Photo
When

Nov 21, 2008 6:00 pm (Friday)

Where

Webster Hall (map)

125 East Eleventh Street
New York, NY 10003
Who
What
Ages: 18+Time: Doors 6pmPrice: $25 Amanda Palmerhttp://www.myspace.com/whokilledamandapalmerhttp://www.whokilledamandapalmer.comHow strange is the world that Amanda Palmer has sketc...

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Event details: Amanda Palmer with the Danger Ensemble

Description
Ages:
18+

Time:
Doors 6pm

Price:
$25

Amanda Palmer
  • http://www.myspace.com/whokilledamandapalmer
  • http://www.whokilledamandapalmer.com
  • How strange is the world that Amanda Palmer has sketched for herself. Since she first appeared with Dresden Dolls professing to perform a “Brechtian pink cabaret” – so named because the singer couldn't bear the thought of letting others mistakenly call it something synonymous with ‘goth' – Palmer (along with drummer Brian Viglione) has reveled in producing a series of three-penny psychodramas that, with each successive release, put more flesh on the grainy bones of a strange, sepia tone celluloid creature of her own design. Most recently, the Dolls have begun to transplant a few other sensibilities into their body of work as well – No Virginia, for example, found the band dabbling in a bit of new wave (the cover of a John Hughes movie theme is the proof in that pudding) and gradually working more fluid and rockist rhythms into the music  and thus deepening their intrigue as a result.

    Incorporating all of the sonic elements she's honed with Dresden Dolls but adding a few all new twists to the script as well, Palmer's first solo work is both fantastic and frustrating all at once in the best imaginable senses of each term. On one hand, Who Killed Amanda Palmer is the ultimate exposition of the sounds that the Dresden Dolls have been perfecting for the last seven years and with which they've been amassing a growing fan base. Songs like “Leeds United” and “Guitar Hero” (with a guest appearance by Dead Kennedys' East Bay Ray) play like Dresden Dolls on steroids as far as, with the Berthold Brecht and Kurt Weill references that her band has always garnered intact, Palmer inflates the Dresden Dolls' modus operandi to critical mass with a brilliantly wheezing horn section, classically trained and orchestrated strings and even exposing (on “What's The Use Of Wond'rin?”) a classical vocal training never before heard from the singer. As well, in addition to her own accomplished and consistently quirky stabs at the eighty-eight keys, producer/secret weapon Ben Folds helps out by introducing some glossy silliness (check out the twisted and manic workout that is “Oasis” for an idea) to keep things light and introduce another brand of radio-ready hook.

    On the other hand, Palmer does renege on her word here by giving in to the goth. Other than the companion coffee table book by the same name penned by Sandman and The Dreaming scribe Neil Gaiman (I defy anyone to find a more tasteful gothic exhibit than those two titles), the overwhelming feel of Who Killed Amanda Palmer (which could also be an allusion to the Twin Peaks tagline “Who killed Laura Palmer?”) is one of dimly lit decadence and late-night opulence as the strings swell in “Runs In The Family” and “Ampersand” as well as gently nudging “Another Year: A Short History Of Almost Nothing” into the sublime pleasure centers of any eyeliner-graced romantic. It's a moment of delicacy seldom seen in rock, but here Amanda Palmer stretches it masterfully to encompass and dominate every microtone of her solo debut and placing it not only as a brand apart from anything currently happening in rock, but also a fair step from her work with Dresden Dolls as well.

    Who Killed Amanda Palmer comes out September 16, 2008 on Roadrunner Records.

The Builders and the Butchers
  • http://www.myspace.com/thebuildersandthebutchers
  • From CDBaby.com: “Chock full of junk store percussion, is this to be considered inspired by call and response old time Gospel, or is it the Gospel for modern folk pop lovers? This lo-fi recording of strings, mandolin, drums, “whatever you can get your hands on” percussion, guitars, banjo, bass, organ, and open vocal harmonies, is deceptively loose-sound sounding on first listen. As the listener dives deeper into the record it becomes pretty apparent that this musical mongrel of a band is pretty precise, but feels like it was hewn from dirt of the land, and sounds ragged and burnt from a lifetime of tilling. The lyrics are slyly smart, artfully sinister, and built for audience participation… and while the rolling high end mandolin and banjo pluck their ways through countermelodies, there's that perfectly tattered jumble of percussion that sets the knee to bouncin' and the hands together to clap along. Find the lot of players in front of a crowd that is jubilantly singing along with the backing chorus, and you'll find the whiskey drinkers, beer swillers, the devoted Tom Waits fans who wish they could get as close to him as they can to this band. This record must have been incredibly fun to record.”

Zoe Keating
  • http://www.myspace.com/zoecello
  • http://www.zoekeating.com
  • Armed with just her cello and a small box of electronics, Zoë Keating has performed outdoors in the Nevada desert, in medieval churches, in punk clubs, and before thousands of screaming teenagers in mainstream rock venues across North America and Europe.

    Classically trained from the age of eight, Zoë developed her signature style improvising for late night crowds in her San Francisco warehouse space. Her album "One Cello x 16: Natoma", which rose to 2 on the iTunes Classical and Electronica charts, is the direct result of that experimentation. Comfortably inhabiting her own territory somewhere between classical minimalism, experiemental electronica and steampunk, Keating's works have been called luminous, haunting and "the perfect music for apocalyptic landscapes".

    An arresting sight onstage - with her 18th century instrument, tangle of red dreadlocks and bank of blinking electronics - Zoë reproduces her music entirely live, her feet dancing over an array of pedals to record and control her live orchestrations.

    She has performed on NPR, composed music for several successful films and has collaborated with countless musicians, including 4 years in the chamber-rock group Rasputina. She has recorded with Amanda Palmer, DJ Shadow, Tarentel, John Vanderslice and Halou, just to name a few, appeared onstage with Imogen Heap and on Jay Leno with Paolo Nutini.

Cost
$25
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