I’ve made a new playing list. Do you have a special music list at your iPod/MP3/etc?

1. Lykke Li – Possibility
2. M.I.A – Paper Planes
3. Oh Laura – Release Me
4. Tori Amos – Winter
5. Antsy Pants – Vampire
6. Muse – Time is running out
7. Muse – Starlight
8. Muse – New Born

9. Katie Melua – If the Lights go Out
10. R.E.M – the Great Beyond
11. Velvet Underground – I’m sticking with you
12. Kimya Dawson – Tire Swing

13. Arctic Monkeys – Mardy Bum
14. Bloc Party – Two More Years
15. Bloc Party – This Modern Love
16. The Cranberries – Zombie
17. The Cranberries – Salvation

I am kinda into that alternative music sound these days. Not that these artists are too alternative. But still, they make really great music.

WORD

jive [jahyv] n. 1. swing music or early jazz 2. the jargon associated with swing music and early jazz 3. Slang. deceptive, exaggerated, or meaningless talk: Don’t give me any of that jive! ∞ v. 4. to play jive 5. to dance to jive; jitterbug 6. Slang. to engage in kidding, teasing, or exaggeration 7. Slang. to tease; fool; kid: Stop jiving me! ∞ adj. 8. Slang. insincere, pretentious, or deceptive

BIRTHDAY

Frank Calder (1877), Soichiro Honda (1906), Gordon Lightfoot (1938), Martin Scorsese (1942), Lauren Hutton (1943), Danny DeVito (1944), Lorne Michaels (1944), Gene Clark (1944), Stephen Root (1951), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (1958), Jeff Buckley (1966), Sophie Marceau (1966), Daisy Fuentes (1966), Kimya Dawson (1972)

STANDPOINT

Short and sweet today. I’m really quite annoyed with the all the goddamn Christmas ads, sales, etc. that are all ready all over the place.

Despite my misanthropic tendencies, I’m really kind of a softie in some ways. I like the holidays. I do.

But this time of year has been kind of tainted, for me, by all the commercialism. Even those of you out there who possess the unending optimism I enjoy frowning upon know this to be true.

For lack of a better, more definitive sentiment: BAH! HUMBUG!

QUOTATION

There are about five things to write songs about: I’m leaving you. You’re leaving me. I want you. You don’t want me. I believe in something. Five subjects, and twelve notes. For all that, we musicians do pretty well. → Elvis Costello

TUNE

I know. I’m beating this HTC commercial thing into the ground. I just like it. Really like it. More than I like most people. For those of you wondering what song is actually playing, it’s a remix of “Sinnerman” by Nina Simone. One of the comments on YouTube simply reads, “Futureproof.” Sums it up.

GALLIMAUFRY

→ Oprah Winfrey and Sarah Palin were on the same stage and no one thought to do the proper thing and plant explosives. Christ, people, do I have to think of everything?

→ In what’s becoming sadly commonplace, another celebrity has died young. Ken Ober, the host of the late-80s MTV game show “Remote Control,” passed away yesterday at the age of 52. As of yet, no one’s sure how.

→ All right, on a personal note, here’s a picture of my favorite piece of art – “Woman with a Water Jug” by Johannes Vermeer. It’s only 18 in. by 16 in. The detail is amazing. Best part is that the painting currently resides in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Kimya Dawson, American singer

I may be stating the obvious here, but the world of popular music is pretty sexist. In particular, there is enormous differences in the expectation around vocal ability. 

While Dylan, Richman and many other dudes can get away with close-to-atonal stylings, we expect a female vocalist to sing like an angel (with this simile premised on (i) angels existing and (ii) said angels being perfect in diction and pitch).

Kimya Dawson thus sticks out like an ailing thumb, with a voice that breaks, crackles and splutters throughout.  Many of you will be familiar with it as the defacto “voice” of Ellen Page from the Juno soundtrack.

Here we hear Dawson in full swing, delivering fourteen lyrics-heavy numbers. Many of them thrill me, overburdened as they are with oddball imagery, memorable phrases and insane couplets. 

Dawson occupies a parallel universe to most folk and melds the cynicism of Rob Clarkson, the naivety of Jonathan Richman and the perversity of The Magnetic Fields.

This album contains enough gems (the first 3 tracks are fantastic, Parade pure summer joy) to overcome the slide in quality in the back half.

One final notes, this album benefits considerably from headphone listening…

File under : Surrender to her Vagenda

Juno didn’t just make us all wake up and see the talents of an awesome Ellen Page. It made us remember how crushingly good the pairing of Kimya Dawson and Adam Green was. True, Juno’s success might have resulted in a surreal and uncomfortable Moldy Peaches performance on the View, but if a few more people stumble across similar idiosyncratic pop hopefully Adam and Kimya’s grins will get even cuter.

Searching out the Terrordactyls‘ latest would be a good starting point. Kimya has already lent her charm to their previous self-titled album and this EP, a sweet collection of toy piano, swaying anti-folk and wispy vocals, would look lovely cuddled up to your Moldy Peaches and Jeffrey Lewis records.

The five songs here are all Pharmacy covers, in tribute to Mike Bowers, father of Pharmacy drummer Brendhan, and reportedly a man of great hospitality. On “Prince” and “Growing Old” the toy piano and  kazoo might eventually grate for some people, but in “Overcast Summer”, a spark of warm Elliot Smith depth, they hint at maturing into something truly endearing.

btw terrordactyls.com is well worth a visit. Terrordactyls CDs are all hand-made and feature lovely pop-up bulldozers and such-like. You can buy special Terrordactyls kazoos at their store.

Overcast Summer (by the Pharmacy) – the Terrordactyls

the Terrordactyls and Kimya Dawson – Devices

since it was the millionth time that I saw the movie I decided to only listen to the lyrics in the soundtrack. Check it out and I guarantee you will get sucked into the world of country. 

P.S. The last song is my favorite.

So, The Idolator have decided that The Moldy Peaches‘ ‘Who’s Got the Crack?‘ is the 48th worst song of the decade. Sandwiched between LL Cool J’s collaboration with J Lo at 49 and Akon’s ‘Sorry Blame it on Me’ what this basicall prooves is that anyone can make a list, and they’re a pretty good way to generate interaction. I mean, I took this from Kicking_k’s Twitter feed, posted it here and then Tweeted it myself…so everyone’s a winner, right?

In their defence the Moldy Peaches recorded some of the most brilliantly bratty, shit-nosed songs of the early 00s. People will argue that Jeffrey Lewis is probably the true ‘genius’ of anti-folk, and rightly so, but Adam Green and Kimya Dawson combined the pure with the puerile to create the dumb-as-fuck brilliance of the self-titled debut album (the self-releases don’t count, or at least right here they don’t).

The problem with the Moldy Peaches isn’t that they were shit, it’s that they were hijacked…by the hipsters, by the movie industry…anyone you want to wave the finger at just stick ‘em *here*. Bands like the Moldy Peaches are meant to be low-key, hell – they were supposed to be fun! To take ‘Who’s Got the Crack?’ and write about what a bad record it is, is to fall for it. It’s barely situationism but there ands like the Moldy Peaches did, and still do, challenge the notions of good music, there is no good or bad…it’s just relative. Well, except for Muse…they’re just hideous.

If you’re still not convinced then check out ‘Nothing Came Out‘, covered in tape hiss and featuring possibly the most endearing lack of self confidence you will hear…for the next hour or so at least and, if that still doesn’t tickle your fancy then maybe this will.

Just don’t play that out loud at work…

I don’t like Kimya Dawson’s music. But I kind of do. I hate when things/music/other stuff I like turns cool and hipstery…

I don’t know if I can handle being a rape advocate. I can barely advocate for myself. How am I supposed to help other people with problems bigger than mine? I’m supposed to answer calls and listen and maybe drive to the hospital or police station. Actually, I shouldn’t worry. I can do it. It’s the right thing to do.

I want to talk to West Coast but I don’t want to annoy him. He’s going to hate me soon if he doesn’t already.

Oh, also I’m just horny. If I ever sleep with him again it’s not going to be crappy pre-emergency-room-trip morning sex. I can’t believe I let that happen. I can’t believe he let that happen after he said we couldn’t have sex anymore. I told him we shouldn’t, and he said I was right. But our hormone-riddled bodies weren’t listening.

Le sigh… I miss good sex. I can still get it from my boyfriend, but it’s getting repetitive after a year and some change. I want to make myself wait (and make him wait) so it will be special next time we hop into bed. It’s like we’re married. And I don’t want to be married.

I might have missed Model UN tonight. It’s the only thing I’m good at so I certainly hope the meeting really is tomorrow.

I have homework but it doesn’t feel important. I’m doing it, but I’m just unmotivated. I’m kind of feeling an all-nighter… I could get at least one paper started and finish reading a book I’ve been meaning to read.

I need to keep telling myself that things are going to be better. I can’t hear myself think right now. Ugh…

I didn’t eat much today… less than usual. I’ve been getting so much exercise walking. Tomorrow is a heavy class day so maybe if I have like 800 calories I’ll be fine and keep losing weight.

The counselor told me not to hurt myself while drunk but I did last night anyway. I had been drunk all day, when did she expect me to hurt myself…?

I went into West Coast’s room when I was getting him and his friends a CD he left there. He lives in another building and I had trouble getting in (of course I did; I was drunk and I’m stupid enough when I’m sober). It took me a long time to figure that out, and it took me a long time to find the CD. Probably he thought I was dead. While I was there, I was alone, so I threw myself into a wall. I thought I had given myself a concussion because my head was hurting so bad. It’s still hurting. I have a big blue and black bruise on my right knee, too. Then I found a thumbtack and cut up my right arm (my left one is all burned; I put out cigarettes on it).

I showed the cuts to WC. I was probably being an attention whore. But maybe attention-whoring is a self-preservation skill for me. If I don’t do attention grabbing things, I’ll be left alone and maybe kill myself once and for all. I probably would have last night if WC didn’t stay with me.

Another rapid subject change: Have I written about my horrible experience with marijuana yet? I smoked a blunt with a few friends. It was the first time I’d ever had weed. It might have been because it was a terrible weekend and I was anxious, or maybe I’m allergic to THC, or it could have just been that I smoked too much, but I panicked. Hard.

We were sitting at a table and I was just feeling scared and unaware of myself. So I asked if we could go back, and everyone thought it was a good idea, so we were walking. As we were walking, I got more and more scared, because my ears were ringing and my head felt like it was compressing. I wasn’t seeing correctly; the world looked big and round, and I couldn’t recognize the buildings anymore. I could see bright lights and little else. I was yelling for someone to call 911. I couldn’t feel my legs. I could barely feel anything other than my friends holding onto my hands.

Basically, just a panic. I was so paranoid that I was thinking about death. I actually thought that I was going to die. I was breathing manually because I couldn’t tell whether or not I was doing it automatically.

Once we got into my room and I could focus on some words and patterns, the world started to feel smaller and stable and back under my control.

I’m chalking it all up to panic for now, but the counselor did say that it might be that I’m allergic to marijuana. It’s very possible, especially with my medical history; I’m allergic to a lot of things.

WC came to see me. My suitemate who smoked with me called him because I kept on talking about him I guess… I remember he said something really nice that made me feel better, and she said “He sounds sincere.” I remember how I felt but I don’t remember the words.

I’m done writing for now. I think I’ll call WC just to see if he picks up when I’m not in crisis… but there’s always a crisis.

I feel hungry.

And if home is really where the heart is
Then we’re the smartest kids I know
Cause wherever we are in this great big world
We’ll never be more than a few hours from home.

Today is a special edition of Secondhand Sunday that is close to our hearts. The Moldy Peaches ‘Lucky Number Nine.’ I remember the first time I saw the band performing on a local NY show called The Daily Beat. From what I recall, they performed this song and ‘Hulkamaniac’ while wearing rabbit hats and/or footed pajamas and/or capes. Learning the band actually was from the town over and that Kimya Dawson worked at my favorite record store and my mom worked for Adam Green’s dad, my friends and I were blown away. They are hometown heroes if you will. Both have went on to very successful solo careers and a lot of attention from Juno, but sometimes we wish ‘Lucky Number Nine’ would waltz it’s way back onto the stage. Footed pajamas and all.

Watch The Moldy Peaches’ ‘Lucky Number Nine’…..(hooray!)

Brooklyn band, Air Waves is expected to follow up the release of their stellar EP with a full-length debut this fall.

PREVIEW: DOWNLOAD Air Waves’ “Shine On” MP3

When asked why her band name Air Waves is spelled as two words rather than one, singer, Nicole Schneit responds, “If it’s one word, it’s the transmission of sound. If it’s two words, it’s just the air and the water.”  Like the elements, Air Waves’ sound is familiar, but more comforting than hackneyed — or, as Dan Deacon better puts it, “The music [Nicole] writes is like a favorite blanket wrapped around you.”

Evolving from Nicole Schneit’s singer-songwriter career, Air Waves is now a three-person band.  Schneit’s pre-pubescent boy-like voice is reminiscent of Kimya Dawson, except far less cutesy and annoying.  It adds a childlike innocence to their music, especially in the already playful “Shine On.”  Download Air Waves’ 5-song EP, or check them out at one of their many upcoming Brooklyn performances.

– Carly Wolkoff, Managing Editor

Artist: Kimya Dawson
Full Title: Remember That I Love You
Label: K Records
Year: 2006

1) Tire Swing*- 10.0- One of my top ten favorite songs of all time! Very powerful for such a simple song. The guitar is merely a few plinks on a guitar, really just background sounds to Kimya’s ever endearing vocals. The lyrics provide great images of riding back and forth on a tire swing and forgeting “everything that had ever hurt our feelings.” I listen to this song almost every day and I never get sick of it, either I am crazy or it’s that catchy; I think it’s both.

2) My Mom- 9.7- Not quite as uplifting as the premier track, but certainly shares it’s catchiness. There’s a nice little bell sound, perhaps it’s a xylephone? I have no clue, but I dig it. Once again passionate vocals from Kimya. Lyrically this number describes, wait for it… Kimya’s mom and her state of health: dying in a hospital bed, “and there’s something in her blood, and there’s something in her leg, and there’s something in her brain.” You really feel for her and her genuine concern for her ailing mother. She naively commands ghosts to stop haunting her mom, so she can get strong; this is sad and humuorous all at once, a microcosm of Kimya’s discography (at least what I have heard).

3) Loose Lips*- 9.5- A cool protest song of sorts. “Fuck Bush and Fuck this war.” I can picture peaceful anarchsits screaming this song in the streets and dancing around burning flags, trying to persuade bystanders to join them. And when the cops come, they simply will start up again and “pretend nothing ever happened” as the song proclaims. It’s a moldy peachy version of an early Against Me! track I suppose. A fantastic sing along, to say the least. The “dupe” (or doop) thing tickles my fancy quite a bit.

4) Caving In- 9.3- The theme of her mom’s deteriating health arises again amongst other scattering thoughts. There’s a cool eastern guitar (probably not, but sounds sorta like it) in this track. This is sound, but not as good as the three that preceeded it.

5) Better Weather-9.3- Catchy as most of her tracks. In terms of music, for Kimya, as I have said before and she, herself as claimed, it’s all about the vocals. Most of the music is the same, not to say she doesn’t have range. In this tune, she delves into fatherhood, specifically her brother, who is now successfully raising his child. Uplifting

6) Underground-9.3- I think of 1960s radicals when I hear this song lol. One of the funniest lines appears in this song: “So, I tattoo instructions on my ass that say don’t ever put this body in a casket.” Kills me every time. She stresses that she DOES NOT want to live underground and who does?

7) I Like Giants*- 9.1-Nice and simple and catchy, like the others. I don’t have too much to say about this track. It’s a solid recording. I will note though, that there seems to be more going on then just guitar, or it’s better guitar playing? I don’t know. That xylephone (?) is back too lol.

The Competition- 9.2- Postive track about being special and saying “fuck you, I’m awesome, I don’t care what you think.” At some points, you feel sorry for the, young, poor, Ms. Dawson. Like, when people used to call her “fat” and told her that “she was better off dead.” Assholes. Well, it motivated her to make great music, so she proved them wrong. Yippie!

9) France- 8.9- Decent track, but nothing really stands out here to me. Though, I adore the lines, “David put that seven inch on…” “he said silly ass bitch that’s my favorite song.” David, you showed that silly ass bitch! Since, you got your song.

10) I Miss You- 9.1- An extremely brief, but really catchy tune!

11) 12/26*- 9.4- One of the sadder tracks about a massive earthquake in Indonesia on December 26. 2004. She then delves into the Iraq War and how it’s impossible to understand what these victims go through: losing their families, homes, etc. “A tragedy is a tragedy, no matter where it happens.”

12) My Rollercoaster*- 9.5- A superb finale about the ups and downs of this wacky world. Another fabulous sing along, well towards the end anyway, when abunch of folks sing the chorous and it gets real silly, but that’s the point. Just every day folks making music with their friends. Which brings me to my next point, where she incorporates lyrics from other famous songs like Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” and ” Metalica’s “One.”

Overall, I highly recommend this “Outsider” album. I always appreciate ass kicking alternatives to traditional pop music. Remember that I LOVE YA!!!

* appeared in the terrifc film Juno (2007)

Chris

German Reunification 20 Year Anniversary (Kimya Dawson & co):

Mondays are the chillest schooldays ever. All of our classes are in the same room and we end at 14.10. AND TODAY we’ve spent the entire morning watching movies. Awesome for me, I just semi-slept on my scarf.

And if anyone ever has trouble sleeping, JUST LISTEN TO THIS.

Kimya Dawson – Sleep

NaBloPoMo, you are kicking my ass and it’s only day 5.  Yesterday it was a treasure trail of urinary wonder leading down a hallway to a toddler with the Oopsies face, that same Oops, I did it again kid napping and peeing in her car seat, and finally a turd in a toy box (created by boy twin) that drained any literary prowess I may have ever thought about slapping down on the blog.  Today was the day of falling mouth first onto all solid inanimate objects…wooden floor, wooden television stand, porcelain coated cast iron bathtub.  I might be making a trip to the dentist with the girl twin tomorrow as a result of that last incident.  Poor gal.

Hmm, and you wonder why I sometimes go weeks without a post.

More YouTube filler.  Enjoy Kimya Dawson’s Alphabutt.

Dream Bitches

If you can excuse the corny title (possibly chosen after one too many rum and cokes) there’s much to love in the second album from New York’s Dream Bitches. The jangling, gnarly guitars and infectious, intertwining, harmonies will no doubt receive many Sleater-Kinney references, but Dream Bitches’ lush, retro-pop has more in common with the wordy, sussed lyricism of New York neighbours Jeffrey Lewis and Kimya Dawson.

By far the best song here is “Sweet Anneth”, a cute, intoxicating, story of “the cutest boy I ever saw” who teaches Anneth to “sip some cider through a straw”, before being left with “sixteen brats who call me ma”. Breaking between That Dog-style kooky verses and a full-on Babes in Toyland on-the-dance-floor hooks, Anneth discovers that the “the moral of this story is don’t drink your cider through a straw”.

When I go for a drive I like to pull off to the side
Of the road, turn out the lights, get out and look up at the sky
And I do this to remind me that I’m really, really tiny
In the grand scheme of things and sometimes this terrifies me

But it’s only really scary cause it makes me feel serene
In a way I never thought I’d be because I’ve never been
So grounded, and so humbled, and so one with everything
I am grounded, I am humbled, I am one with everything

Rock and roll is fun but if you ever hear someone
Say you are huge, look at the moon, look at the stars, look at the sun
Look at the ocean and the desert and the mountains and the sky
Say I am just a speck of dust inside a giant’s eye
I am just a speck of dust inside a giant’s eye

When I saw Geneviève I really liked it when she said
What she said about the giant and the lemmings on the cliff
She said ‘I like giants
Especially girl giants
Cause all girls feel too big sometimes
Regardless of their size’

When I go for a drive I like to pull off to the side
Of the road and run and jump into the ocean in my clothes
*I’m smaller than a poppyseed inside a great big bowl
And the ocean is a giant that can swallow me whole

So I swim for all salvation and I swim to save my soul
But my soul is just a whisper trapped inside a tornado
So I flip to my back and I float and I sing
I am grounded, I am humbled, I am one with everything
I am grounded, I am humbled, I am one with everything

So I talked to Geneviève and almost cried when she said
That the giant on the cliff wished that she was dead
And the lemmings on the cliff wished that they were dead
So the giant told the lemmings why they ought to live instead

When she thought up all those reasons that they ought to live instead
It made her reconsider all the sad thoughts in her head
So thank you Geneviève, cause you take what is in your head
And you make things that are so beautiful and share them with your friends

We all become important when we realize our goal
Should be to figure out our role within the context of the whole
And yeah, rock and roll is fun, but if you ever hear someone
Say you are huge, look at the moon, look at the stars, look at the sun
Look at the ocean and the desert and the mountains and the sky

Say I am just a speck of dust inside a giant’s eye
I am just a speck of dust inside a giant’s eye
I am just a speck of dust inside a giant’s eye
And I don’t wanna make her cry
Cause I like giants