Origin Story 1994-99 does what its name implies and gives us the teenage recordings and earliest demos of The Moldy Peaches and it's every bit as magnificent as the first time I heard Noise Addict and there legendary Young And Jaded ep. The Moldy Peaches are Adam Green and Kimya Dawson.
This opens with Wake Up that immediately draws comparisons with Noise Addict and that sound of very talented teenagers trying to become musicians, this is sparse and cool.
Moldy Peaches In Da House is sort of the bands theme song with what sounds like a drum machine and some gentle acoustic guitars, that has all sorts of DJ call outs to get everyone up and dancing.
Lil Bunny Foo Foo is the first song Kimya sings and with the electric guitar it has an early Voodoo Queens type feel to it, but far sparser than they were. Bleeding Heart is a wonderfully low-fi song of yearning and telling a tale about some Bleeding Heart matters, it's poignant and contains a cool tale.
Flea Circus opens with computer game noises before the opening announcement and the short sharp folk stroll about the Flea Circus, this is a very clever song. Times Are Bad is a spare sad little song for when you're feeling down and like no one wants you or likes you.
On Top (Live At Oasis bar) is all about leaving that small town you grow up in and how you want to escape and become a top notch band, this has an almost low-fi rap folk feel.
Ode to Girls Who Write Odes To Kurt Cobain wonders how you end up needing to write to Kurt while feeling like they might want to follow him to an early grave, here's hoping they don't do that.
Ugly Child is a poem from Kimya about the joys of not being afraid to look how you look. Shame is about feeling bad because you got dumped for having a bad case of acne, something many of us experienced as teenagers.
Punching Bag is somewhere between hardcore punk and psychobilly yelp of pain for being a bullying victim. Candyland is a paean to the bands sweet teeth and cartoon aliens drinking chocolate milkshakes.
I Wish I Was Ben Lee re-works Noise Addict's I Wish I Was Him into a similarly jealous song about Ben Lee launching his career through that fabulous ep. This song has me grinning from ear to ear every time I hear it. But beware Young and Jaded is still the best Ben Lee record I've heard.
County Fair Kimya's backing vocals on this recall Moe Tucker singing After Hours while the tune and song remind me a lot of The Countess Of Hong Kong Velvet Underground outtake as they tell us what went on at that County Fair and of course beg to be allowed to go.
Stop That Train Today is a slow folk blues with is it some tuba, as they slowly ride those rails right out of town. The live version of Little Bunny Foo Foo has a bit of a Bo Diddley beat to it as Kimya tells us all about Little Bunny Foo Foo and it chugs along.
Put Your Mama In A Headlock is the sort of scream of anger you might have for a mama whose stopping you from seeing Adam as he wants to make you proud. The Shoes That He Died In is a tribute to K records head honcho Calvin Johnson and let's face it loads of other people should have made tribute songs to him too.
Royal Family takes a very R. Stevie Moore take on the need to get rid of The Royal Family, with the passing years since this was recorded, this has only become more on point and the sooner it happens the better.
We'll Always Be Us is a good statement of intent that they just want to get on with being them over a wonderfully sparse indie folk shuffle.
The album closes with Moon With Rocks a short poem from Kimya about childhood games that has a cool rhythm within the delivery.
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