Dresden Dolls

[Rickenbacker]

I'm sure they've been talked about here before, but I'm only now digging into their work. This definitely appealed to my "prog senses". Somewhat reminiscent of Cardiacs to me.

[moecurlythanu]

I'm not sure they've had a full thread, but plenty of mentions, yes. Great band, ended too soon.

[Sputnik]

I'm a big fan of their first album and much of the second album (No Virginia is basically an outtakes album, and is OK for what it is). I've seen them several times and they are really quite awesome live, some of their live DVDs from that early period are very worthy. I'm sad to say Amanda's solo material has not captured my interest the way the Dolls stuff did, but even with the second album you could feel them moving away from the "Punk Cabaret" sound that made the first one so special. I'd agree with moecurly, The Dolls ended too soon. I think there was lots more ground to explore there and it's too bad they moved on, though I respect their decision to do so.

First time I saw Amanda was with her pre-Dolls band Amanda Palmer and the Void, playing in a warehouse in Lowell before Thinking Plague were supposed to play. Her stuff was a bit more rough-edged at that point, but I could definitely hear the spark of something good in her music. I regret not chatting with her a bit after that performance.

Bill

[Sputnik]

One of my favorite songs from the first album is Gravity. Not one of their bigger hits, but I think this embodies much of what I love about the band. I think it's a rocking little tune, and is one I've always wanted to cover.



Bill

[mnprogger]

I enjoy them, but I honestly dig Amanda's solo work more. More epic and layered with instrumentation at times.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

I love the minimalism of DD. The idea that one could play "War Pigs" as a piano-and-drums song and get away with it utterly appealed to me at the time.

Saw them do a short set in a package tour some years ago. Wish they were still together -- though I'm quite happy with Amanda's solo work (and jealous as hell of Neil Gaiman).

[miamiscot]

Not a fan of Palmer's outsized ego and social media presence but HOT DAMN - The Dresden Dolls were cool.

[Baribrotzer]

.....even with the second album you could feel them moving away from the "Punk Cabaret" sound that made the first one so special..... I think there was lots more ground to explore there

You can hear why, though, when you listen. Some of those tunes are as "inefficient" as any prog when it comes to effort put in as a function of finished music resulting. "Girl Anachronism", for example, has about as much musical ideas and as many words as three or four more ordinary songs. Plus, Amanda is a self-taught and fairly crude piano player who would have needed to work on getting those parts together, and being able to sing while playing them. So when they took off as a full-time act - which they did rather quickly, at least in Boston - she just didn't have the time for something that labor-intensive.

[mnprogger]

I remember when I 1st started checking them they reminded me of Murder By Death (the early stuff) for some reason. Sort of piano-driven Art-Punk in a way.

Getting into The Dolls was kind of a product of seeing their name a lot, and an online friend of mine named Haley frequently talking about them and Amanda. I met her from our mutual love of the band Ours and dredg mainly.

Haley actually worked for Amanda for awhile, not sure if she does anymore as she ended up working at Kickstarter (of course Amanda had that record breaking Kickstarter campaign a few years ago, which likely had something to do with that).