Peer Validated

Pictured: I think Life won.

A little band called The Moldy Peaches released a self-titled CD on September 11, 2001. Adam Green and Kimya Dawson recorded the album’s 19 songs in a basement somewhere in Washington, barely managing to play their guitars and bang on drums while trading vocal parts. Of the 19 songs were such hits as ‘Jorge Regula,’ which borrowed one of its main melodies from Low Rider by War, ‘These Burgers,’ whose chorus repeated the line ‘these burgers are crazy,’ over a flute line, ‘Steak For Chicken,’ a quick Western sounding tune where Adam and Kimya sang different offensive lyrics along to the same melody, and a song called ‘Who’s Got The Crack,’ which requires no farther explanation. Also, as an eerie little side note, the album was released on the same day that the World Trade Centers fell and had a song called NYC’s Like A Graveyard. Most importantly though, The Moldy Peaches included a song called ‘Anyone Else But You,’ where the two members took turns singing to each other about how they ‘don’t see what anyone can see in anyone else.’ It was the first Moldy Peaches song I ever heard, and the first low-fi, indie-esque song I ever heard. To this day, I think it might still be my favorite song.

It killed me when I first heard that Adam and Kimya couldn’t keep The Moldy Peaches together, but soon after, Kimya began writing and recording her solo material. While still very pleasingly low-fi, and still using the same delicate vocals, she cleaned her music up quite a bit, writing completely fragile songs mostly about relationships and loneliness. I’d file her right next to Shelby Sifers in the low-fi, cutesy-girl singer-songwriting genre, except that I think Shelby Sifers would probably pee herself if Kimya got too close.

Firstly,

The Moldy Peaches - Anyone Else But You

And secondly, from the album Hidden Vagenda.

Kimya Dawson - Singing Machine