Who Killed Amanda Palmer

Who Killed Amanda Palmer
Studio album by Amanda Palmer
Released	September 16, 2008 (2008-09-16)
Recorded	2007–2008 in Nashville, TN, Seattle, WA, Cotati, CA, San Francisco, and Edinburgh, Scotland
Genre	Dark cabaret, alternative rock
Length	53:12
Label	Roadrunner
Producer	Ben Folds & Amanda Palmer
Amanda Palmer chronology
Amanda Palmer (1997) Who Killed Amanda Palmer (2008) Amanda Palmer Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele (2010)
Singles from Who Killed Amanda Palmer
"Leeds United" Released: 2008 "Oasis" Released: February 2009

Who Killed Amanda Palmer is the first solo album by American musical artist Amanda Palmer.

The album was largely recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, with collaborator Ben Folds^[1] and was released on Roadrunner Records (also home to The Dresden Dolls). The name of the album is a reference to the series Twin Peaks, which revolves around events surrounding the death of Laura Palmer.

Background

Certain tracks also featured Folds on percussion and keyboards and former Rasputina member Zoë Keating on cello.^[2]

In 2007, Palmer self-released the song "I Will Follow You Into the Dark", a cover of the Death Cab for Cutie song, on her MySpace. The ID3 tags listed the source album as Nashville. Fans began discussing the possibility of the solo album being named such, but Palmer dispelled rumors on the Dresden Dolls' forum, The Shadowbox, stating:

that was titled 'nashville' because that is the location that i am recording the solo album....in nashville, at ben folds' studio, with ben, who is producing the record and playing on it. [...] it will not be the album title unless i decide to confuse everybody and come up with an album title that will throw EVERYBODY

....ie 'nashville blues'

in which case shoot me^[3]

Palmer also revealed that the song would not be on the album, instead releasing it on Peace (for Mom) a compilation released by Brainwashed Recordings.

Palmer confirmed to the Boston Phoenix in April 2007 that the album was indeed titled Who Killed Amanda Palmer, although another working title was That's Amanda Fucking Palmer to You. She joked that the latter was unlikely to encourage being stocked at supermarket chain Wal-Mart.^[4]

On the overall feel of the record, Palmer said:

A lot of the songs are piano ballads that never found a home on a Dolls' record, because I hadn't wanted to overload the record with slow material. But there's a really intense, exciting energy to the tracks at the same time. It definitely won't drag.^[4]

Additionally, she has said: "We've been adding everything from organs and Leslie cabinets [keyboard speaker] to strings, horns, and tympani. The final result should be biblical."^[2]

In November 2007, members of Estradasphere started touring with Palmer,^[5] as well as helping to produce this album.^[6]

The magazine Alternative Press named this album one of the "Most Anticipated Albums of 2008".^[7]

In an interview on April 20, 2008, Palmer told Hayley Rosenblum on her WHRW (Binghamton University's radio station) show, Penguins in the Desert, that the release date would be September 16, 2008. She also mentioned that the album would be remastered on April 25 because Ben was not happy with the original mastering job. A later blog post by Amanda indicated that the album has been remastered at least three times.^[8] A companion book created in conjunction with Neil Gaiman was also mentioned.^[9] Roadrunner Records has since confirmed that the book will be a book of photography.^[10] Photographer Kyle Cassidy confirmed on June 30 that the book would be written by Neil, with Kyle laying out, designing, and supplying photography for the book.^[11]

In an interview with Songfacts, Palmer explained that "Leeds United" was inspired by losing a Leeds United football shirt that was given to her by Ricky Wilson of the English band Kaiser Chiefs.^[12]

There have, to date, been videos released for nine of the tracks from Who Killed Amanda Palmer. "Astronaut", "Ampersand", "Runs in the Family", "The Point of It All", "Strength Through Music", "Guitar Hero", and "Another Year" all formed part of the Who Killed Amanda Palmer video series, directed by Michael Pope. These videos are all connected, and spoken word material can be heard at the end of several of the tracks. "Another Year" serves as the music for the credits, and there is also an introduction video containing music without vocals that does not appear on Palmer's album. Videos have also been released for "Oasis" (also directed by Pope) and "Leeds United" (directed by Alex de Campi). On December 24 the video for "What's the Use of Won'drin'?" was released on Amanda's YouTube page directed by Michael Pope.

On September 5, 2008, Palmer revealed pre-orders for the album would begin on Monday September 8, 2008, via her new web site, whokilledamandapalmer.com.

In November 2008, Palmer refused her record label's demand that she remove shots of her "uncommercially fat" stomach from the "Leeds United" video. There was much controversy over these demands, eventually resulting in a fan protest that became known as "The reBELLYon". Fans posted photos of their stomachs on Dresden Dolls/Amanda Palmer fan site "Shadowbox", and eventually sent the photos to Palmer's label, Roadrunner Records, to prove their point. Palmer was successful in being dropped from the label, and released a free song, entitled "Do You Swear to Tell the Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth, So Help Your Black Ass", in celebration.

WKAPFM

As a promotional game for the release of Who Killed Amanda Palmer, a fake radio site, WKAP-FM,^[13] was set up with clues to her alleged disappearance. The alternate reality game was designed and curated by musician Olga Nunes.^[14]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Alternative Press	[15]
Allmusic	[16]
Drowned in Sound	[17]
musicOMH	[18]
Pitchfork Media	(7.4/10)[19]
Spin	[20]
The Guardian	[21]
PopMatters	[22]
Time Out Sydney	[23]

Reception of Who Killed Amanda Palmer was generally positive. Joshua Klein of Pitchfork Media gave positive reviews of all tracks (with the exception of "Oasis"), and stated that "The Point of it All" "emphasizes [her] strengths as a lyricist".^[24] MusicOMH reviewer Natasha Tripney described the album as "...exhilarating... It is a rather delicious confection; a cake iced with the darkest, bitterest chocolate", and ultimately gave the album 4 and half stars out of 5.^[25] However, Allmusic only gave the album 2 and half stars out of 5, stating that "[The album is] a disc full of songs that originally didn't make the cut on the band's main albums. Most of these best alternate song ideas were already used up when compiling the track listing for the fantastic Dresden Dolls B-sides compilation, No, Virginia... released earlier the same year. So, what we're looking at here are C-sides, which despite any amount of studio polish and however great the contributions by Folds, don't quite stack up."^[26]

Song history

• "Ampersand" began appearing during Dresden Dolls concerts shortly after their album Yes, Virginia... was released.
• "The Point of It All" was performed numerous times during Palmer's solo sets during the Dresden Dolls' film festival project Fuck the Back Row, in 2007. She also performed "Night Reconnaissance" during these concerts, leading to fans expecting it as a solo Amanda Palmer track only. However, that song was eventually released on the Dolls collection No, Virginia...
• "Blake Says" has been shared online for many years; the version that has circulated is from a performance in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2004. It has been a staple in Palmer's solo shows and has been performed since at least 2001. It heavily references the Velvet Underground song "Stephanie Says",^[27] and is named after Boston artist Blake Brasher.^[28]
• "Straight", which was recorded during the sessions but not actually on the album, has also circulated under the working title "Hey Bitch".
• According to Palmer's MySpace, her set lists show that she had performed "Another Year", "Runs in the Family", "Guitar Hero", "Blake Says", "Ampersand", "Astronaut" and "Leeds United" during her 2007 summer concerts.
• "Have to Drive" has been performed sporadically during Dresden Dolls concerts, but not since 2005.
• The earliest version of "Astronaut" was finished on October 15, 2006, at the Crystal Ballroom.
• "Runs in the Family" was written during the same time period as "Girl Anachronism" and was performed as a Dresden Dolls song before being vetoed for the band.
• The earliest version of "Guitar Hero" was finished in late 2006.
• The melody for "Another Year" was given to Palmer by Cormac Bride in 2005 as noted by Palmer on July 20, 2005, at a Boston performance.
• Palmer stated during the Evelyn Evelyn tour that "Astronaut" was created in Portland Oregon's very own "Crystal Ballroom" while traveling for the earlier Dresden Dolls tour to the same location.

Track listing

On June 6, 2008, in a preview for an interview with e-zine TheMagazine, Palmer gave the tracklist for the album,^[29] stating that advance copies of the album had been sent out to reviewers in Europe.

A live version of the song "I Google You" (co-written with Neil Gaiman) was available with the pre-order of the album.

Chart history

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
Online pre-order	September 8, 2008		Digital download
Australia	September 13, 2008	Roadrunner Records	CD	RR 7925-5
United Kingdom	September 15, 2008	Roadrunner Records	CD	RR79255
USA	September 16, 2008	Roadrunner Records	CD	179252
Canada	September 16, 2008	Roadrunner Records	CD
Germany	September 26, 2008	Roadrunner Records	CD
USA	October 7, 2008		Vinyl	179251

Personnel

References

External links

• Who Killed Amanda Palmer web site