Beauty Lives - Sarah Slean: A Review

Beauty Lives is Sarah Slean's latest release. The album is a compilation of old and rare songs that had been played live but never recorded in studio. The album features ten songs that were voted on by Sarah's fans. Before the recording process, with the co-operation of LittleSlean, live recordings of several songs were made available and the voting process begun. Between the votes and personal decisions by Sarah, the track listing is as follows...

1. Count Me Out
2. Everything By the Gallon
3. My Song
4. Ogoni Star
5. Sadie
6. Closer
7. Hooligans
8. The Right Words
9. I Do
10. Glenn Gould Song

The album, overall, has a very cabaret and melancholy feel. The songs mostly seem to centre on a feeling of longing and regret. The album felt personal on first listen to me and it's definitely an album to sit down with a glass of wine and lament with. 

Some of the stand out tracks for me upon first listening was Count Me Out, The Right Words and Glenn Gould Song. After listening more and more to the album, Ogoni Star, Closer, and My Song also put themselves forward as well. 

Sarah's writing style takes such an insanely personal situation and puts it out as something very open and relatable piece. Count Me Out talks about being in a one-sided relationship. Where one person is so madly in love and the other just wants out. The song sounds as though it could be a whiny, self-satisfying type of song. But it comes across as a beautifully relatable piece. 

Sadie is an anthem to Sarah's future daughter. It tells the girl to be brave and strong, unlike her mother. To not let the issues she or the world goes through to weigh down on her like they have on herself. It seems to be a madly personal song but the song is so innocent and sweet it's really more of a self-empowering anthem. A reminder to be strong and believe in yourself. 

Closer is a song that relates to me on a madly personal level. It describes an unhealthy relationship that you just can't seem to get out of. The fear in taking the step away to be healthy and safe. 

Overall, I think this is a great introduction to Sarah Slean and is a really empowering album despite the sad tone that runs throughout it. It's available online through iTunes, Amazon and other digital retailers and in physical form from her official site: www.sarahslean.com 

Imogen Heap - New Album Alert

Imogen Heap, the brilliant British songstress, is set to release her third album this August. After a long, arduous journey through building a studio in her house and recording the whole album within that study, Ellipse is finally ready and being released on August 24th in the UK and August 25th in North America.

Imogen's new album is a thirteen track homage to her family home which she is now inhabiting again. Every track on the album was recorded in the house and has elements of the houses noises added in to it. It's an interesting concept and we're eager to hear how it pans out.

Full tracklisting and the first single after the jump!

The Big Book Of Who Killed Amanda Palmer - Pre-Order Starts Soon

 

The Big Book Of Who Killed Amanda Palmer is being released this July. However, this first-run only book is being printed in 10,000. Once they're gone, they're gone. There's already a large amount going to Amanda Palmer fans that have pre-ordered in the past with the Who Killed Amanda Palmer album Pre-Order. But once those are gone, the rest goes up for pre-order. 

The pre-order starts on Monday, April 20th. The time looks to be around noon EST. Pricing for the book hasn't quite been announced yet, but I can't see it being horribly expensive. This is a rare opportunity for Neil Gaiman fans and Amanda Palmer fans alike. The book features photography by many, many brilliant artists. I'll be sure to post a review when my copy from the Who Killed Amanda Palmer album Pre-Order along with favourite photos and credits for the brilliant photographers. 

Anywho, keep an eye on The Shadowbox and Neil Gaiman's website for more pre-order information. This book is extremely limited so if you want a copy, be sure to pre-order.

UPDATE 04-19-09

The book has been announced for pre-order on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at THIS web address. Pre-order is estimated to start around 12PM EST.

RoadRunner Records -- Shame On You

 

Recently, Amanda Palmer released the video for her song Leeds United. However, RoadRunner Records requested that she recut the video to include less shots of her 'belly.' 

Now, looking at the shot above, that had no retouching done to it, I think Amanda looks fucking amazing. She looks like a woman should. Apparently RoadRunner believes she's far too fat to be showing off her stomach. 

However RoadRunner Records has no problems showing promo shots of Nightwish on their site with Tuomas Holopainen showing off his belly. Tuomas isn't fat by any means, either, but I'd say his belly is around the same size as Amanda's. But because he's a metal head and a male, he could splay himself naked and RoadRunner would have no problems. But amanda dares to show off her stomach and they throw a bitch fit. 

This needs to be dealt with immediately. Here is RoadRunner's contact information. PLEASE Email them a photo of your stomach, with whatever you'd like written on, or bare, and let them know that Bellies of ALL Shapes and sizes are appreciated and loved! 

ROADRUNNER RECORDS INFORMATION

ADDRESS:
902 Broadway, 8th Fl.
New York, NY 10010

PHONE:
212-274-7500

FAX:
212-505-7469

KEY PEOPLE TO NAME-DROP:
         Managing Director: Cees Wessels
    President: Jonas Nachsin
    SVP Marketing: Madelyn Scarpulla

EMAIL ADDRESSES TO SEND YOUR BELLY PHOTOS TO:

General Stuff   roadrunner@roadrunnerrecords.com  <<
Website Inqueries   webmaster@roadrunnerrecords.com
Publicity Inqueries   publicity@roadrunnerrecords.com  <<
Retail Inqueries   retail@roadrunnerrecords.com

FILM AND TV MUSIC
Joan Bolvin       bolvin@roadrunnerrecords.com  <<

PLEASE, SEND SOMETHING!!!!

Update: A member of The Shadowbox has put together this wonderful little letter detailing everything. Please read and send something along to RoadRunner or to Jordan!

Amanda Palmer, of the Dresden Dolls, has recently gone solo. The record company she is signed to, Roadrunner Records, has given her hell over finances, record sales, and now this...

Amanda has recently released her new music video for the song "Leeds United".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYSULkXcVYw

Roadrunner Records responded by telling her to she was fat, and to recut the video to show less of her belly.
Amanda blogged about it here:

http://blog.amandapalmer.net/

Since the release, Amanda Palmer fans have been posting tons of responses in the online Dresden Dolls/Amanda Palmer forum here:

http://www.theshadowbox.net/forum/index.php?topic=6054.0

They have begun posting pictures of their bellies in protest and support of Amanda, and sending their pictures to the email address of Jordan (doritojoe89@gmail.com) to make a collection to print and send to the Roadrunner Records HQ, and so far over 100 photos have been collected.

This isn't just about Amanda Palmer's belly. This is about all the bellies of the world: Big, small, hairy, stretch-marked, scarred, pregnant, every single belly. The aim is to reclaim the belly; To promote a healthy body image for everyone (not even just females) and to bring an end, or at least a tapering, to the "barbie dolling" of images that record companies and the media as a whole do to artists.

So JOIN THE REBELLYON. Take a picture of your beautiful belly, send it to Jordan (doritojoe89@gmail.com), make it your default myspace/facebook picture, do anything to promote the cause. Help spread a healthy body image for everyone. Just do it.

And flip through this thread to see some more bellies. It's worth it.

http://www.theshadowbox.net/forum/index.php?topic=6054.0

The Baroness Redecorates

Sarah Slean announced today that her new B-side EP will be released on December 9th in stores and online. The EP will be titled The Baroness Redecorates. The official tracklisting, including seven tracks with four previously unreleased, is listed below. 

1. Parasol


2. Lonely Side of the Moon


3. Modern Man I & II


4. Compatriots 


5. The Rose


6. Hear Me Out


7. The "Disarm" Suite

Unforunately, Sarah's beautiful rendition of Paul Gross's song "After The War" from the Canadian War Film Passchendaele is absent from the EP. But Sarah has confirmed that there is a short film being worked on to accompany the track Modern Man. Look for The Baroness Redecorates in stores and online on December 9th!

New Album Alert -- Goddess - Emm Gryner

 

Canadian Gem Emm Gryner has announced that she will be releasing a new album in February 2009. The album will be titled Goddess. Emm noted in a recent blog post that the album is a 'winter album, with it's minor keys and strings' which is a contrast to her most recent album, released in 2006, The Summer of High Hopes. 

Jump past the break for a little more insight on the album!

Beyonce -- I Am... Debut Singles

Standard I Am... Sascha Fierce cover

 

Beyonce is releasing a new album next month entitled I Am... The album will be a double-album, with Disc One entitled I Am... Beyonce and Disc Two entitled I Am... Sascha Fierce. I'm pretty excited for the album. I loved Dangerously in Love but B'Day didn't really do it for me. 

Beyonce's new album has a dual-personality theme. The first disc is the Beyonce disc, containing more bluesy and R&B styled songs and the second disc is the Sascha Fierce disc, containing dance and hip-hop styled songs. 

The first single from the album is a double A-Side, If I Were A Boy (from the Beyonce Disc) and Single Ladies (from the Sascha Fierce Disc). Both videos are embedded below.  I enjoy Single Ladies much more. 

Who Killed Amanda Palmer -- A Review

 

Who Killed Amanda Palmer - Amanda Palmer
Released: September 16th
Tracks: 12
Record Label: Roadrunner Records

Who Killed Amanda Palmer is an adventure in to Amanda Palmer's psyche. The album delves in to everything from war and abortion to family issues and domestic violence. Amanda Palmer, free of the ties that a band can bring, was able to let herself go and do everything she couldn't with The Dresden Dolls. 

Full Review after the jump. 

Sarah Slean to release new EP

The beautiful and talented Canadian songwriter Sarah Slean is set to release an EP of tracks cut from her Fourth Studio Album, The Baroness. No news of a concrete tracklisting has been released yet, but Sarah has confirmed through her official website that an EP will be released. 

Sarah had upwards of 20 songs written for The Baroness ranging from the release of Day One to her recent life in Paris, France. The songs were cut down from above 20 to 18 during the recording process. 

Expected tracks for the EP are

• Parasol - Confirmed by Sarah herself. An upbeat piano piece based around a classic tune. Available to those who pre-ordered The Baroness from the official Sarah Slean store.


• The Rose - Speculation. Released as a bonus track on iTunes, written as part of a CBC collaboration of artists adapting classic Schubert pieces. Also published in Sarah's second book of poetry, also titled, The Baroness. 


• The Lonely Side of the Moon - Speculation. Released as a bonus track on iTunes and apart of the same CBC collaboration and also published in Sarah's second book of poetry, also titled, The Baroness. 


• My Song - Speculation. A song played live at shows since roughly 2005. 


• Compatriots - Speculation. A song played live at shows in 2007.


• Modern Man - Speculation. Not much is known about this song. It has been published as a poem in Sarah's second book of poetry, also titled The Baroness.


• The Right Words - Speculation. Not much is known of this song. 

So here's hoping we'll get a little more information on this such as title, tracklisting, and release date in the near future! 

Thanks to LittleSlean for information on select songs.

New Song up on Myspace - Bitter(Sweet)

So, I don't know if I really mentioned it on this blog in the past, but I am a musician. I record under Matt Wyllie. I'm a vocalist (and a vocal teacher), a self-taught pianist, and have been considering learning some guitar to round it out a bit. But, I do have a myspace music account, a page on facebook, a YouTube account, and I do run Twitter. In fact, I'm gonna through those up on the links side bar.

Anyway, I've put up a new song on Myspace. It's a rough demo of a song written about a month ago. It's a piano-vocal song at the moment, but I think I'm hearing strings. 

Hop on over to Myspace to give it a listen!

Pre-Order Who Killed Amanda Palmer

Pre-orders for Who Killed Amanda Palmer started today! There's three different combinations of what you can pre-order...

Package 1

A physical copy of the album
An instant download of the entire album and two exclusive bonus tracks: I Google You (a song co-written by Neil Gaiman) and Straight (With Strings) [ONLY AVAILABLE THROUGH ONLINE PURCHASE! DOWNLOADS NOT AVAILABLE THROUGH PHONE ORDER! I had a rather bad run in with MusicToday about this]

Package 2

A physical copy of the album signed by Amanda Palmer* and Ben Folds**
Exclusive Downloads from Package 1
An exlusive "I Killed Amanda Palmer" t-shirt in the size of your choice from S - XL

Package 3 (LIMITED TO 672 COPIES)

A physical copy of the album signed by Amanda Palmer* and Ben Folds**
Exclusive Downloads from Package 1
An exlusive "I Killed Amanda Palmer" t-shirt in the size of your choice from S - XL
Limited Edition Lithograph signed and numbered by Amanda Palmer
A copy of "The Big Book of Who Killed Amanda Palmer" featuring photos by Kye Cassidy and Short Stories by Neil Gaimain. Signed by both Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman
A copy of the album on Vinyl and signed by Amanda Palmer
A "Crime Scene" photo set and exclusive Murder Evidence

*Only the first 5,000 copies order between both Package 2 and 3
**Only the first 250 copies ordered between both Package 2 and 3 

Click on the Album Cover to Pre-order!

First Shots from Leeds United Video

AmandaPalmer_LeedsUnited_401 copy

Originally uploaded by Alex de Campi


Amanda Palmer has shot her first solo music video this past weekend! On Sunday, a video was shot for Leeds United, the first single from the album. It is separate from the Who Killed Amanda Palmer series. That series comes to a close next week with Guitar Hero and an Outro. 

A couple more shots after the break.

All-time High Views Today!

Thanks to you guys, the readers, we've reached an all-time high in views!! Woo-hoo!! As a thank you, I've provided a compilation of all the released tracks so far from Who Killed Amanda Palmer and have uploaded it for you all. 

I wanna say a big, big thank you to Humbuged of The Humplex. He's a fantastic artist and has been a big, big help in getting me started. Thanks, Hum!! <3

Download link after the Jump

Amanda Palmer -- Who Killed Amanda Palmer Vids

 

Amanda Palmer of the The Dresden Dolls has put together a rather fantastic album to release as her first solo effort. With Ben Folds' help, Amanda has created a solid album that's sure to remain a classic on Dolls Fans, Indie Snobs, and general Music Lover's shelves for a long, long time. 

As I've mentioned before in this blog, the title is Who Killed Amanda Palmer. A reference to Twin Peaks (Who Killed Laura Palmer) that's since come to take on new meaning for Amanda and fans. Amanda has collaborated with several recognizable artists to complete the whole Who Killed Amanda Palmer saga. Neil Gaiman is writing short stories for a photobook shot by Kyle Cassidy. Ben Folds produced and played on a number of the album's tracks. Amanda developed several of the songs and played and even recorded with them. 

With the help of Michael Pope, a celebrated indie director in Boston, and friend of Amanda's, a series of videos was shot as a concept short film based around the Who Killed Amanda Palmer concept. These videos are slowly being released via YouTube and several other mediums. I've embedded the released videos so far after the break. 5 Out of 8 have been released so far. Expect updates when the last three are released!

 

Nightmare Revisited

 

 

Disney's milking that cash cow again. On September 30th, Disney Records is releasing Nightmare Revisited, a collection of covers by several different bands and artists of all sorts of genres. Danny Elfman re-recorded the tracks "Opening" and "Closing" for the new release and artists such as Amy Lee, Polyphonic Spree, Marilyn Manson, Flyleaf, and All-American Rejects have contributed to the collection.

Cover and Full Tracklisting afrer the jump. 

Who Killed Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer, Lead Singer of The Dresden Dolls, pianist, songwriter, general all around fantastic artist, has decided to release a Solo Album. 

Who Killed Amanada Palmer is due out on September 16th.  12 Tracks, 1 cover, the rest original. Amanda's just as amazing solo as she is with The Dresden Dolls. You can download two of the tracks from the Gyget below that Amanda and Co. have so graciously offered us. 

Favourite Profile: Sarah Slean

I'm gonna use this time to talk about one of my favourite people. Her name is Sarah Slean. She is everything. She is a pianist, a singer, a songwriter, a painter, a writer, an actress. She's, truly, a renaissance woman. 

She's been in the music industry for over a decade, has released two books of poetry, had her own art opening in Toronto, Canada, and has even acted in an independent film noir musical about the Evelyn Dick murder case. 

I recently had the pleasure of seeing her live and meeting her after the concert. She is a sweetheart and absolutely stunningly beautiful. 

Sarah's most recent album, titled The Baroness, was released on March 11th, 2008. The album features 12 brand-new songs from Sarah, all independently written. 

The lead single from the album, Get Home, is an anthem for anyone who has ever had someone cheat on them. Other stand out tracks on the album include Looking For Someone, a track detailing a longing for love, Sound of Water, a song discussing perspective and how situations can be viewed positively as well. 

The album is a strong release, presenting a melancholy soundtrack for life. Sarah's fourth studio album and seventh release, Sarah has evolved in to a new artist with each album. 

Sarah Slean has stated in previous interviews and discussions that she never releases an album because her record label tells her to. Sarah never wants to release an album unless she feels ready to, unless she has had a big change come in her life. 

Sarah's one of Canada's most talented writers. Give her a listen! 

The Official Video for "Get Home"

I'm Alive

I've been pretty busy lately with an assortment of different things. Finishing out classes, working on a record label (hopefully it'll be open before the end of 2008), and having a social life. 

But I'll make a quick update since I'm having another insomniatic night. 

I've been looking forward to The Dresden Dolls' new release, No, Virginia..., for a while now. Well, it's finally leaked and I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed with it. For a B-sides and 'Songs we never thought you'd hear' compilation, it's pretty solid. Some of the tracks were released before and a few were left off that a lot of fans would like to see. But I find the compilation to be an excellent collection of songs. The flow on the record works just as well as their full length releases

There are a few catchier songs that would work well on radio, some less commercial songs that would appeal to the indie-hipster crowd and a rather heart-wrenching finishing track. 

So, even though the album's leaked, it's still worth the wait and definitely the purchase. I'd suggest picking it up on May 20th! If you're a fan of The Dresden Dolls, you might want to consider entering their pre-order contest for No, Virginia... Gives you the chance to win a toy piano decorated by the band, tickets to any date on their headlining tour this summer, and a copy of their newest book! More Details here and Amanda Palmer's (Singer, Pianist, and Songwriter of The Dresden Dolls) blog here.