The Dresden Dolls made a big impact when they broke out of the Boston local music/arts scene because of their charismatic live performances and the way they combined theatrical piano music with intensely raw lyrics to pioneer/popularise the genre of punk cabaret. It was always going to be interesting to see how they would follow up and build on such a unique start. This is their 2nd studio album (or 3rd if you count A Is For Accident) following a gap of several years spent touring and building up a strong following.
Yes, Virginia comes from a reply in a newspaper printed in response to a little girl asking if there was a Santa Claus. For this album, The Dresden Dolls held a competition where their fans had to create artwork inspired by the different songs. The winners are featured in the CD booklet. Rather than featuring all new songs, this album features several older songs such as Sex Changes and Mandy Goes To Med School which didn't make it to the initial albums and have now been reworked for inclusion here. (In fact, Mrs. O was originally on A is for Accident). To be honest, it's those songs I prefer as I think they have a stronger impact.
Musically it seems like the band have opened up and have a more complex subtle sound and Amanda seems to have broadened her lyrical concerns beyond the intensely personal. I think how you feel about this album is in part, determined about you felt about the original album. If you enjoyed the raw emotional impact of songs like Girl Anachronism or Good Day, you may find this album a bit too staid and mature (especially in the middle parts). However, if you found their original music a bit too histrionic and quirky (and I know there are people out there who thought that) then you may welcome the maturity and the move away from self-obsession. Personally, I'm still on the fence --- there are some brilliant songs on the album but I don't know if it's down to how fresh they sounded when they first came out but I feel this album lacks the impact of their earlier efforts.
I think it will be make or break time when they release the follow up, provisionally titled No, Virginia (which once again, is going to be a mix of rarities and live cover versions rather than wholly new songs). With Amanda due to release a solo album and Brian off playing/touring with other bands, I can't help wondering about the future of the band. Is Yes, Virginia the sound of a band drifting apart and drifting into compromise or is it the sound of a band regrouping and evolving? Or to put it bluntly, is this the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?
http://www.dresdendolls.com/
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN MAY 2008.
NOTE: Unfortunately I was proved right and The Dresden Dolls have now split up.
Showing posts with label the dresden dolls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the dresden dolls. Show all posts
Sunday, 18 April 2010
Saturday, 17 April 2010
INTERVIEW. AMANDA PALMER (THE DRESDEN DOLLS)
Amanda Palmer is the lead singer of Boston duo, The Dresden Dolls. She plays piano backed by Brian Viglione on drums. They describe their music as "Brechtian punk cabaret" and have so far released a self-titled debut album and a collection of live recordings called A IS FOR ACCIDENT.
What made you choose the name The Dresden Dolls? I've noticed that you use quite a bit of doll imagery in your work, not just the songs themselves but on the website (which incidentally is beautiful) and I was wondering if you collected dolls and/or what fascinates you about them?
Dolls are bizarre, fascinating things ... I see artists using them in all sorts of beautiful and disturbing ways. They are feminine and childish artifice at its most innocent. I've just always been fascinated by them. I wasn't really a huge doll collector as a girl, however. I was into stuffed animals and Legos.
Has your opinion of Brian changed since you first met him?
Yes, of course. We've known each other intimately for four years. Our relationship grows by the hour. If anything, I love him more and more every single day, even if my understanding of him seems to elude me sometimes. He's a weird one.
You and Brian have a very unique image. What made you choose to look that way for your performances?
It wasn't a choice as much as an impulse that resonated well with the audience and stuck. I've been a dress-up fanatic since birth, so has Brian. It just feels natural.
There are lyrics for songs like Boston and Mandy Goes To Med School on the website that don't appear on either album. Are they older songs that didn't make it on or newer ones that haven't been recorded yet?
Both - they're older songs that weren't considered for the album because they either didn't fit or because they weren't yet fully arranged. Right now, it looks like both those tracks will fight for position on the next record.
I heard the song Christopher Lydon was about a Boston DJ. If that's right (or even if it's not) I was wondering if the real Christopher Lydon has heard your song about him and what does he think of it?
Hm ... Mr. Lydon wasn't so much a DJ as a talk-show host. He was one of the over-intellectual NPR hosts (he hosted "The Connection" which was nationally syndicated for years). I had a fantastic crush on his voice. I've heard through the grapevine that he heard the song and was embarrassed and flattered. He's since been replaced by Dick Gordon, who doesn't sound one-eighth as sexy.
Your lyrics are very honest. Do they all relate to your own personal experiences or is there an element of storytelling in songs like Truce or Bad Habit?
Ah, there's always an element of hyperbole, isn't there? Everything is mostly autobiographical at it's source ... then it tends to take on a life of its own.
Why did you decide to do A Is For Accident as a collection of live recordings as well as doing a studio album?
We were desperate for something to release while we were waiting for the studio album to come out, so we slapped that together to have a disc to sell at shows.
I've read on your messageboard that you sometimes do cover versions live (which I'd love to hear). Would you consider doing an album/EP of cover versions as other artists like Nick Cave or Rasputina or even Tori Amos would have done? And to go along with that, I read that Brian was a big hair metal fan when he was younger, so if you had to cover a hair metal song what it would be?
It may well happen, although it's more likely that we'll sprinkle our future recordings with our favourite covers. We'll see ...
You come from quite a theatrical background and you describe the band as a " Brechtian cabaret punk band." How do you think that theatre/cabaret influence affects your work? I also thought you seemed influenced/inspired by that whole sort of Weimar decadence/Marlene Dietrich doing cabaret thing. I just wondered if I am correct, what is it that appeals to you so much about that period and the art that comes out of it?
Ah, all kinds of art and experimentation were just exploding in Weimar cabaret culture. Some people were nostalgic for Haight-Ashbury in the late sixties, I just pin my fantasies a little further back. But there was that same excitement, an "anything goes" mentality about authentic, relevant art and expansion of consciousness that attracts me like a moth to a flame.
Who are some of you favourite pianists? Was there anyone who particularly inspired you? I know people who learnt piano when they were younger and then gave it up because they didn't feel inspired or think it was relevant so I think it's great that you're doing piano music but it still sounds somewhat different to the more traditional female singer/songwriter stuff that people may be used to hearing.
I was very inspired by actual piano playing and piano scores that I was constantly exposed to in choir and musical rehearsals. I was also inspired by my mother's piano playing at a very young age even though she only knew a few simple pieces. She taught me most everything I use today. I took some classical lessons but I barely paid attention (I regret that now, deeply). There was one artist, Peter Jeffries, whose music I discovered in college and I remember thinking "Holy shit! There's someone who plays and writes like I do ... sort of! It's a miracle!" His first two albums, Electricity and The Last Great Challenge in a Dull World are still two of my most cherished possessions --- they're tough to find and absolutely brilliant.
What are your future plans? I read somewhere you were planning to make a DVD of videos to accompany your live shows, how is this going, what sort of videos/imagery have you come up with? I think you are the kind of band who could really inspire some amazing imagery.
We've just finished the video for Coin-Operated Boy which is really quite bizarre and beautiful. It was directed by our dear friend and genius film-maker Michael Pope, the director of Girl Anachronism as well. We're also working on a Broadway musical to be staged in 2008. The fall will bring us to Europe and we'll actually be playing our first UK show on September 20th in London (at Madame JoJos).
Punk Cabaret is Freedom !!!!
http://www.dresdendolls.com/
THIS INTERVIEW WAS DONE BY E-MAIL IN JULY 2004 AND ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN DECEMBER 2004.
LIVE PHOTOS TAKEN BY SHELLY AT MADAME JOJOS, LONDON IN SEPTEMBER 2004.
NOTE: The Dresden Dolls went on to release two more albums and two DVDs before finally splitting up.
What made you choose the name The Dresden Dolls? I've noticed that you use quite a bit of doll imagery in your work, not just the songs themselves but on the website (which incidentally is beautiful) and I was wondering if you collected dolls and/or what fascinates you about them?
Dolls are bizarre, fascinating things ... I see artists using them in all sorts of beautiful and disturbing ways. They are feminine and childish artifice at its most innocent. I've just always been fascinated by them. I wasn't really a huge doll collector as a girl, however. I was into stuffed animals and Legos.
Has your opinion of Brian changed since you first met him?
Yes, of course. We've known each other intimately for four years. Our relationship grows by the hour. If anything, I love him more and more every single day, even if my understanding of him seems to elude me sometimes. He's a weird one.
You and Brian have a very unique image. What made you choose to look that way for your performances?
It wasn't a choice as much as an impulse that resonated well with the audience and stuck. I've been a dress-up fanatic since birth, so has Brian. It just feels natural.
There are lyrics for songs like Boston and Mandy Goes To Med School on the website that don't appear on either album. Are they older songs that didn't make it on or newer ones that haven't been recorded yet?
Both - they're older songs that weren't considered for the album because they either didn't fit or because they weren't yet fully arranged. Right now, it looks like both those tracks will fight for position on the next record.
I heard the song Christopher Lydon was about a Boston DJ. If that's right (or even if it's not) I was wondering if the real Christopher Lydon has heard your song about him and what does he think of it?
Hm ... Mr. Lydon wasn't so much a DJ as a talk-show host. He was one of the over-intellectual NPR hosts (he hosted "The Connection" which was nationally syndicated for years). I had a fantastic crush on his voice. I've heard through the grapevine that he heard the song and was embarrassed and flattered. He's since been replaced by Dick Gordon, who doesn't sound one-eighth as sexy.
Your lyrics are very honest. Do they all relate to your own personal experiences or is there an element of storytelling in songs like Truce or Bad Habit?
Ah, there's always an element of hyperbole, isn't there? Everything is mostly autobiographical at it's source ... then it tends to take on a life of its own.
Why did you decide to do A Is For Accident as a collection of live recordings as well as doing a studio album?
We were desperate for something to release while we were waiting for the studio album to come out, so we slapped that together to have a disc to sell at shows.
I've read on your messageboard that you sometimes do cover versions live (which I'd love to hear). Would you consider doing an album/EP of cover versions as other artists like Nick Cave or Rasputina or even Tori Amos would have done? And to go along with that, I read that Brian was a big hair metal fan when he was younger, so if you had to cover a hair metal song what it would be?
It may well happen, although it's more likely that we'll sprinkle our future recordings with our favourite covers. We'll see ...
You come from quite a theatrical background and you describe the band as a " Brechtian cabaret punk band." How do you think that theatre/cabaret influence affects your work? I also thought you seemed influenced/inspired by that whole sort of Weimar decadence/Marlene Dietrich doing cabaret thing. I just wondered if I am correct, what is it that appeals to you so much about that period and the art that comes out of it?
Ah, all kinds of art and experimentation were just exploding in Weimar cabaret culture. Some people were nostalgic for Haight-Ashbury in the late sixties, I just pin my fantasies a little further back. But there was that same excitement, an "anything goes" mentality about authentic, relevant art and expansion of consciousness that attracts me like a moth to a flame.
Who are some of you favourite pianists? Was there anyone who particularly inspired you? I know people who learnt piano when they were younger and then gave it up because they didn't feel inspired or think it was relevant so I think it's great that you're doing piano music but it still sounds somewhat different to the more traditional female singer/songwriter stuff that people may be used to hearing.
I was very inspired by actual piano playing and piano scores that I was constantly exposed to in choir and musical rehearsals. I was also inspired by my mother's piano playing at a very young age even though she only knew a few simple pieces. She taught me most everything I use today. I took some classical lessons but I barely paid attention (I regret that now, deeply). There was one artist, Peter Jeffries, whose music I discovered in college and I remember thinking "Holy shit! There's someone who plays and writes like I do ... sort of! It's a miracle!" His first two albums, Electricity and The Last Great Challenge in a Dull World are still two of my most cherished possessions --- they're tough to find and absolutely brilliant.
What are your future plans? I read somewhere you were planning to make a DVD of videos to accompany your live shows, how is this going, what sort of videos/imagery have you come up with? I think you are the kind of band who could really inspire some amazing imagery.
We've just finished the video for Coin-Operated Boy which is really quite bizarre and beautiful. It was directed by our dear friend and genius film-maker Michael Pope, the director of Girl Anachronism as well. We're also working on a Broadway musical to be staged in 2008. The fall will bring us to Europe and we'll actually be playing our first UK show on September 20th in London (at Madame JoJos).
Punk Cabaret is Freedom !!!!
http://www.dresdendolls.com/
THIS INTERVIEW WAS DONE BY E-MAIL IN JULY 2004 AND ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN DECEMBER 2004.
LIVE PHOTOS TAKEN BY SHELLY AT MADAME JOJOS, LONDON IN SEPTEMBER 2004.
NOTE: The Dresden Dolls went on to release two more albums and two DVDs before finally splitting up.
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
REVIEW. THE DRESDEN DOLLS --- THE DRESDEN DOLLS.
The Dresden Dolls are a Boston based duo --- Amanda Palmer on vocals and piano and Brian Viglione on drums. They have a stunning image wearing white face make-up and old style clothes and their website alone is an absolute work of art, based around a kind of old Victorian dolls' house theme. They describe their music as "Brechtian punk cabaret" but they are far from being some sort of kitsch novelty act.
Amanda writes some of the best lyrics I've ever seen and part of her genius is that although her lyrics are quite 'wordy' and literate, she can still match them to a 'punk' sound without sounding pretentious or forced. Actually, Girl Anachronism is probably the closest to a punk tune with its feeling of chaos evoking the madness of the narrator. The rest of the songs are more traditional piano based numbers featuring a variety of tempo changes and Amanda's expressive voice which echoes the emotionally expansive style of Tori Amos. Amanda covers similar subjects like self harm and child abuse to other 'confessional' singers like Tori or Fiona Apple. However, her black humour and raw honesty seem closer to artists like PJ Harvey.
Their songs are perfectly constructed with Brian's drumming subtly supporting and showcasing Amanda's more demonstrative piano playing and vocals. Their style proves that you don't need to scream or have a heavy metal backing track to be able to convey the deepest and most heartfelt emotions. Their music is as beautiful and disturbing as their name, Dresden Dolls, suggests.
Truce, in particular, is an outstanding track. It took me a couple of listens to fully appreciate it because of the scope of the song. It's an epic on the scale of November Rain but without being so overblown so it actually becomes ten times more effective. It starts with a whisper and ends with a scream and in between it takes in all the conflicting emotions the end of a relationship can trigger using the imagery of terrorism and diplomacy to convey feelings of hurt, revenge, resignation, sadness and pain. I think it is an absolute masterpiece although having said that, there are many other outstanding tracks on this album like Good Day or Bad Habit. The Dresden Dolls are a unique band with the talent to fulfil their creative vision and always leave you wanting more.
NOTE: Some later versions of this album (including the UK release) feature the video for Girl Anachronism which is well worth seeing for its beautiful deranged genius.
Originally published in December 2004.
Amanda writes some of the best lyrics I've ever seen and part of her genius is that although her lyrics are quite 'wordy' and literate, she can still match them to a 'punk' sound without sounding pretentious or forced. Actually, Girl Anachronism is probably the closest to a punk tune with its feeling of chaos evoking the madness of the narrator. The rest of the songs are more traditional piano based numbers featuring a variety of tempo changes and Amanda's expressive voice which echoes the emotionally expansive style of Tori Amos. Amanda covers similar subjects like self harm and child abuse to other 'confessional' singers like Tori or Fiona Apple. However, her black humour and raw honesty seem closer to artists like PJ Harvey.
Their songs are perfectly constructed with Brian's drumming subtly supporting and showcasing Amanda's more demonstrative piano playing and vocals. Their style proves that you don't need to scream or have a heavy metal backing track to be able to convey the deepest and most heartfelt emotions. Their music is as beautiful and disturbing as their name, Dresden Dolls, suggests.
Truce, in particular, is an outstanding track. It took me a couple of listens to fully appreciate it because of the scope of the song. It's an epic on the scale of November Rain but without being so overblown so it actually becomes ten times more effective. It starts with a whisper and ends with a scream and in between it takes in all the conflicting emotions the end of a relationship can trigger using the imagery of terrorism and diplomacy to convey feelings of hurt, revenge, resignation, sadness and pain. I think it is an absolute masterpiece although having said that, there are many other outstanding tracks on this album like Good Day or Bad Habit. The Dresden Dolls are a unique band with the talent to fulfil their creative vision and always leave you wanting more.
NOTE: Some later versions of this album (including the UK release) feature the video for Girl Anachronism which is well worth seeing for its beautiful deranged genius.
Originally published in December 2004.
REVIEW. THE DRESDEN DOLLS --- A IS FOR ACCIDENT.
When I discovered The Dresden Dolls I fell in love with them so much that I made it my mission to get a copy of their limited edition live album, A IS FOR ACCIDENT, which has now been reissued. There are 10 songs on the album (3 of which appear on the studio album --- Missed Me, Coin Operated Boy and Truce). In some ways, this isn't a conventional 'live' album as most of the songs aren't featured on the studio album. However, this doesn't make them second rate or works in progress --- the songs on this album are not mere curiousities but easily the equal of their more polished, studio-produced cousins. Although there isn't much tangible evidence to show these tracks were recorded live, there is an indefinable atmosphere to them. It evokes imagery of world-weary cabaret performers in sleazy nightclubs.
Amanda's songs depict powerful emotions and all the bittersweet ennui of a life of disappointments without resorting to the conventional tools of the angry and disaffected. I guess you sort of expect lyrics like this to go along with a 'rock' (or even 'punk') performance --- that is to say, much heavier music and screaming vocals. But the genius of The Dresden Dolls is that they have re-invented the genre by marrying the raw honesty of alternative music's lyrics to the musical sophistication of piano-based cabaret. So Amanda doesn't have to raise her voice to get her point across.
"Christopher Lydon" features a vocal that will break your heart as Amanda sings about her unrequited love for a talkshow DJ. "Glass Slipper" starts off quietly and builds up to a devastating climax that encapsulates the regrets and reproaches behind a life that hasn't quite lived up to its potential. "Bank of Boston Beauty Queen" is a more upbeat and jaunty number, full of black humour and picturesque lyrics. I would probably still say the studio album is the best introduction to the band as I think it showcases a wider diversity of styles but this album is certainly worth looking out for.
Amanda's songs depict powerful emotions and all the bittersweet ennui of a life of disappointments without resorting to the conventional tools of the angry and disaffected. I guess you sort of expect lyrics like this to go along with a 'rock' (or even 'punk') performance --- that is to say, much heavier music and screaming vocals. But the genius of The Dresden Dolls is that they have re-invented the genre by marrying the raw honesty of alternative music's lyrics to the musical sophistication of piano-based cabaret. So Amanda doesn't have to raise her voice to get her point across.
"Christopher Lydon" features a vocal that will break your heart as Amanda sings about her unrequited love for a talkshow DJ. "Glass Slipper" starts off quietly and builds up to a devastating climax that encapsulates the regrets and reproaches behind a life that hasn't quite lived up to its potential. "Bank of Boston Beauty Queen" is a more upbeat and jaunty number, full of black humour and picturesque lyrics. I would probably still say the studio album is the best introduction to the band as I think it showcases a wider diversity of styles but this album is certainly worth looking out for.
From GLASS SLIPPER
How many wishes do I still have left to fix the way it ends?
How many princes will it take to put a girl like this back together again?
How many instances can you point out where I was less than kind?
How many happy endings do you need to change your fucking mind?
And how much time do we have left before its midnight
And you see that I was never the right size?
Originally published in December 2004.
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