Moldy Peaches et al

I have no opinion myself, having not heard them.

Don't have much patience for Jeff Lewis or the rest of the "anti-folk" scene, though.

I distrust claims like this in general. Consider the Nazis, for instance, who provoked rather different opinions. Or if you prefer modern examples, the Israeli gov't, the US gov't, the Taliban... (Yes, obviously the Moldy Peaches are on a rather different level of relevance, but still).

I am not saying anything remotely nazi like.

remember, this is I Love Music forum and not a political think tank

"Who's Got The Crack" is a mildly amusing diversion when you're drunk. This is all I know.

Things like this are generally something people will vote with their feet. No big business is really telling people to like it. It has a life of its own and that's why it can sometimes be annoying. A little bit of anarchy never hurt anyone

Crap. Merely provoking *reaction* is not the same thing as doing something that is 'right.' There is no inherent value judgment in said reaction.

I guess you'd say the same about The Frogs, Ween or much of Mike Patton's post FNM output

Hey, I like them all myself. Based on that, I might well like zer Peaches that are Moldy. I'll decide whenever I hear them.

Jesus you all sound like Fred Durst.

As it stands, I stick with my original point -- attention getting is not in and of itself a good thing.

"what if I'm an intolerant crank and I fucking hate lots of things, does that mean everything is good?"
Well, if the one thing you do like is Ryan Adams, then I'd be inclined to say yes...

Arf.

It's that simple, really. The Moldy Peaches lurch happily from slutcore tracks like 'Downloading Porn With Davo' to the genuinely affecting 'Nothing Came Out'. I wuv the Moldy Peaches.

Where would be if I had asked about Guided by Voices?

And very badly played music at that. Still, i find ver peaches kind of charming at times; occasionally touching, sometimes rocking. often annoying. But it's easy enough to like them for what they're worth, and I for one wish I'd written 'Steak for Chicken'. Mardi Gras came and went... Jeffrey Lewis is bobbins though. Boring boring boring

Anti-folk, isn't it just some 80s post-punk acoustic movement, New York-based? Its leader was a guy named Lach and its homebase was a floating club called the Fort. The whole scene had a cranky, 80s American indie vibe. I wasn't wild about it. None of the songs were very memorable. Beck was part of this crowd when he lived in New York in the early 90s. There's probably a much wider definition of this genre that would include Ani di Franco and Billy Bragg and Michelle Shocked or Cindy Lee Berryhill. But this little scene is what I think of when I hear the term anti-folk. And I guess it continues to this day. Probably someone who still lives in New York like Michaelangelo or Douglas will know more about it.

I wish it was ambient robot music.

*That* was the bastard's name! Blah.

I got the album though, it's ok. I listened to it the night I got it, but I don't think it's seen the inside of a player since.

I wouldn't say that the Peaches are taking the piss though, there's a definite sense of emotion, even earnestness in, say, "Duran Duran Boyfriend" or "Anyone Else But You". The costumes are just there for fun, really, there's a kind of running theme throughout the Peaches (in their songs, live shows, and artwork) that runs with the theme that childhood and childishness are inherently good things (you can see this on the cover of Kimya's solo album, a photo of her smiling widely as a child, and another of her looking staid as an adult). Of course, some won't get it, and, hey, more full them. I don't think there is a band as "fun" as them around at the moment though. And I honestly believe that.

The real locations of irony and sincerity in the way most people talk and think are not where they might appear to be if you listen to most pop music. Pop music lags behind, and turns truth slowly into a fomula and a lie. The real locations of irony and sincerity are in a strange place. Adam and Kinya's records know where that place is. This goes for the relationship between humour and taste too, and the relationship the absurd has to the real. Something yuk might be surprisingly touching. Something idiotic might be profound. Something surreal might be realistic. Something we lost here might turn up there. The freshest thing might be a moldy peach.

I would love to see them again.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/47444-the-moldy-peaches-reunite-for-ijunoi-premiere

I used to really like the Moldy Peaches. I think they were probably the only show I've ever attended alone, about a month after I moved to Columbia, MO to start college. They played to an almost completely empty house at Mojo's in poofy animal suits and green elf tights, and somehow the fact that I was completely sober made the whole spectacle seem even more fucked up. I remember the drummer played the entire show using only one hand.

I've never been satisfied by any of their solo releases, though, for some reason.

i luv moldy peaches so tender

hidden vagendas is good xp

So did anyone see Kimya on THE VIEW???

Born of ‘Juno’: A Hit Soundtrack With an Uneasy Singer at Its Heart
By BEN SISARIO

Her songs are all over a hit indie soundtrack, and new fans are mobbing her concerts. Most musicians would see this as good news. But for Kimya Dawson, the 35-year-old den mother of the tiny anti-folk scene, all the attention for her music in the film “Juno” is a little troubling.

“I’m totally scared,” she said recently at Southpaw, a small club in Brooklyn where she was playing a sold-out afternoon show open to all ages. Literally all ages: among the toddlers in attendance was her 17-month-old daughter, Panda, whom Ms. Dawson breast-fed backstage while explaining her fears of getting too famous too fast.

A do-it-yourself singer who writes in childlike, stream-of-consciousness verse and has “LAFF LOUD” tattooed on her fingers, she now finds herself competing with major celebrities like Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige and Radiohead for the top spot on the Billboard album chart. It’s a strange situation for Ms. Dawson, who with her old band, the Moldy Peaches, became a leader of the loosely knit, underground punk-meets-folk scene.

Last week the soundtrack to “Juno,” the snarky romantic comedy about a pregnant 16-year-old, reached No. 3 in a close contest, selling 68,000 copies, and this week the race for No. 1 looks just as tight. On Monday morning Ms. Dawson is booked on “The View” on ABC to perform with Adam Green of the Moldy Peaches; the group’s song “Anyone Else but You” receives prominent treatment in the film.

“Because of the success of the album, people have all these expectations of what the next steps are for me,” Ms. Dawson said. But she has no manager and no booking agent and promotes herself through her site (kimyadawson.com). And she said she had no plans to leave K Records, a veteran independent label in Olympia, Wash., where she lives.

“I don’t like people seeing me on the street and freaking out,” she added. “It’s never what I wanted.”

“Juno” is the latest indie soundtrack to become a hit just as the popularity of the blockbuster pop soundtrack has faded. A decade ago soundtracks were a dependable cash cow for the music industry, but in recent years their sales have plunged; excluding “High School Musical” and “Hannah Montana” products, few major ones have done well on the charts. Last January the “Dreamgirls” album set a record for the least number of weekly sales for a No. 1 album, with 60,000.

“During the ’90s almost every label had a soundtrack division, and there were some huge sellers,” said Geoff Mayfield, Billboard’s director of charts. “It worked for a minute, but once the consumer got the ability to make their own compilations with iTunes and digital technology, that became less appetizing.”

At the same time the indie soundtrack has come into its own as a stable, if modest, seller. Directors like Wes Anderson (“Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums”) established the type with a mix of new independent music and older rarities, and in 2004 “Garden State” accelerated the trend by highlighting the indie band the Shins. One of their songs, Natalie Portman’s character promised in the film, will “change your life, I swear.”

The “Garden State” album went on to sell 1.3 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. More indie-heavy soundtracks followed for “Thumbsucker,” “Stranger Than Fiction,” “The Last Kiss” and others, increasing the pressure on filmmakers to find new and distinctive musical voices.

“As a director there’s a sensitivity to other soundtracks,” said Jason Reitman, who made “Juno.” “You want to find your own artists. I don’t want to be the 100th guy to use Simon and Garfunkel in my movie.”

In recent years some of the more successful indie soundtracks, like last year’s “Once” and “Into the Wild,” have relied on a smaller number of singers or songwriters to create a stronger, unified identity, enticing listeners to buy the whole album instead of just one or two hits. Of the 19 songs on the “Juno” album, 9 are by Ms. Dawson or one of her bands.

Mr. Reitman said he discovered Ms. Dawson’s music before shooting for “Juno” began, when he asked the star, Ellen Page, what band she thought the characters would listen to. Without hesitation she recommended the Moldy Peaches, and Mr. Reitman said their sensibility matched the film’s.

“They have the ability to be ironic and sincere at the same time,” he said. “You believe the love, the sentiment in everything they’re saying, even though they’re being crass or they’re joking around.”

As Ms. Dawson’s solo albums, like “I’m Sorry That Sometimes I’m Mean” and “Remember That I Love You,” have grown more reflective and mature, she has become a figure of wisdom and support for her fans. She said she frequently receives e-mail messages from lonely and depressed young people looking for guidance, and YouTube is chock full of videos of teenagers performing “Anyone Else but You” in bedroom duets.

“I’m into, like, full-audience group-hug kind of stuff,” Ms. Dawson said.

Onstage at Southpaw, playing solo with a guitar, Ms. Dawson closed her eyes and squinted as she sang, and although she made her share of wisecracks, she also seemed to choke back tears when pleading with her fans not to abandon her. “Just treat me normal, please,” she said.

After her last song she announced: “People who have to leave, leave fast. People who don’t, get in a circle and hold hands.”

She walked into the middle of the circle and began to swirl it closely around her: a full-audience group hug.

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

This is pretty much the most insufferable music in the universe. I'd prefer a cocktail of Michael Bolton, Vanilla Ice and ten high school marching bands to anything by Kimya Dawson.

I dislike this music so much that I have to stop myself from actually disliking the people who enjoy this cloying, twisted nonsense.

Indefensible dud to the tenth power

OTM

"I'd prefer a cocktail of Michael Bolton, Vanilla Ice and ten high school marching bands to anything by Kimya Dawson."
I don't buh-LEEV you! You're a LIAR!

mean people suck.

Naming her kid Panda is a sure sign of stardom to come...

I enjoy a lot of Dawson's music, but I'm enjoying watching it reach a larger audience. Not so much the Garden State audience, but the "fuck Garden State" audience that will vomit on immediate contact, seeing it as a new low. I never thought she'd be big enough to get a backlash.

Her last album was disappointing - less to say, fewer novel ways to say it, more obnoxious all-together-now choruses of stuff that works better from a single voice. Worst case scenario is that the next one is mass choirs singing about how they don't need fame.

Worst case scenario is probably her going back on the junk, tbh.

I am of the opinion that Adam Green gets better with each successive solo release, and that he was pretty good to begin with.

i really like that jessica simpson song

but i don't know how i feel about the peaches