Adam Green
The son of a professor of neurology and a psychiatrist (brainy, then), 27 year old Adam Green probably first caught your ear as half of renowned and currently-resurgent-despite-not-being-reformed anti folk duo The Moldy Peaches, from New York City.
Though the lo fi and anti folk genres are often mentioned in discussions of Green’s style, this ignores the fact that the lad was once actually a paid up student of music – even though he only lasted one whole semester at Emerson College before joining up with Kimya Dawson in the Moldy Peaches.
Though both he and fellow Peach Dawson had dabbled in solo material before, it wasn’t until joining forces in 1999 as The Moldy Peaches 2000 that the two would collaborate, eventually dropping the ‘2000’ from their name and releasing a self titled debut album on Rough Trade in 2001, having secured the deal whilst Green was still in his teens. That debut’s status as a cult classic has recently been bolstered by several of its charmingly lo fi ditties, most notably ‘Anyone Else But You’, being featured on the soundtrack to Oscar winning comedy Juno this year past year.
Though his solo career never really stopped and, indeed, predates his work with the Moldy Peaches, Adam Green started concentrating on life as a self sufficient solo artist in 2002, releasing the LP ‘Garfield’ in the US (which was just called Adam Green in the UK, and had surprisingly similar artwork to the Moldy Peaches’ debut). Though its lo fi mumblings found favour with MP fans, its violin heavy follow up Friends Of Mine, released a mere eight months following, saw the start of Adam Green as a press darling in his own right.
Soon it became apparent that Adam was going to get better, and more adventurous with every record. He ditched the strings as 2005’s Gemstones found him relying heavily on the sound of a Wurlitzer piano (Rolling Stone called it “pure genius”, Elle Girl called it “wicked awesome”), yet returned to them for ‘06’s Jacket Full Of Danger, a record that explored key themes to Green such as drugs and surreal relationships in more depth than ever before. Oddly, it was the first of Green’s albums not to have been released on the 22nd day of the month.
And new LP Sixes & Sevens was the second. Released earlier this month, it’s both the longest and strongest of Adam Green’s solo efforts, and we emplore you to check it out.
MOLDY PEACHES INTERVIEW, 2001: One of the finest, fullest pieces on the band you’ll find on the internet, Toby L’s mammoth expose on Adam Green’s first band, The Moldy Peaches, is perhaps even more fascinating now than it was when first published, given the water under the bridge and steady ascent to cult status that has been afforded the band since their decision to go on hiatus. Revel in every last word of it.
ADAMGREEN.NET: Decked out like that old computer game Leisure Suit Larry, or so it seems to me; Adam Green’s official website be has charming as he.
MYSPACE.COM/ADAMGREEN: Generous soul is Mr. Green – there are five tracks from his new album available for streaming here, rather than the usual four. Rejoice.
FRIENDS OF MINE: “He consistently strings together phrases that at first seem incoherent or unrelated but slowly paint a picture rich in imagery and (often multiple) meaning, creating songs that are equally timeless and obliquely commenting on our world…”; sounds like Green’s second LP might be worth a listen, then.
LIVE @ ROUGH TRADE 25th ANNIVERSARY GIG: With the Kills, Jeffrey Lewis, Fiery Furnaces and British Sea Power. Nobody doubts the 5/5 rating Joshua K gives it.
MOLDY PEACHES LIVE @ ULU 2002: Adam’s old band caught live, with a who’s who of 2002 London scenesters also in attendance.
EMILY: JJ Florio celebrates Green’s “strong sense of the wonderfully ridiculous”.
GEMSTONES: Joshua K attempts not to giggle his way through a review of a record that contains a song called ‘Choke On A Cock’.
CAROLINA:
EMILY:
MORNING AFTER MIDNIGHT