This is kind of a strange Braid song. It reminds me a little of that Shelter record that I hate because they just went down this weird hard rock path after being pretty hardcore for a long time. "Kids Get Grids" is sort of mainstream hard rock and pretty bland. And that makes me said because Braid has tons of wonderful songs that make you feel things, but this one doesn't. It's just midtempo, moderately driving hard rock. I suppose I could be convinced to nod my head along at a show, provided they played a blistering set of sing-along tracks around this one...

The B-side continues that theme. There's a little taste of weirdness on the chorus with a bit of minor key and syncopation, but it's not enough to get me to sing along, the true measure of any record's worth, of course. It's apparently a cover. The original is similar tempo, but the vocals are more gritty than Bob Nanna's signature smoothness. That adds a layer that makes me like the original better, but it's still pretty flat until the very end, although the original did get me tapping along for a bit for some reason.

I always want Record Store Day releases to be amazing, but this one simply is not. It's against the odds, because it's a Braid release (2 years after the split with Balance & Composure I liked better) and it's on Topshelf, whose releases I have enjoyed. However, it's just another rare-ish record for collectors, I guess.

If you like this review, you can buy me a coffee.