Category Archives: Music

Music Obsession: The Dresden Dolls

Posted by caffeinedreams3 on

My obsession with the Dresden Dolls all began a few years back when my local Borders bookstore was closing. The album that got me was their first self-titled album. And ever since I have been in love with them.

I could sit here and try to explain to you their style of music, but if I were to do that we would be here for a long time. The Dresden Dolls are one of those bands that you have to hear them to believe how incredible they are, and most likely they will be like nothing you have ever heard before. With Amanda Palmer as the writer/singer/pianist of this dynamic duo and Brian Viglione playing drums, they send themselves hurtling into the rock cabaret music scene. The two describe their style as “Brechtian punk cabaret“, a phrase invented by Palmer because she was “terrified” that the press would invent a name that “would involve the word gothic”. The Dresden Dolls are part of an underground dark cabaret movement that started gaining momentum in the early 2000s.

The Dolls are abel to perfectly blend together metal influenced drums, with crazy piano slams and incredibly imperfect singing. The Dresden Dolls are so unique, they are a fresh breathe in what seems to be a  dying music scene.

I really love everything about them, is that they are so completely different from anything I had ever seen or heard before. They paint their faces and aren’t afraid to go out on stage naked.

photo from: http://www.listal.com/viewimage/593336 inanehaze 4 years ago

photo from:
http://www.listal.com/viewimage/593336
inanehaze
4 years ago

I love that the name of their band includes the destruction brought on by Dresden, Germany and the innocence of dolls.


Roadrunner Records 26 October 2006

This is one of my all time favorite music videos. This song is a perfect example of what to expect, or not to expect from The Dresden Dolls. They are able to create things that are completely unique and creative. One of my favorite things about this band is that Palmer’s voice is not stereotypically beautiful.

I really love this band and you all should go check them out and fall in live with them too.

xo, B

 

Latest Obsession: Kimbra

Posted by caffeinedreams3 on

My new latest obsession is the musical artist Kimbra.

photo from: http://www.listal.com/viewimage/3463012h Dino 15 March 2012

photo from:
http://www.listal.com/viewimage/3463012h
Dino
15 March 2012

You may have heard of Kimbra if you have ever heard of that song that was floating around in 2012 by Goyte called Somebody That I Used To Know. She was the female voice that he was singing with.

It’s hard not to fall in love with her. I mean just look at how perfect she is. She flawlessly blends together a classic vintage aesthetic and her own fresh modern twist. I’m just going to flat out say that she is a perfect human being in my eyes. Sorry for my complete honest opinion. It’s really amazing how much she has been able to accomplish and all the opportunities she has been given and how far she has come is such a shockingly short time.

This native New Zealander began her musical career when she was just 17 (she’s going to be 23 this March 27th.) After 3 years of working hard writing and recording her debut album Vows was released to the world. This album truly reflects the changes she went through in growing as a person and a musician. I mean, she started writing the album when she was 17 and released it when she was 20. A lot of things change during that time and Vows shows that. She self-produced her own album with the help of, Francois Tetaz, who helped her to view her music as a film and not just another album. In doing this every song is different from the one before it. She mixes all sorts of genres together and she created something truly amazing.


Video from http://www.youtube.com Forum5Recordings 6 July 2010

This is my personal favorite song from Vows. I just really love everything about it, and it was the first song I heard from her that made me fall in love with her voice and style. She is so unique and different it is refreshing that in this day and age where people are told what to look like, what to be like, and what to sound like, she defies it all and carves her own path.  Continue reading →

A Mad Robotic Rabbit

Posted by caffeinedreams3 on

Welcome to the land of Mad Automatons. Actually everyone is crazy except The Spine…but we’l talk about that later. This is The Rabbit who is played by Bunny (Christopher) Bennett.

The Rabbit is a member of Steam Powered Giraffe a Musical Pantomime Troupe. There are three automatons (robots) and two humans in this band. The Rabbit is a clockwork creation, and was the first of the robots to be made in 1896. He runs off of a new energy that hadn’t yet been heard of at the time: Blue Matter.

Rabbit was given his name when he was still just a head on the work bench. His creator, Peter Alexander Walter, had just created the first artificial intelligence and wanted to experiment the new robot’s capability. Walter pointed to a rabbit in a cage and said ‘rabbit’, and he was beyond delighted when the robot said rabbit after him. However, that was the only thing he could say for the rest of the night. So he became known as The Rabbit from there on out.

photo from: http://trekkiebeth.tumblr.com/search/rabbit Beth Riley I year ago

photo from:
http://trekkiebeth.tumblr.com/search/rabbit
Beth Riley
I year ago

(This is The Rabbit with fellow automaton The Spine, who was also created by Peter Alexander Walter.) Along with being the first robot created, much was unknown about him, mainly about his main source of power, Blue Matter. It has been used as a weapon. One day Rabbit’s power core was stolen, with the intent to reverse engineer it and harvest its energy. However, things went quite sour for the people who stole it. The core reactor killed two people and injured three others. The core reactor was finally given back to Rabbit. Even though he was not directly involved with the deaths and injuries he holds himself responsible for what happened. During his free time you could find Rabbit at the Walter Cemetery feeding the ducks.

Since The Rabbit was the first creation in 1896 he still has most of his original Victorian parts. Out of all the robots he has the least upgrades and is therefore more prone to malfunction and make ridiculously bad puns (or buns as he would say…)
In regards to the band The Rabbit mainly sings. He also plays the accordion and a nifty little instrument called a melodica. In case you have no idea whatsoever of what that (which I’m going to assume most of you don’t), it’s a small keyboard looking thing with a tube connected to it. Maybe a better way to describe it is, “it’s kinda like a harmonica and keyboard got in on” – Bunny Bennett 

The Rabbit is an ever changing character with a very dramatic back story. He is actually having the biggest change of all right now, and I’ll make another post about that. Even over the years you can clearly see that his makeup changes quite constantly. And that’s just something I really love and admire about Bunny Bennett as a person. He is an artist and it clearly shows in everything that he produces, not only for the band, but for everything he does.
I am absolutely in love with The Rabbit and Bunny Bennett. This band is so original and unique and Bunny is actually largely responsible for Steam Powered Giraffe even existing.

Please look into Steam Powered Giraffe, the Rabbit, Bunny Bennett, and his amazing artwork and come back to let me know how much you love it all!

xo, B