Adult Baby (album)

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Adult Baby
Studio album by
Kazu
ReleasedSeptember 13, 2019 (2019-09-13)
Studio
  • Figure 8 Recording
  • Pioneer Work
  • The End
  • Officine Meccaniche
  • Voxton [1]
Length41:48
Label Adult Baby
Producer

Adult Baby is the debut studio album by Kazu Makino under the mononym Kazu. It was released on September 13, 2019, through Adult Baby Records. It received generally favorable reviews from critics. [2]

Contents

Background

Kazu Makino is a Japanese-born musician. [3] She is a member of the New York trio Blonde Redhead, along with the twin brothers Amedeo and Simone Pace. [4] Adult Baby is her debut solo record. [5] The album is produced by Makino and Sam Griffin Owens. [6] It includes contributions from Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mauro Refosco, Greg Saunier, Amedeo Pace, and Ian Chang. [7] At the time, she was based in the Italian island of Elba and New York City. [8] Recording took place in New York, Berlin, and Milan. [6] The album was released on September 13, 2019, through Makino's own Adult Baby Records, with distribution from !K7. [9]

As for the album's title, Makino said, "The title came to me when an old friend told me about the existence of so-called 'adult baby club', frequented by powerful men who go there to be treated like small children." [10] She added, "This discovery struck me, perhaps because I am convinced that in a way, we are all adult babies, that many people feel that way inside and that they identify with this expression." [10]

Nosaj Thing's remix of "Salty", Jacques Greene's remix of "Meo", Alva Noto's remix of "Come Behind Me, So Good!", and the live version of "Unsure in Waves" were released digitally. [11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 71/100 [2]
Review scores
SourceRating
Pitchfork 6.8/10 [12]
PopMatters 7/10 [13]
Spectrum Culture3/5 [14]
Under the Radar 6/10 [15]

According to the review aggregator Metacritic , Adult Baby received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 71 out of 100 from 6 critic scores. [2]

Philip Sherburne of Pitchfork commented that "Adult Baby works best with the volume turned up, a soft mattress beneath you, all distractions on hold." [12] He added, "And even though the music often resists forming into anything as solid as a hook, Makino's vaporous melodies have a way of creeping up on you long after the record has stopped spinning; they have a sneaky tenacity, like a dream you can't shake, even if you can't quite remember its particulars." [12] Matt the Raven of Under the Radar stated, "Overall, Adult Baby is an inconsistent album that can be a wistful and sluggish electronic experiment but also shows flashes of brilliance with a genuinely entertaining mix of dream pop and electronica brought to life with a beautiful voice." [15]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Kazu Makino, except "Meo" by Makino and Amedeo Pace.

Adult Baby track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Salty"5:07
2."Come Behind Me, So Good!"4:04
3."Meo"5:21
4."Adult Baby"5:26
5."Place of Birth"1:53
6."Name and Age"3:29
7."Unsure in Waves"5:26
8."Undo"5:44
9."Coyote"5:18
Total length:41:48

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 Kazu (2019). Adult Baby (CD booklet). Adult Baby Records.
  2. 1 2 3 "Adult Baby by Kazu". Metacritic . Retrieved November 8, 2025.
  3. ↑ Breihan, Tom (April 11, 2019). "KAZU – "Salty" Video". Stereogum . Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2025.
  4. ↑ Chick, Stevie (September 22, 2023). "'The hate and contempt are as strong as the love': alt band Blonde Redhead on their twisted bond". The Guardian . Archived from the original on February 3, 2024. Retrieved November 8, 2025.
  5. ↑ Kenneally, Cerys (June 28, 2019). "Blonde Redhead's KAZU details solo album and shares tender new track "Meo"". The Line of Best Fit . Archived from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2025.
  6. 1 2 Roberts, Christopher (June 28, 2019). "KAZU (Blonde Redhead's Kazu Makino) Shares New Song "Meo," Trailer, and Album Details". Under the Radar . Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved November 8, 2025.
  7. ↑ Pearis, Bill (July 2, 2019). "Kazu of Blonde Redhead releasing solo album, touring (stream 2 songs)". BrooklynVegan . Archived from the original on September 2, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2025.
  8. ↑ Roberts, Christopher (April 11, 2019). "KAZU (Blonde Redhead's Kazu Makino) Announces Solo Album, Shares Video for New Song "Salty"". Under the Radar . Archived from the original on September 3, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2025.
  9. ↑ Thiessen, Brock (June 27, 2019). "Blonde Redhead's KAZU Details Debut Solo Album, Shares "Meo"". Exclaim! . Archived from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2025.
  10. 1 2 Kenneally, Cerys (April 12, 2019). "Blonde Redhead's Kazu Makino announces solo album with lead single "Salty"". The Line of Best Fit . Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2025.
  11. ↑ "Adult Baby: Music". Bandcamp . Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2025.
  12. 1 2 3 Sherburne, Philip (September 17, 2019). "KAZU: Adult Baby". Pitchfork . Archived from the original on September 18, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2025.
  13. ↑ Jacobs, Mick (September 16, 2019). "Blonde Redhead's Kazu Examines Her Life on Solo Effort 'Adult Baby'". PopMatters . Archived from the original on September 26, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2025.
  14. ↑ Wilson, Scott (October 10, 2019). "Kazu: Adult Baby". Spectrum Culture. Archived from the original on October 12, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2025.
  15. 1 2 Matt the Raven (September 13, 2019). "KAZU: Adult Baby (Adult Baby)". Under the Radar . Archived from the original on September 19, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2025.
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