Amanda Palmer. You know who she is, right? Part of the duo known as The Dresden Dolls that we've mentioned on the show before, where Matt and I saw each other at the same concert back in 2010 on pure coincidence. The show where I had the amazing chance to not only get their autographs and meet them, but make out with Amanda. Wife of one of the best authors ever, Neil Gaiman. Ukulele extraordinaire. A woman that is truly bad ass enough to have her middle name be "Fucking". Yes... THAT Amanda Palmer. So I am here today to talk about her newest album that was released this past Tuesday, September 11.
Amanda has always been the type of artist who breaks away from the shackles expected of her. She's been on every side of the spectrum, from being broke and living out of the strangest places, to being a street performer and loving it, to putting out records and touring across the world multiple times over. It's no secret that she hates studios and all the bullshit it comes with. So that's when she decided to go to Kickstarter. Why not use the website and put out an album all on her own? An album funded by her, funded by us, and us alone.
We are the media. She set out to raise $100,000 so she could produce and distribute the album, as well as getting some good advertising in there. The response was staggering, and in the end she was able to raise $1.2 million.
So,
Theatre Is Evil
was born.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that I cannot stop listening to this album. I love every single song, and already know most of them by heart. Of course, my husband and I have been following its' entire journey (social media is one of the best things invented when it comes to things like this) and were more than happy to contribute some of our money towards the Kickstarter project. So we've been listening to the singles as they've released, and watched the videos over and over again. After the album was officially released, she also posted lyric videos on her YouTube page for every single song, of which I'm going to be linking to (you can click on the bold song titles!!) so all you Poppers can go have a listen if you haven't already, and I more than encourage you to do so.
The album starts off with a quick introduction by Meow Meow, an Australian-born cabaret artist, and then dives into the first full-leng
th song Smile (Pictures or It Didn't Happen). Right of the bat this song has an epic feel to it. Ending on the note that she "doesn't want to die" makes it feel so amazing and sad at the same time. It gives me chills. But completely ignoring that, I love the title, because I can't tell you how often I hear "pictures or it didn't happen" in my household, haha.
We're taking a step back in time this week folks! We figured since we've got the week off that we'd post an episde that's no longer available on iTunes...well that is until now. Back by popular demand, it's part one of our episode on Innovations in Gaming where we interview Pascal Langdale!Check out the original blog post HERE!
You may be familar with Pascal from Quantic Dream's PlayStation 3 exclusive game, Heavy Rain, where he played the role of Ethan Mars. We had the pleasure of talking with Ethan about a few upcoming projects. Part two of this episode will be posted on Friday, so keep a look out!
