Cosmic Harmony
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Who Killed Amanda Palmer
"Who Killed Amanda Palmer" is the debut (and thus far only) album by Amanda Palmer of Dresden Doll fame. Released in September of 2008 the album was welcomed with positive reviews.
As with Amanda's previous work with The Dresden Dolls "Who Killed Amanda Palmer" is of course a piano heavy album (as it is Amanda's primary instrument) which puts a grand amount of focus on the lyrics of each song and the unique brand of piano driven rock music that Amanda cultivates.
1.) Astronaut: A Short History of Nearly Nothing
"Astronaut" is one of the bigger sounding songs on the album and a great song to open it. It opens with an acceding piano progression that is the basis for the song. It is also backed by a string section and shifts dynamics grandly throughout the song with the quiet sections being very quiet and the that really makes the louder sections (such as the chorus, which talking about loving the astronaut) really pop that much more.
2.) Runs in the Family
"Runs in the Family" is a fast tempo-ed song driven by Amanda's vocals and the accompanying piano part with minor percussion clicks during the verses that build into the chorus where strings enter with powerful effectiveness. Lyrically the song deals with things that run in one's family, mental illness in particularly and how one can run anywhere but they can't run away from their family because their genes are always inside of them.
3.) Ampersand
"Ampersand" an optimistic song that is more gentle than the song that precedes it. It's a soft piece about not living on one's side of an ampersand and how you can be romantic but to define your life solely by the relationship you're in is simply crazy.
(Also this is the first song of this album I ever heard and it's still a fave of mine)
4.) Leeds United
"Leeds United" is perhaps the most fun song on this album. It's got a retro big band like sound to it with prominent trumpet parts that are vital to the song, especially in the chorus. Amanda's singing has a bit of a raspy quality as when they recorded this song it was at the end of long day of recording but they decided that they liked this version so much they didn't want to rerecord it so the vocal track was done in one take.
This is the song that was first released as a single and the only song on the album that had a higher budget video filmed for it. Following the completion of the video though Roadrunner Records wanted to edit out some shots where Amanda's stomach was in the shot because they thought she looked fat. This sparked what would come to be known as the "ReBELLYon".
5.) Blake Says
This is another soft song. The most important element of this song is the lyrics and they talks about a boy named Blake. I'll touch on that by quoting one line from the song "he takes his pills, but he never takes his medicine".
6.) Strength Through Music
"Strength Through Music" opens with narrative by some fellow with a deep voice. This is a very stripped down track with a simple piano part and "tick"s that sort of remind me of something Regina Spektor would do. In either case this is my least favorite song on the album.
7.) Guitar Hero
Track seven, "Guitar Hero", flows very well from the previous track "Strength In Music" and has an odd, dark tone to it. As one could guess from the title the most prominent instrument in this track is the guitar as opposed to piano in the rest of the songs on the album. The guitar is provided by East Bay Ray of The Dead Kennedys. This song was penned while Amanda Palmer was touring with The Dresden Dolls and she noticed that one band they were touring with at the time (rumor has it that said band was Panic At The Disco) would hurry through their sets, not play an encore, not mingle with fans/sign autographs, and would rush out of venue as fast as they could so they could go back to the hotel and play the game Guitar Hero. Amanda thought this was incredibly stupid because people play Guitar Hero so they could feel like rockstars and here was a band that had fans and a good amount of popularity and could actually play instruments and yet they'd rush through all of that to play a simulation of what they just did when so many people would kill to be in their position.
[]8.) Have To Drive[/B]
"Have to Drive" is one of my favorite songs on the album and I will say upfront that my favorite thing about it is the build. It may not be the most powerfully building song but it just does it SO well. The song starts very softly and builds in intensity almost like a well written story. It has an opening, a middle, a climax, falling action, and resolution. Also the lyrics are some of my favorite off this album, despite it kind of being about road kill.
9.) What's the Use of Wond'rin'?
This song is musically written to sound like a music box and features pretty, almost operatic lead vocals from Annie Clark AKA St. Vincent. It's a nice song but it's a weaker song on this album I think.
10.) Oasis
Oh "Oasis"......this song is one of the most upbeat songs on the album, though because of that it caused a large degree of controversy. Musically the song has a happy piano part that drives the song and there are almost Beach Boy like backing vocals throughout much of the song. The thing that bothered a number of people though is that the song tells the story of a girl that got drunk, was date raped at a party, got an abortion, and had her best friend tell everyone at school that she was a crack whore for getting knocked up and the thing that got her through the whole thing was her love for the band Oasis (who at the end of the song send her an autographed photograph). Many people saw this song as making light of serious subjects such as rape. Amanda addressed these accusations in her blog (through which she has a very close relationship with her fans by the way) by saying:
The rest can be read here: blog
11.)The Point Of It All
This is a moving song in subject matter. While the meaning behind this song has never been fully explained it's commonly believe that it's about someone Amanda knew with a drug addiction. Musically I think it's a beautiful song and lyrically it's captivating in a really cryptic sort of way.
12.) Another Year: A Short History of Almost Something
This is one of my favorite songs on the album. Lyrically "Another Year" is about someone just waiting and trying to build up the courage to tell someone that they love them but when they can't bring themself to do it they figure they could just wait another year.
"Who Killed Amanda Palmer" is the debut (and thus far only) album by Amanda Palmer of Dresden Doll fame. Released in September of 2008 the album was welcomed with positive reviews.
As with Amanda's previous work with The Dresden Dolls "Who Killed Amanda Palmer" is of course a piano heavy album (as it is Amanda's primary instrument) which puts a grand amount of focus on the lyrics of each song and the unique brand of piano driven rock music that Amanda cultivates.
1.) Astronaut: A Short History of Nearly Nothing
"Astronaut" is one of the bigger sounding songs on the album and a great song to open it. It opens with an acceding piano progression that is the basis for the song. It is also backed by a string section and shifts dynamics grandly throughout the song with the quiet sections being very quiet and the that really makes the louder sections (such as the chorus, which talking about loving the astronaut) really pop that much more.
2.) Runs in the Family
"Runs in the Family" is a fast tempo-ed song driven by Amanda's vocals and the accompanying piano part with minor percussion clicks during the verses that build into the chorus where strings enter with powerful effectiveness. Lyrically the song deals with things that run in one's family, mental illness in particularly and how one can run anywhere but they can't run away from their family because their genes are always inside of them.
3.) Ampersand
"Ampersand" an optimistic song that is more gentle than the song that precedes it. It's a soft piece about not living on one's side of an ampersand and how you can be romantic but to define your life solely by the relationship you're in is simply crazy.
(Also this is the first song of this album I ever heard and it's still a fave of mine)
4.) Leeds United
"Leeds United" is perhaps the most fun song on this album. It's got a retro big band like sound to it with prominent trumpet parts that are vital to the song, especially in the chorus. Amanda's singing has a bit of a raspy quality as when they recorded this song it was at the end of long day of recording but they decided that they liked this version so much they didn't want to rerecord it so the vocal track was done in one take.
This is the song that was first released as a single and the only song on the album that had a higher budget video filmed for it. Following the completion of the video though Roadrunner Records wanted to edit out some shots where Amanda's stomach was in the shot because they thought she looked fat. This sparked what would come to be known as the "ReBELLYon".
5.) Blake Says
This is another soft song. The most important element of this song is the lyrics and they talks about a boy named Blake. I'll touch on that by quoting one line from the song "he takes his pills, but he never takes his medicine".
6.) Strength Through Music
"Strength Through Music" opens with narrative by some fellow with a deep voice. This is a very stripped down track with a simple piano part and "tick"s that sort of remind me of something Regina Spektor would do. In either case this is my least favorite song on the album.
7.) Guitar Hero
Track seven, "Guitar Hero", flows very well from the previous track "Strength In Music" and has an odd, dark tone to it. As one could guess from the title the most prominent instrument in this track is the guitar as opposed to piano in the rest of the songs on the album. The guitar is provided by East Bay Ray of The Dead Kennedys. This song was penned while Amanda Palmer was touring with The Dresden Dolls and she noticed that one band they were touring with at the time (rumor has it that said band was Panic At The Disco) would hurry through their sets, not play an encore, not mingle with fans/sign autographs, and would rush out of venue as fast as they could so they could go back to the hotel and play the game Guitar Hero. Amanda thought this was incredibly stupid because people play Guitar Hero so they could feel like rockstars and here was a band that had fans and a good amount of popularity and could actually play instruments and yet they'd rush through all of that to play a simulation of what they just did when so many people would kill to be in their position.
[]8.) Have To Drive[/B]
"Have to Drive" is one of my favorite songs on the album and I will say upfront that my favorite thing about it is the build. It may not be the most powerfully building song but it just does it SO well. The song starts very softly and builds in intensity almost like a well written story. It has an opening, a middle, a climax, falling action, and resolution. Also the lyrics are some of my favorite off this album, despite it kind of being about road kill.
9.) What's the Use of Wond'rin'?
This song is musically written to sound like a music box and features pretty, almost operatic lead vocals from Annie Clark AKA St. Vincent. It's a nice song but it's a weaker song on this album I think.
10.) Oasis
Oh "Oasis"......this song is one of the most upbeat songs on the album, though because of that it caused a large degree of controversy. Musically the song has a happy piano part that drives the song and there are almost Beach Boy like backing vocals throughout much of the song. The thing that bothered a number of people though is that the song tells the story of a girl that got drunk, was date raped at a party, got an abortion, and had her best friend tell everyone at school that she was a crack whore for getting knocked up and the thing that got her through the whole thing was her love for the band Oasis (who at the end of the song send her an autographed photograph). Many people saw this song as making light of serious subjects such as rape. Amanda addressed these accusations in her blog (through which she has a very close relationship with her fans by the way) by saying:
"i could try to win points by talking about how i’ve been date raped (i have been, when i was 20) or how I have every right to joke about this if i want to because i’ve had an abortion myself (i have, when i was 17), but i actually DON’T believe those experiences should lend me any credibility, any more so than i believe the director of “life is beautiful” had to have been an auschwitz victim in order to direct that film.
i should be allowed to write about, sing about, joke about anything that moves me.
so should you. so should everyone."
i should be allowed to write about, sing about, joke about anything that moves me.
so should you. so should everyone."
The rest can be read here: blog
11.)The Point Of It All
This is a moving song in subject matter. While the meaning behind this song has never been fully explained it's commonly believe that it's about someone Amanda knew with a drug addiction. Musically I think it's a beautiful song and lyrically it's captivating in a really cryptic sort of way.
12.) Another Year: A Short History of Almost Something
This is one of my favorite songs on the album. Lyrically "Another Year" is about someone just waiting and trying to build up the courage to tell someone that they love them but when they can't bring themself to do it they figure they could just wait another year.
