Alphabutt

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Alphabutt album cover
Album Information

Total Tracks: 15   Total Length: 27:41

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Douglas Wolk

eMusic Contributor

Douglas Wolk writes about pop music and comic books for Time, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Wired and elsewhere. He's the author of Reading Comics: How Gra...more »

09.08.08
Dawson's album of songs for her two-year-old daughter will delight indie toddlers and their parents.
2008 | Label: K Records / SC Distribution

Most of Kimya Dawson's songs, on her own and with the Moldy Peaches, are so personal she's practically staring you straight in the eyes, grinning impishly — that's what made them so memorable in Juno, the context in which a lot of her listeners discovered her. Her new album of children's music, though, is about as personal as it gets: most of its songs were written for her now-two-year-old daughter, Panda, and they're very specifically about one little girl and her friends and family.

So will it speak to kids who aren't related to the singer? Absolutely — not least because a few of Dawson's backing musicians are small enough to ride the bus for free, and there's nothing toddlers like more than hearing other toddlers wreaking gentle havoc with simple tunes. (Panda herself contributes the occasional "uh-oh!") Some of these songs are the kind of little melodies children make up to go along with something they're doing: "Louie," about Panda's favorite dog, has a chorus that goes "Louie Louie Louie Louie Louie Louie Louie Louie Louie Louie Louie Louie Louie!"

Slightly older kids are likely to scandalize their grandparents with the title track, a hilarious one-minute piece of… read more »

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Seeger

btbowen

this is kinda pointless. and boring. Did she spend a day in the studio just recording whatever came to mind? If you want some unbelievable kids' music, go check out Pete Seeger's 1955 album (reissue) Birds Beasts Bugs & Fishes.

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Daughter didn't like it.

ValyGrl

I thought my 5 yr old would love this, but she kept telling me to skip the songs when they came on my MP3, so I guess she didn't like it.

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Overrated

ed.casper

I love the Moldy Peaches. I love simple, lo-fi, clever music. This is not clever, just simple and lo-fi.

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Yeaaahhhhh...

glazegirl

...what exactly IS that gorilla doing to the sheep???

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A little self indulgent

PhillJ

but quite fun just the same.

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Um..........

Mattraider

What is the gorilla doing to that sheep??????

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awesome

april.merleaux

this is the best kids album since we wore a groove in dan zanes' family dance. for the butt/fart/potty obsessed, this is awesome. and every time i listen (which is frankly a lot because of the small human beings who are obsessed with it), i hear something also genius and amazingingly insightful about mundane life with small children.

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A year after the movie Juno prominently featured her songs (as well as songs by her old band the Moldy Peaches) and raised her profile considerably, Kimya Dawson is still the road warrior she's always been. These days, though, she's touring with her family — including her two-year-old daughter Panda. In fact, Panda is the inspiration for and subject of Dawson's new album, Alphabutt, a record of children's music that had its origin in the… more »

They Say All Music Guide

Since Kimya Dawson’s adult albums are filled with cutesy-pie rhymes and schoolyard singalongs, it makes perfect sense that the singer/songwriter has given herself over to a full-on children’s album. It also makes perfect sense that it’s called Alphabutt, as Dawson has always shown a propensity for juvenile jokes, and that title should also be a tip-off that just about every other song on this 15-track LP sports a joke about farting. Kimya doesn’t limit herself to farts: there’s poop and pee, even references to growing hair “down there,” all delivered with a child’s fascination with discovering their body — and sometimes delivered with a couple kids singing along, too. Such enthusiastic participation from a few tuneless kids highlights the fact that Dawson designed Alphabutt purely for young kids. These are not songs for the parents, nor are these tunes meant to educate or even entertain: these are the kinds of songs that kids chant in the backseat when they mean to annoy their parents. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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