Kimya Dawson - Thunder Thighs

Kimya Dawson's seventh album might not be quite what you expect. After kicking off with familiar-sounding four-track-recorded, thumb-strummed acoustic folk, Thunder Thighs veers off in all manner of different directions. Involving the likes of the Olympia Free Choir, Nikolai Fraiture of The Strokes, Dawson's five-year-old daughter Panda and rapper Aesop Rock, the record takes a trip through a host of genres.

Miami Advice mixes a choral singalong with hip-hop, while The Mare and The Bear could have been lifted from the songwriter's kids' album, Alphabutt. Elsewhere, the sweary rap of Zero or Zillion takes a dig at musical snobbery and reprises the exuberance and anarchy of her Moldy Peaches days.

It's not all fun and games though. The wonderful thing about the ever-honest Dawson is that she ducks no subject and, as one would expect from her, there are some stark, tough moments here. Indeed, the ten-minute Walk Like Thunder sees her at her most vulnerable as she deals with her near-overdose ten years ago and the death of two friends to illness. It is incredibly moving.

The general theme of Thunder Thighs revolves around the importance of being kind, tolerant and considerate to others. However, Dawson's words are not preachy in the slightest and if you don't find yourself nodding in agreement with her philosophies, then you really need to have a good long look in the mirror.

Such is the eclectic nature of Thunder Thighs that, even though the 16 tracks here are all new, the record plays out like a Greatest Hits, meaning not only will it appeal to long-term fans but it's also the best place for the uninitiated to begin.

Review by Bobby Townsend. It first appeared in Sydney's Drum Media.

Kimya Dawson & Aesop Rock at Manning Bar, Sydney

KIMYA DAWSON & AESOP ROCK 

DONNY BENET 
Manning Bar 14/10/11

Playing to a sparsely populated room, Donny Benet belted out frankly ridiculous guitar and synth solos, in a set which could have been the soundtrack to an 80s straight-to-video thriller. It was a bit awesome in a tongue-firmly-in-cheek, Har Mar Superstar kind of way.

By the time Kimya Dawson and Aesop Rock had finished their opening song, Manning Bar had filled up, and the unlikely duo set about delivering tracks from their as-yet-unreleased collaborative album. The combination of Dawson's gentle thumb-strummed folk and Aesop Rock's rapid vernacular was interesting, unusual and, happily, worked excellently. After a couple of tunes, Rock left Dawson to it. Songs from Alphabutt provoked audience participation and stuff from her new record, Thunder Thighs, sounded particularly strong. Of course, she was charming and funny between songs – her mid-set daydream about starting a Phil Collins tribute band with Donny Benet was especially fun – but the best thing about Dawson is her honesty and her worldly philosophies. She talked of how she has been 13 years sober and how it's okay to lean on people if life is shitty, while Walk Like Thunder was an incredibly moving tale of life and death which saw Rock return to the stage. At ten-minutes in length, it was truly stunning in its raw emotion and certainly the highlight of the night.

Changing the tone and the tempo, Dawson made way for Aesop Rock who, together with MC Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz, had the room jumping with to some hectic hip-hop sounds. With Sonic seemingly intent on people putting their arms in the air all the time, Big Wiz dropped beats and scratched the hell out of the ones and twos as Rock belted through his lengthy back-catalogue. There were songs from Rock and Sonic's group, Hail Mary Mallon, such as the fun Breakdance Beach and The Poconos, while Catacomb Kids went down a storm. Dawson rejoined Rock on stage to close the show with a bit of rapping herself on Please Don't Tap On The Glass, Bats and None Shall Pass.

It was a rare joy to see two such different artists sharing a stage and creating an evening of such eclecticism. Equally intelligent, fun, emotive and entertaining, Kimya Dawson and Aesop Rock provide a weird and wonderful combination.

Review by Bobby Townsend. It first appeared in Sydney's Drum Media.

Kimya Dawson to release new album!

Here at Bobbysix.com, we've been friends with Kimya Dawson for years and years. We first fell in love with her music when she was one half of the too-amazing-for-words Moldy Peaches with that crazy son of a gun Adam Green. Then we met her through a charity thing we were involved in and have always followed her solo career with love and interest - through her early stuff to her lovely kids' album via, of course, Juno.

She is one of the loveliest human beings on the planet; so full of warmth and love and kindness.

Anyway, the exciting news is that she has a new record out soon. It features appearances by Aesop Rock, John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats, Nikolai Fraiture of the Strokes, Forever Young Senior Citizen Rock and Roll Choir, Olympia Free Choir and more. As a little teaser, here is a live clip of one of the songs that is included in the album. It is typically honest and heart-wrenching. And the video features some cool chickens.

Kimya Dawson at Komedia, Brighton

KIMYA DAWSON
ANGELO SPENCER
Komedia, Brighton 19/05/09

Angelo Spencer was naked at The Komedia. Not literally, of course. The skinny Frenchman was very much clothed, but, due to a lack of a van to carry his kick-drum, high-hat and bass, the one-man band was forced to appear with just his electric guitar for company. While he struggled to adjust, he still made a raucous noise and, as is his way, stopped songs midway in order to explain something about the lyrical content or - more likely - to go off at a random tangent about hiking.

Spencer's wife, Kimya Dawson, has come a long way since I first sat cross-legged to see her in the tiny Freebutt a few years ago. Post-Juno, the venues have grown and so have the crowds, meaning it was standing room only. I'm not a snob when it comes to artists becoming successful, especially when the growth is organic and, like Dawson, the artist stays 100% true to their roots, but with larger crowds comes the inevitability that the idiot count will rise amongst the audience. Back in the day, crowds at Kimya shows would consist of meek nerds in cardigans and appropriately indie t-shirts. And, while the vast majority of people last night were simply music fans who acted with perfect etiquette considering the intimacy of the show, there were also too-cool-for-school, oh-so-kooky and leftfield 'I'm mad, me,' kids (like the ones that stood directly behind me) who insisted on chatting loudly and shouting comments that were inappropriate considering the solemn nature of the show (more on this later). Never mind that one of the most honest songwriters in the world was playing gentle acoustic music a few feet in front of them, these idiots wanted to be the centre of attention. Okay, Kimya's shows are often best when there is a constant exchange between her and the crowd (indeed, until recently, she didn't even bother writing a set-list, and just waited for requests), but talking loudly throughout while hardly listening to a word Kimya sang was disrespectful to her and the rest of her audience.Anyway, rant over. Thankfully, despite the bigger venue and the speckling of morons, the show was as intimate as ever. Kimya had a couple of friends on stage with her who, through strings and xylophone, added depth to her simple thumb-strumming. While typically shy and amicable, she had a decidedly different tone to the hilarious between-song banter she offered last time I saw her in Sydney. "You know I love you Brighton. I'm just not feeling very chatty today," she told us. Soon, she explained why. The day before the show, a good friend had died. She had spent the previous two days at his bedside, singing songs to him. He was cremated in the t-shirt she had made him. All of a sudden, her sombre mood made sense, and songs like Underground and It's Been Raining took on a whole new perspective and had even greater weight than they already did.

That's not to say that the show was a miserable one. She laughed and joked with her backing band and told a weird tale about triplets conceived four months apart and about trampolining on Brighton Pier while needing a wee. There were songs from Alphabutt, her kids album, as well as old favourites like The Beer.

Typical of Kimya, she played until the venue basically kicked her off stage long after the curfew had passed. This is the seventh time I have seen her and, having been a fan since The Moldy Peaches days, it is hard to keep perspective on how good this show was, so will sum up with the words that Emma from Owl and the Grapes said to me at lights-up: "Kimya made me want to live more. Her songs made me happy and sad at the same time."

Kimya Dawson & Friends - Alphabutt

What was the first album you owned? I’m guessing it was something you don’t boast about too much nowadays (mine was Alchemy: Dire Straits Live). Well, American anti-folk legend Kimya Dawson has ensured that a future generation of adults can claim their first record to be something supercool, as she has released an album for kids.

The Moldy Peaches singer has always had a wonderful sense of community about her, and here recruits musical friends and their kids for an energetic, ramshackle acoustic romp complete with handclaps, foot-stomps and singalong choruses. Dawson combines hilarious lyrics about wee-wee, poop, robotic monkeys and growing hair “on your legs, your armpits and even down there,” with moral messages about the importance of sharing, loving and being kind.

Kids will go wild for Alphabutt. The songs are catchy and interactive, and, at 27-minutes long, the album is short enough to hold their attention. That’s not to say this is exclusively for children though. Fans of Dawson will be pleased to find the usual mix of humour and tenderness within her wordplay, and the simple structure and rawness of her previous recordings also remain. Indeed, there are a couple of songs of a more grown-up nature, like Happy Home (Keep on Writing), that could comfortably sit on any of her other solo albums.

Buying Alphabutt for your child would be giving them the perfect introduction to all that is good and honest about music and, similarly to something like Sesame Street, this is so witty, heart-warming and fun that it can be enjoyed by kids of absolutely all ages.