a live band, Kindness has performed at a number of festivals and headline shows through the world including South by Southwest, Latitude Festival, Printemps De Bourges, Sydney Opera House, Primavera Festival, Field Day Festival, Eurockennes, Calvi on The Rocks, Oya Festival, Way Out West, Flow Festival, Summer Sonic, Bestival, We Love Green, Les in Rocks Festival, Midi Festival, and Soulwaxmas.

In May and June 2013, Kindness supported The xx as part of their Night and Day Festival in London[12] and Berlin.

2014 saw a North American and worldwide tour.[13]

Kindness was a support for Blood Orange's charity concert for Opus 118 School Of Music at the Apollo Theater in New York.

## DJ[edit]

Bainbridge originally came to produce music from work as a DJ.[14] As a DJ, Bainbridge has opened for Giorgio Moroder, Solange and Mannie Fresh,[15][16][17] and at venues & clubs worldwide including the Guggenheim Museum, Panorama Bar, MoMA PS1, the Apollo Theater, the Met Museum, Palais de Tokyo, Rex Club, Liquidroom Tokyo and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art.[18][19][20][21][22][23][24]

Bainbridge's mixes have featured on British[25] and international radio, and on specialist shows, such as the long-running Beats in Space.[26]

## Journalism[edit]

Kindness has also interviewed other artists for print media, such as interviews for Saint Heron.[27] In May 2018, Kindness interviewed Robyn for an RBMA lecture on her career and music.[28]

## Personal life[edit]

Bainbridge identifies as gender non-conforming and uses they/them pronouns.[29]

Amina Desai (c. 1920 – 10 June 2009) was Bainbridge's grandmother.[30] John Blacking (1928 – 1990) was Bainbridge's uncle.[31]

## Video director[edit]

Adam Bainbridge has directed and co-directed a number of videos for their own Kindness project as well as for other artists, including Grizzly Bear, Blood Orange, and William Onyeabor:

Artist  | Song  | Director(s)

|
|

Grizzly Bear | "Don't Ask" (Final Fantasy Version)[32] | Adam Bainbridge
Kindness | "Gee Up"[33] | Adam Bainbridge
Kindness | "House"[34] | Adam Bainbridge & Dan Brereton
Kindness & Trouble Funk | "That's Alright"[35] | Adam Bainbridge
Kindness | "36 Hours in the Go-Go Scene"[36] | Adam Bainbridge & Pauline Beaudemont
Blood Orange | "Chamakay"[37] | Adam Bainbridge
William Onyeabor | "Fantastic Man"[38] | Adam Bainbridge & Camilla Wasserman
Blood Orange | "Uncle ACE" (Kindness remix)[39] | Adam Bainbridge
Oh Shu | "Disco Brasil"[40] | Adam Bainbridge

## Discography[edit]

### Studio albums[edit]

* World, You Need a Change of Mind (16 March 2012)
* Otherness (13 October 2014)
* Something Like a War (6 September 2019)[41]

### Singles[edit]

* "Swingin Party" (28 September 2009)
* "Cyan" (26 October 2011)
* "SEOD" (8 February 2012)
* "Gee Up" (16 March 2012)
* "House" (15 June 2012)
* "That's Alright" (21 September 2012)
* "World Restart" (featuring Kelela and Ade) (12 August 2014)
* "This Is Not About Us" (4 September 2014)
* "Who Do You Love?" (featuring Robyn) (2 January 2015)
* "Cry Everything" (featuring Robyn) (7 March 2019)[42]
* "Lost Without" (featuring Seinabo Sey) (30 April 2019)
* "Hard to Believe" (featuring Jazmine Sullivan) (11 June 2019)[43]

### Non-album Tracks[edit]

* "A Retelling" (4 March 2016)
* "فلسطين (Palestine)" (29 January 2024)

### Remixes[edit]

* "Blood Orange – Uncle Ace" (Kindness remix feat. Robert Owens) (10 April 2014)
* "Röyksopp & Robyn – Monument" (Kindness remix feat. Busiswa) (15 August 2014)
* "Kelela – Kate for Me" (4 January 2016)
* "Kelela – Wheel the High" (4 January 2016)
* "Robyn – Got Her Own Thing From Sweden" (11 April 2019)
* "Robyn – Chic It Immediately" (11 April 2019)
* "Shivum Sharma – Diamond" (Kindness remix) (25 August 2020)

### Production discography[edit]

Title  | Year  | Artist(s)  | Album  | Credits  | Written with  | Produced with

|
|
|
|
|
|

"Chosen"  | 2013  | Blood Orange | Cupid Deluxe | Saxophone arrangement  | Devonté Hynes  | —
"On the Line"  | Background vocals, keyboards, and bass  | Devonté Hynes  | Devonté Hynes
"Time Will Tell"  | Drums  | —  | —
"By Ourselves"  | 2016  | Freetown Sound | Co-writing  | Devonté Hynes, Charles Mingus, and Ashlee Haze  | —
"Thank You"  | Co-writing, production, drums, sampling  | Devonté Hynes and Rodney Franklin | Devonté Hynes
"Cranes in the Sky"  | Solange | A Seat at the Table | Additional synth editing  | —
"Don't You Wait"  | Production and guitar  | —  | Solange Knowles, Sampha, David Longstreth, Olugbenga, Troy Johnson, and Kwes
"Interlude: This Moment"  | Production  | Solange Knowles
"Don't Wish Me Well"  | Solange Knowles, Sampha, David Longstreth, and Kwes
"Scales"
(featuring Kelela) | Additional vocals  | —
"OUR MUSIC. #MYCALVINS"
(featuring Kelela) | 2017  | —  | Production  | —  | Blood Orange and Caroline Polachek
"Saint"  | 2018  | Blood Orange  | Negro Swan | Vocals  | —
"Send to Robin Immediately"  | Robyn | Honey | Co-writing and production  | Robyn and Marvin Burns | \-
"Step Into My Life"  | 2020  | Jessie Ware | What's Your Pleasure? | Jessica Ware and James Ford | James Ford
"Grapefruit On The Porch"  | Denai Moore | "Modern Dread"  | Production  | —  | Steph Marziano
"0208"  | 2021  | Jessie Ware | What's Your Pleasure? | Co-writing and production  | Jessica Ware  | \-
"All My Love"  | 2022  | Louie Vega | "Expansions In The NYC" | Co-writing, vocals, keys, additional production  | Louie Vega and Robyn  | \-

### Videos[edit]

Song | Directed by | Date

|
|

Gee Up | Jack Latham[44] | 2009
Cyan | Ben Fries[45] | 2011
Gee Up | Adam Bainbridge[46] | 2012
House | Daniel Brereton & Adam Bainbridge[47] | 2012
That's Alright | Adam Bainbridge | 2012
This Is Not About Us | Adam Bainbridge and Daniel Brereton[48] | 2014
Who Do You Love | Daniel Brereton[49] | 2014
I'll Be Back | Daniel Brereton[50] | 2015

## Radio work[edit]

In 2016–17, Bainbridge hosted a monthly show for Red Bull Music Academy.[51]

Guest  | Transmission date

|

MikeQ | 28 April 2016
Devonte Hynes | 8 June 2016
Jesse Rae | 23 June 2016
Eric Johnson  | 25 August 2016
SCRAAATCH | 22 September 2016
Sampha | 27 October 2016
Honey Dijon  | 24 November 2016
DJ Rekha, Nitasha Tamar Sharma, Anupa Mistry, Falu Bakrania  | 22 December 2016
Alexandria  | 23 February 2017
Jimmy Douglass | 23 March 2017
Tom Lee, Nicole Will, Jonathan Hiam  | 3 May 2017
Byron Stingily | 7 June 2017
Tawiah | 5 July 2017
Asma Maroof | 2 August 2017
Nabihah Iqbal, Imran Peretta  | 6 September 2017
Fatima Al Qadiri | 4 October 2017
Helen Park, Jason Kim  | 1 November 2017

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Adam Bainbridge". The Philadelphia Institute for Advanced Study. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
2. ^ "Artist Residency". The Philadelphia Institute for Advanced Study. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
3. ^ "Kindness - Live in Philly". The Philadelphia Institute for Advanced Study. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
4. ^ ""Gee Wiz"". Pitchfork.com. 14 October 2009. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
5. ^ "Philippe Zdar". Discogs. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
6. ^ "Kindness". BBC Music Events. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
7. ^ "BBC Radio 1 - Rob da Bank, Kindness Maida Vale Session - Broadcasts". Archived from the original on 24 February 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
8. ^ "BBC Radio 6 Music - 6 Music Live, October 2012, Kindness in session for Lauren Laverne". BBC. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
9. ^ "Blood Orange (2) - Cupid Deluxe". Discogs.com. 18 November 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
10. ^ Red Bull Music Academy (11 November 2015). "Kindness on Independence, Trouble Funk and DIY". YouTube. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
11. ^ Wortham, Jenna (7 May 2017). "It's "world restart" by @Kindness !". Twitter.com. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
12. ^ Lester, Paul (23 June 2013). "The xx: Night + Day – review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
13. ^ "Kindness". Songkick.com. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
14. ^ "Kindness – RBMA Paris Lecture". Genius.com. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
15. ^ "LEAF presents Giorgio Moroder with special guests Oval Space". Oval Space. Archived from the original on 6 January 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
16. ^ "On y était : Solange Knowles à Paris (Nouveau Casino)". Les Inrocks (in French). Retrieved 5 January 2018.
17. ^ "Saint Heron's Greatest Moments of 2015 - Saint Heron". Saint Heron. 31 December 2015. Archived from the original on 6 January 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
18. ^ "2017 Guggenheim International Gala" (PDF). Guggenheim.org.
19. ^ "Finest Saturday & FC Snax United". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
20. ^ "Night at the Museum: Artist Holiday Party". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
21. ^ "Blood Orange". Facebook.com. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
22. ^ "Young Members Party". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
23. ^ "Tigersushi". Palais de Tokyo EN. 26 May 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
24. ^ "The Weekend at LACMA". Unframed. 13 August 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
25. ^ "Kindness, 6 Mix - BBC Radio 6 Music". BBC. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
26. ^ "BIS Radio Show #729". Beats in Space. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
27. ^ "Kindness, Author at Saint Heron". Saint Heron. Archived from the original on 24 May 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
28. ^ Red Bull Music Academy (29 May 2018). "Robyn Lecture (New York City, 2018)". YouTube. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
29. ^ Coley, Jordan (22 October 2019). "Meet Kindness, the Artist Everyone Wants to Collaborate With". GQ. Condé Nast. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
30. ^ Blacking, Leila; Bainbridge, Adam (21 June 2009). "Obituary: Amina Desai". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
31. ^ "Joakim & Kindness Live @Musée du Quai Branly - les Siestes Electroniques | ARTE Creative". Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
32. ^ Don't Ask – Grizzly Bear on YouTube
33. ^ "Gee Up" – Kindness on YouTube
34. ^ "House" – Kindness on YouTube
35. ^ "That's Alright" – Kindness & Trouble Funk on YouTube
36. ^ "36 Hours in the Go-Go Scene" – Kindness on YouTube
37. ^ "Chamakay" – Blood Orange on YouTube
38. ^ "Nowness". Nowness.com. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
39. ^ "Uncle ACE" – Blood Orange on YouTube
40. ^ "Disco Brasil" – Oh Shu on YouTube
41. ^ "Something Like a War by Kindness". Apple Music. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
42. ^ "Cry Everything – Single by Kindness on Apple Music". Apple Music. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
43. ^ "Hard To Believe (feat. Jazmine Sullivan) - Single by Kindness". Apple Music. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
44. ^ "We Love You So – Where The Wild Things Are – Spike Jonze: Kindness is Mysterious". Weloveyouso.com. Archived from the original on 19 June 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
45. ^ "Kindness 'Cyan' by Ben Fries | Videos | Promonews". Promonews.tv. Archived from the original on 2 August 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
46. ^ "Promo News » Blog Archive Kindness 'Gee Up' by Adam Bainbridge - Promo News". 14 February 2012. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
47. ^ "Kindness 'House' by Daniel Brereton & Adam Bainbridge - Promo News". 27 August 2012. Archived from the original on 27 August 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
48. ^ "Kindness' "This is Not About Us" Gets Retro Dance Video". Pitchfork.com. 7 October 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
49. ^ "Robyn and Kindness Surround Themselves With Loved Ones in "Who Do You Love" Video". Pitchfork.com. 11 November 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
50. ^ "Kindness - "I'll Be Back" [Official Video]". Okayplayer.com. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
51. ^ "Kindness on Red Bull Radio". Redbullradio.com. Retrieved 29 December 2017.

## External links[edit]

* Official website
* Kindness's channel on YouTube
* Kindness on Spotify
* Kindness on Soundcloud
* Kindness at AllMusic

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* United States

Artists|

* MusicBrainz