Amanda Palmer Album for 89 cents (ish)
To fully explain and appreciate the music of Amanda Palmer I would need an unlimited word count and a good few weeks to prepare such an article. Instead I attempt to sum up the work of The Dresden Dolls' front woman by reviewing her latest solo release of the ridiculously long titled "Amanda Palmer Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele".Palmer has been described as a force of nature and proclaims her art to be "punk cabaret" with the aim of avoiding being labelled as a goth. As singer, song writer and pianist of her band The Dresden Dolls accompanied by powerhouse Brian Viglione on drums, her witty, clever and often cut throat lyrics stand out and appeals to a cult following of fans ranging from fifteen years old to OAP status. At 33 years old and having recently become engaged to writer Neil Gaiman her fan base is gradually expanding and deservedly so.
July 20th saw the frantic release of her new EP covering several songs by Radiohead on her (magical) ukulele. To hear 'Radiohead' and 'ukulele' in the same sentence is a world gone topsy-turvy but once the seven song album is heard it makes great sense. The stripped back arrangement lays bare Thom Yorke?s heart wrenching lyrics in "High And Dry" and 'No Surprises' while 'Idioteque' offers a slightly more complex sound with the presence of other instruments to give it a haunting depth. 'Fake Plastic Trees' is simple and sad which creates a melancholy atmosphere for the album. This is altered by the ukulele free 'Exit Music (For A Film)' that sees Palmer return to her usual place behind the piano with accompaniment from a mournful cello and violin. And what would a Radiohead cover album be without 'Creep?' The recording of this on the EP is from a sound check in Berlin at which she admits to being very hungover. The performance is incredibly raw with her scratchy voice yet it still has ear-splitting power as she wails 'I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo."
Without any prior knowledge of Palmer and her work, she indeed appears to fit quite snugly into the weirdo label. You have to be to dare to cover Radiohead on a slightly out of tune ukulele and her method of distributing her music has too become unusual. Having recently fought and won a bitter battle with her label Roadrunner Records to be released from their contracts, she is now in charge of all distribution and publicity. Due to bad experiences with Roadrunner's lack of publicity for her 2008 solo album 'Who Killed Amanda Palmer' she now entirely depends on her fans to spread the word over the likes of Twitter and Facebook. Selling the new EP on Bandcamp for a minimum of $0.84 (check today's currency conversion rates for sterling) is risky as it only breaks even due to this small amount of money going towards royalties to Radiohead and PayPal. There is the option to pay anything above the 84 cents which basically works as a donation system. She has also offered her album on vinyl (no CDs controversially) in bundles that include a shirt designed by fans requests, badges, posters, glasses, hand-painted ukuleles and even an iPhone with a personal recording for the fan. They ranged from $20 to $1000 for the iPhone bundle and nearly all have sold out. As Palmer's assistant Beth Hommel said on Twitter lesson: never underestimate the fervor of Amanda Palmer's fans.
While the new EP is more of a social experiment than a serious release, it still has integrity with a dash of humour that makes it a memorable record. As a huge fan of Palmer myself I hope people do not think of this album as a gimmick or offensive to Radiohead (as it appears to be to some protective Radiohead fans) and will look to her work in The Dresden Dolls and her solo projects to fully understand what a crazy yet talented, endearing and honest artist she is.
Laura Jones
'Amanda Palmer Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele' is only available for digital download at http://music.amandapalmer.net/album/amanda-palmer-performs-the-popular-hits-of-radiohead-on-her-magical-ukulele
