Internet Awesomeness: Amanda Palmer Edition

I've been a huge fan of Amanda Palmer's quite a few years now in different musical configurations: as a solo performer, half of The Dresden Dolls, part of 8in8, and half of Evelyn and Evelyn. Her music is undeniably unique with her percussive piano playing and emotional way of singing. She has been the center of many a controversy, but is also recognized for her achievements. Very recently, she set up a Kickstarter to fund her new album, Theatre is Evil, recorded with The Grand Theft Orchestra that has garnered over 20,000 backers and over a million pledged dollars. It is officially the most funded music project on Kickstarter and I'm happy to be a part of it.

Here are some of the tracks from her new album that she has already leaked:

Do It with a Rockstar - It's a little more rock than she usually plays and clearly has some Bowie influences (which I love!). I like that when you look a little harder at the lyrics, it's about loneliness.



Trout Heart Replica - This is an older song that she has played live a lot over the past couples years. It's given new life with strings to fill out the sound and make the lyrics that much more poignant. The differences in texture and the relationship between the strings and piano throughout the song amazes me and makes the song even better than I remember it. (You can listen to the studio version here as it is not up on youtube yet.)



Want It Back - This is the one I will inevitably listen to over and over and over and sing it all day. It's super catchy and I already love it.  (You can listen to the studio version here as it is not up on youtube yet.)



The album will be out this September, so keep an eye out for it! It will be made of awesome!!!

Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley Concert of Awesome!

The concert was at the El Rey in Los Angeles on the Saturday before Halloween. I really wanted to dress up, but didn't have a lot of time to throw together a costume. So I wore the brain slug I wore for Comic Con. Lazy costume, yes, but a surprising amount of people recognized it.

Anway, opening the gig was the Petrojvic Blasting Company, who are an Eastern European brass band with a jazzy, cabaret feel. I must say that brass instruments really don't need to miked, but their songs were delightful and fun. My favorite song was Princess Andy.

The Jane Austen Argument came up next, who I had heard of from Amanda's latest album Amanda Goes Down Under. They are comprised of Tom Dickins on vocals and ukulele and Jen Kingwell on piano and vocals. They started with the song Under the Rainbow, about the implications of Tom Dickon's parents first meeting acting in The Wizard of Oz as Dorothy and the Scarecrow. I was immediately moved by this song, the ending nearly bringing me to tears. It's so beautiful and angry and sorrowful all at once with allusions to The Wizard of Oz throughout. Tom's voice has an amazing range and depth to it. I've been completely obsessed with this song and have been playing it over and over from their EP like some crazy person. They are incredibly talented and I hope they come to Southern California again soon.

In between sets, they played Halloween themed music at huge decibels for the crowd to enjoy. One of the highlights was the Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Practically everyone (except for a few people around me) were doing a very small version of the time warp (as it was a very crowded and sold out show) and singing along. Those people who stayed silent did so for the entire concert and it's just odd to me. I don't know if they were unaffected by the perfomances or cared about looking stupid, but that's the experience of going to a concert like this. I screamed and sang and danced and clapped until by the end of the night I was completely exhausted and sore, but I felt the magic that live performances bring, where the crowd ceases to be individuals and instead becomes one amorphous, joined by our energy, enjoyment, and love of music.

Anyway, next up was Jason Webley, half of Evelyn Evelyn and master accordianist. His energy was boundless as he sang and danced while playing accordian. His style of music is folk and alternative performed in innovative ways. He came out with his band banging out rhythms with shovels and drum sticks, preluding my favorite song Dance While the Sky Crashes Down (mixed with Halloween). I love how it's played like a tango, but it's actually a song about the apocalypse.

He also played a medley of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and Thriller, continuing in the Halloween spirit, along with some of his other songs such as Map and There's Not a Step We Can Take. My favorite part of the set was how he included the audience in his songs. In one song, we were the orchestra, singing background parts. In another, he threw out water bottles with rocks in them for people to shake to the beat. In others, we simply clapped. It just made me feel more a part of the music.

After a small interlude of Halloween music (I believe it was Bauhaus' Bela Lugosi's Dead and This is Halloween), Amanda Palmer took the stage. Her electric presence and her raw, emotional singing and piano playing commanded the attention of the crowd. She played some songs from her albums, such as Ampersand, Astronaut, Map of Tasmania, Girl Anachronism, and In My Mind. Although I love these songs, I enjoy the more unexpected songs like covers and newly composed songs. My favorite of her covers was Rebecca Black's Friday, except she changed it to reflect the view of a truck stop hooker. She took a completely vapid, frankly horrible song and gave it depth and horrifying implications.

The newly composed song she debuted was called Judy Blume. This song should seriously be the YA Saves theme song. Palmer is asked all the time what her influences are and she never thought of Judy Blume as an influence, but she was affected by her books as a teen and never made the connection until now. I completely relate the song. I may not remember every single drama I went through or every single friend I had as a kid, but I remember reading The Wizard of Oz, The Vampire Diaries, and the Goosebumps and Fear Street books that helped me through my problems and sometimes acted as an escape for me.

For the encore, Jason and Amanda sang songs together. I was hoping for Evelyn and Evelyn songs, but they sang other songs. The first was Icarus, one of my favorite songs by Webley. Then all the musicians came onstage and we all sang a drinking song together. At first it was a failure because we weren't all drunk, so they had us spin around 11 times looking at our finger in the air to get good and dizzy to sing the song. I love that in the video the person actually spun around and swayed with their neighbors so the viewer can get the full effect.

All in all, it was an awesome show that I enjoyed immensely. I can't wait for these groups to return to Southern California!

Internet Awesomeness 5: 8in8

This edition only has one awesome thing because I find it to be exceptional and in need of recognition.

Amanda Palmer, Neil Gaiman, Ben Folds, and Damian Kulash have all joined forces to do an experiement for the Rethink Music conference. They are collaborating to write 8 songs in 8 hours together. I'm amazed and delighted by the final product, an album called Nighty Night by 8in8 (the name for their impromptu band). There are only 6 tracks on this album and it took 12 hours to do, but each and every song is exceptional. I can definitley hear that different people influenced each track more, making each song different. This project is just amazing. I can't believe that people actually criticized this group of people for this. It's an amazing project that produced a good album, mixing each persons style and voice.

I never would have thought something so cohesive and awesome could come out of something like this. Not only did they draw on each other for inspiration, but also their twitter followers, engaging in conversation and ideas for songs. If you are interested in the process at all, Amanda Palmer wrote a blog post about some of the process. The whole thing was streamed online and will be available soon to watch in an edited version. I am curious about how they got to these 6 songs and what went on in those 12 hours. You can purchase this album for only $1, cheaper than one track on iTunes, at Amanda Palmer's website. You are of course welcome to donate more if you'd like. The inital proceeds from the first 2 weeks will go to the Berkely City Music Network that helps young people reach their full musical potential. If you don't know if you want to buy it, you can listen to it streaming on the website.

You can also see 8in8's first performance band music and also some solo work on this concert the day after recording their album here. The 1 hour mark is where Amanda Palmer is introduced. The best part is 8in8 performing a mashup of Neil Gaiman's essay about Amanda Palmer's death and Ben Fold's song You Don't Know Me at All. It was so unexpected, yet fit together eerily well. The album is wonderfully performed despite their sleep deprivation. I wish I could have been there.

My favorite quote about this project comes from Amanda Palmer: "we accomplished what we actually set out to do, which was to spend time together, create something beautiful that never existed before, and see what we could do by giving ourselves a deadline, some parameters, sushi, and the ingredients for some relatively decent gin and tonics."

Internet Awesomeness 4

More videos for your viewing pleasure!!

1) I'm sure all of you have heard about the racist UCLA girl complaining about Asians talking on the phone in the library unless you've been living under a Youtubeless rock. There are probably countless responses to that very unfortunate and hopefully regretted video, but the best of them has to be Jimmy Wong's super catchy and awesome song, Ching Chong! Asians in the Library Song. Although there is a fair bit of mocking Alexandra, this song responds to something hateful with something funny and creative. I love it!

2) This is one of the cutest videos I've ever seen. Kitties that dream they ride a spaceship and destroy a paper world dressed as dinosaurs. Seriously, what's not to like? Plus it fulfills your daily dose of cute for about a year.

3) At the Shorty Awards, Amanda Palmer sang a song using the most amusing tweets as lyrics to the tune of Rebecca Black's Friday. My personal favorites are Lindsay Lohan, Kanye West, and Beaker. Thank you to Misty from The Book Rat for sending it to me and making me smile! :)

4) This final video is the collaboration of many students at Wesleyan University to save funding for Planned Parenthood. Unlike many conservatives would have you think, Planned Parenthood isn't an abortion machine. There are many services that are provided to people who couldn't normally afford it, such as contraception, general health care, cancer screenings, STD tests and treatment, pelvic exams, among many others. I'm proud to see others my age taking a stand for their reproductive health and an organization that is instrumental in doing so. The article in the description is really interesting and worth a read.

Hope you all liked these videos! <3

Evelyn Evelyn

I had a blast yesterday at the Evelyn Evelyn show in LA at Largo at the Coronet. The show was simply amazing. It opened with Sxip Shirey, who plays songs using found instruments and instruments he alters himself. Some of his instruments include a marble in a bowl, an antique hotel bell, the Sxipenspiel (a present from Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman), and three penny whistles taped together. The sounds he makes with these instruments and how he manipulates them is like nothing I've ever heard before.

Evelyn Evelyn are the absolutely unique singer and songwriter duo that are also conjoined twins. Their new album just came out and I couldn't be happier with it. They sing in a variety of styles, including country, ragtime, 80's pop, as well as their own unique style. The story of their tragic, yet inspiring life occupy three tracks of their new album. The twins were reluctant to even enter the stage, only encouraged by the audience's most enthusiastic of applause. They carefully cleaned every instrument they were handed with a cloth from their purse and cringed in fear and disgust as the stage boy placed instruments on them. They seem painfully shy, which is hardly surprising considering the events they have experienced. Some say they bear a striking resemblance to Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley, but I don't really see it. ;) Their performance was awesome. They succeeded in playing the accordion, the piano, the ukulele, and the guitar with each twin being designated the left or right hand parts. Here are some great videos of other performances:

Jason Webley and Amanda Palmer also performed separately. I loved Jason's song, Dance While the Sky Crashes Down. When he sings, he is incredibly passionate and brings his whole body into it. He sings kind of like a young Tom Waits. His passion and enthusiasm for music is absolutely infectious. Amanda Palmer also took the stage, singing a Fuck the Police/Do You Swear to Tell the Truth the Whole Truth So Help Your Black Ass* mashup (which was hilarious!), Oasis, Coin Operated Boy, Astronaut, and a beautiful cover of a Radiohead song. She also sang Electric Blanket with Jason Webley and Sxip Shirey. The show ended with a drinking song, where we all got dizzy (much cheaper than alcohol) and joined in singing.

This was such a fun show with super talented and creative artists! If you live in the LA area, I would highly recommend going to the show. Tonight is the last day of the show, so this is your last chance for now.

* This song is available for FREE here to celebrate her separation from Roadrunner Records.

Who Killed Amanda Palmer?

Amanda Palmer is an incredibly talented singer, songwriter, and pianist. She is half of the punk cabaret duo, The Dresden Dolls, and has recently branched out with her own solo album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer. I have seen her in concert five times (both solo and with The Dresden Dolls) and she's simply amazing. She plays with such reckless abandon and passion and it charges her music. It is so unique compared to anything else I've ever heard. This beautiful and macabre book is the companion to her solo album. If you have no idea who she is and want to hear some of her music, here is her MySpace page and The Dresden Dolls' MySpace page.

I finally received this book after ordering it almost a year ago. Needless to say, I was so excited about getting the package that I might have scared the UPS man a tiny bit. The wait was worth it.

This is a beautiful coffee table-type book full of photographs of the dearly departed Amanda Palmer in various places and states of undress taken by a large variety of photographers. They are accompanied by wonderful short stories by Neil Gaiman and lyrics from Amanda Palmer's solo album. The photos are incredibly dynamic, each it's own little morbid and macabre vignette. Some of them are sad, funny, ironic, odd, beautiful, and gruesome, but all of them are unique. My favorite is of Amanda brandishing a sword triumphantly over her slaughtered, younger self.

Neil Gaiman's short stories are nothing short of genius. They go perfectly with the corresponding pictures. He utilizes different voices expertly to tell the story of a young girl with an abusive mother, a suicidal housewife, and others. The stories triggered strong responses in me. Some made me laugh out loud, but others disturbed and sickened me. It's amazing how such emotion and plot can be encompassed in so few words. The longest story is two pages, but each is like a window deep into each of Amanda Palmer's many deaths.

This awesome book is a great collaboration between two talented artists. It's a must-have for any Amanda F-ing Palmer or Neil Gaiman fan.

5/5