Favorite Albums: 2000-200429. Kimya Dawson, Hidden VagendaOriginal position on my Stylus ballot: #49 A little Kimya goes a long way, so it’s not surprising that the album that introduced me to her world of cute rhymes about horrible situations is the one I’m most likely to go back to. Produced in part by an ex-Third Eye Blind member, it’s relatively low on livejournal lyrical insularity and only when she starts yelling “five years in the saaaaddle” do I work up a fraction of the “you gotta be kidding me” bile induced in many just by the word “Juno.” But if you’re in the market for twee, this is one of the warmest blankets I’ve found. It’s also fucking hardcore. People die in each of the first five songs amidst acoustic strums, brisk beats, amateur choirs and toy pianos, with Kimya telling us to turn pain into love and rhyming “lemon Pepsi” with “Friends episodes on DVD”. Encounters with stars, endangered children and happy parades intermingle until 9/11 happens, followed by “You Love Me” and “Angels And Seagulls.” If Dylan got seriously earnest and open after his motorcycle crash but still wanted his silly times with The Band, I’d say this is how his side of The Basement Tapes might have wound up. But the truth is her musicians play a lot faster.

Favorite Albums: 2000-2004
29. Kimya Dawson, Hidden Vagenda
Original position on my Stylus ballot: #49

A little Kimya goes a long way, so it’s not surprising that the album that introduced me to her world of cute rhymes about horrible situations is the one I’m most likely to go back to. Produced in part by an ex-Third Eye Blind member, it’s relatively low on livejournal lyrical insularity and only when she starts yelling “five years in the saaaaddle” do I work up a fraction of the “you gotta be kidding me” bile induced in many just by the word “Juno.” But if you’re in the market for twee, this is one of the warmest blankets I’ve found.

It’s also fucking hardcore. People die in each of the first five songs amidst acoustic strums, brisk beats, amateur choirs and toy pianos, with Kimya telling us to turn pain into love and rhyming “lemon Pepsi” with “Friends episodes on DVD”. Encounters with stars, endangered children and happy parades intermingle until 9/11 happens, followed by “You Love Me” and “Angels And Seagulls.” If Dylan got seriously earnest and open after his motorcycle crash but still wanted his silly times with The Band, I’d say this is how his side of The Basement Tapes might have wound up. But the truth is her musicians play a lot faster.