Kisses
Kids in L.A.
Release Date: May 14, 2013
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Electronic, New Wave/Post-Punk Revival, Alternative Dance, Neo-Disco
Record label: Cascine
Music Critic Score
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Album Review: Kids in L.A. by Kisses
Very Good, Based on 7 Critics
Based on rating 84%%
Much like a passed-down string of pearls or dusted-off pair of Wayfarers, Kisses’ version of electro-pop is unabashedly vintage. The Los Angeles–based duo’s endearing 2010 debut, The Heart of the Nightlife, set the time warp in motion with its relaxed yet upbeat tempos. But Zinzi Edmundson and Jesse Kivel’s follow-up, Kids in L.A., really jump-starts the DeLorean ride.
Based on rating 8/10
Kisses' first album, the lo-fi, home recorded-sounding The Heart of the Nightlife, was inspired by Jesse Kivel's friendship with disco maestro Alec R. Costandinos and the time they spent together listening to old disco records. On Kisses' second album, the much colder and more '80s-inspired Kids in L.A., it would seem that Kivel, his musical partner Zinzi Edmundson, and producers Pete Wiggs (of Saint Etienne) and Tim Laracombe, spent time hanging out with Peter Hook, the guys in OMD, and Afrika Bambaataa.
Based on rating 7/10
Californian real-life couple Jesse Kivel and Zinzi Edmundson must be very happy together, because the music they make under the guise of Kisses is very cheerful indeed. Even when they try to act melancholy and indifferent, the glittery disco pop makes it impossible to wipe the smiles off their faces. There's nothing particularly innovative about what Kisses are doing on second album Kids In L.A., but they do it very well.
Based on rating 6.0/10
Following 2010's The Heart of the Nightlife, which celebrated the inherent "I Love Us" factor of a couple making music together, Kisses' now-engaged Jesse Kivel and Zinzi Edmundson are taking a more thoughtful turn on their second album. Inspired in part by Bret Easton Ellis' Less Than Zero, Kids in L.A. follows a group of rich Bel Air teenagers suffering from Los Angeles' mid-winter ennui.
Based on rating 3
The Heart Of The Nightlife, the 2010 debut from Los Angeles-based duo Kisses, had its fair share of enjoyable moments but nothing that called for repeat listens. Their follow-up has been some time in the making – a year and a half, to be precise, was spent making Kids In LA with the assistance of Saint Etienne‘s Pete Wiggs and Tim Larcombe (Lana Del Ray, Girls Aloud). The result is an album of electro-pop tunes that are, once again, more satisfactory than spectacular.
Based on rating C-
Kisses have learned a thing or two since 2011’s The Heart of the Nightlife, they just haven’t learned too much. Their songwriting a bit trickier, their palette broader, but they still sound like the soundtrack to a breezy summer night in a city filled with neon lights, caught in an ’80s time warp. Even the song titles on their latest record, Kids in L.A., set up little scenes that reflect the pleasures of the season (“At the Pool”, “Air Conditioning”, “Having Friends Over”) in a way that’s familiar to the band.
Opinion: Very Good
Jesse Kivel and Zinzi Edmundson are the youthful photogenic duo whose latest record evokes the emptiness out of season life in wintertime Southern California, a noticeable departure from the sun-kissed party hedonism of their debut effort ‘The Heart Of The Nightlife’. Each of the tracks here has its place and there are some wonderful moments just waiting to be discovered. A couple of the tracks take repeated listening to spark your interest but fit together in context of the album as a whole.‘The Hardest Part’ is the sort of bittersweet love song that New Order in their prime specialised in, all crisp drum machines and melancholy.