Amanda Palmer, Who Killed Amanda Palmer
I wrote in September:
…it might be the best record I’ve heard all year. [The] mix of polish with Palmer’s grit and brutal honesty [...] in some of her lyrics makes for an amazing record.
I saw her at the 9:30 Club in early November, and the show did not disappoint. It was unfortunately brief due to it being an early show with another act scheduled later. The brevity combined with having to attend the show alone dampened my mood, but the two opening acts (Vermillion Lies in particular) and Amanda’s playing kept me focused on what I loved about the music.
In that month, she also provided me with the irrevocable memory of listening to a song about abortion while walking to my temporary job with the Catholic church.
She & Him, She & Him
Zooey Deschanel recently broke my heart by becoming engaged to Ben Gibbard. Imaginary crushes aside, She & Him provided the soundtrack to the first half of this past year for me. Back in June, when I still wrote on a regular basis, I had this to say about the record:
Combine stripped-down folk-pop with a Beach Boys-esque affinity for false harmony, and you can roughly determine the space She & Him’s record occupies. The songs are diverse and brief, much like the mid-1960s pop-rock songs Zooey is channelling. “Sentimental Heart,” the album’s lead track, does much to showcase Zooey’s voice, and the piano/violin instrumentation with the vintage-sounding vocal effect seems like an indie-Motown hybrid that I didn’t think possible.
Mates of State, Re-Arrange Us
I got my first iPod early this year, and a song by this band is the second-most-listened-to song on it. “My Only Offer” is simultaneously bouncy and wistful, a mood which is hard to capture in any medium, especially song. The album is filled with songs that are subtle but epic (“Blue and Gold Print”), poetic but declarative (“The Re-Arranger”). “My Only Offer” was the first song I heard, and I didn’t expect to go any deeper into the album than that track, but when I did, it rewarded the visit with a catchy and accessible collection of songs. «»
