The Almighty Oracle

It’s been months since I last stumbled upon a song I would instantly love and feel the urge to listen to on repeat but this weekend sees the return of this strange habit.

For the first Song of the Day of 2010, let me introduce you to Kayla Oberlin and her wonderful ukulele accompanying on a sweet story-telling surrounding the news of Amanda Palmer’s death simply entitled WKAP (Who Killed Amanda Palmer? is Amanda Palmer’s latest release).

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I haven’t been curious enough to try and decifer the bridge part yet, mysteries are good too.

Visit Kayla Oberlin on myspace.

mel :: Feb.07.2010 :: Amanda Palmer, Kayla Oberlin, Song of the Day :: No Comments »

this was a spontaneous video made on july 1, 2009 in hermosa beach (los angeles, CA).
amanda had gathered a bunch of folks by announcing a “ninja beach gig” on her blog & twitter. lots of people came, amanda played ukulele for a while, there was a big gorup shotoshoot….then amanda decided it was a fine day for a music video. here’s what we did.

Sometimes I get scared of technology and our strange habit of relying on it so much but this video proves how sweet technology can be, especially Twitter.
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Watch this and be 732% happier.
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performer: Amanda Palmer
song written by: Cat Stevens
cinematographer and editor: Danna Kinsky
photographer: Lindsey Byrnes
assistant director: Kirsten Vangsness
sound design: Jaron Luksa
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There’s no need to state it again but anyway : I ADORE Amanda Palmer for this and everything else she’s created.
It also makes me happy Kirsten Vangsness was involved in this, despite the typo in her name in the video.

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Punk Cabaret Is Freedom!

mel :: Aug.01.2009 :: Amanda Palmer, Video :: No Comments »

When I reviewed Amanda Palmer’s first solo effort, Who Killed Amanda Palmer? I wrote : “Oasis is fun in the contrast between the happy music vs. the theme of the verses.” Well, the song just got funnier with its video. It’s colourful, quite well edited, seems like they all had a blast filming it and tends to put a silly grin on my face.

What do you think?

And because it’s a theme in the song, here’s what I got in the mail today :

It’s autographed and everything!
27 days to travel from NY to France. *no comment*

Amanda’s words about the video :

never again will you be able to see me get drunk, date-raped AND get an abortion ALL IN ONE VIDEO!

look out for special appearances by beth (my assistant), emily (my manager), michael (my boyfriend), becca (best known for her role in the “girls just wanna have fun video” as my drunk comrade-in-arms) and many others….truly a family effort.

special thanks, of course, to my main man michael pope, who did a brilliant job directing this one (as usual) and to brianna olson, who produced with class. big thanks also to jakob ludwick, who loaned us his loft in brooklyn to shoot this shiznit, the crew,
and all the extras.

dedicated, with love, to sarah palin.

xxxx,
AFP.

Lyrics for Oasis : Continue Reading »

mel :: Oct.30.2008 :: Amanda Palmer, Oasis, Video :: No Comments »

Good question! If you happen to know anything about it, let me know!

More seriously, let’s talk music here. Amanda Palmer is one half of the punk-cabaret band The Dresden Dolls. She’s the piano/voice/songwriting half and over the years she started collecting songs that she thought couldn’t fit on the Dolls‘ albums and finally had enough to release them as a solo album.

The official release date for WKAP is September 16 (this next Tuesday)

Amanda once referred to the songs on WKAP as mostly piano ballads, this definition only fits 7 out the 12 songs on the album (Blake Says, Strength Through Music, Have To Drive, The Point Of It All, Another Year, What’s The Use Of Wond’rin’? and Ampersand for the first part). The rest got heavier drums (Astronaut, Runs In The Family) or are almost glorious pop songs (Leeds United, Guitar Hero, Oasis).

My favourite songs are Continue Reading »

mel :: Sep.15.2008 :: Amanda Palmer, CD Review, Video, Who Killed Amanda Palmer? :: 1 Comment »

I feel like I’m only ever blogging about Amanda Palmer now, but somehow her solo album is the release I’m the most looking forward to now.

Here’s the fourth video [out of 6; including the less than a minute long intro] portraying Runs In The Family. The quick cuts in the video respond perfectly well to the rhythm of the words. It’s heavy, emotional, intense.

Via Spin.com :

Here’s my attempt at a lyrics transcript [help's needed, especially for the last part] : Continue Reading »

mel :: Jul.28.2008 :: Amanda Palmer, Runs In The Family, Who Killed Amanda Palmer? :: 2 Comments »

The first song off Amanda Palmer’s solo effort has just been unveiled on her myspace.

Who Killed Amanda Palmer? will be released on September 16th

It’s a fully orchestrated version of long live played Astronaut. It starts with a heavy piano/drums combination reminiscent of The Dresden Dolls‘ work. The song tends to get more epic with the addition of violins or cello – played by Zoë Keating! – and you’ll even find some blurry keyboards here and there to broaden the horizon.

I tend to avoid videos because they distract me from the music but the one for Astronaut may be as intense as the song and that’s a good point. Check it out here.

And because the whole dimension of the song is reached with Amanda’s clever words, here are the lyrics : Continue Reading »

mel :: Jul.01.2008 :: Amanda Palmer, Astronaut, Song of the Day, Who Killed Amanda Palmer?, Zoe Keating :: No Comments »

Who Killed Amanda Palmer?, Amanda Palmer’s first solo effort just got a release date! September 16.

Here’s what Amanda wrote regarding the date :

“that is now like christmas day for me. it is four months away. that seems long.”

It’s not much of Christmas to me, just 3 days after my birthday. Perfect timing for a belated gift! [except that I'll probably pre-order the thing as soon as it's possible]

To celebrate the news, here’s the new video for Night Reconnaissance, the first single off No, Virginia, the new The Dresden Dolls‘ album [out May 20].

mel :: May.12.2008 :: Amanda Palmer, Night Reconnaissance, No Virginia, The Dresden Dolls, Video, Who Killed Amanda Palmer? :: No Comments »

…the fascination with Rihanna’s Under My Umbrella?

I honestly hadn’t heard the song before this weekend, mostly because I don’t listen to the radio nor would I listen to a radio that’d play the song. But somehow, it’s been covered by two of my favourite artists ever : Tegan and Sara and Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls. So I had to check out all the different versions.

- The original : not my style, really.

- Amanda Palmer’s : Just drums, ukulele and vox, she’s obviously making fun of the song and having a good time with the audience. Nice one.
- Tegan And Sara’s : Slower, full band, Sara on lead vocals with Tegan playing the echoing voice. The recording is very poor but it still sounds like the best version of the song for me.

Beyond my personal preference, why is it that this song is being covered so much? My guess is because it was #1 everywhere and is so annoyingly catchy you hear it once have it stuck in your head forever.

[drawing found on Random Pirate Comics]

mel :: Sep.24.2007 :: Amanda Palmer, Random, Rihanna, Tegan And Sara, The Dresden Dolls :: No Comments »