THERE WILL BE NO INTERMISSION is out today worldwide. here is the mega-post.
(public post)
note: since i already released the music (and charged for it) last week: this is not a paid post!
hello my beloveds.
happy international women’s day.
no justice = no peace.
no truth = no healing.
here we go.
this album feels like what i can contribute to the revolution right now, and i did get here alone. the opposite. you all helped me get here.
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THERE WILL BE NO INTERMISSION is out today.
THE TRACKLIST:
the songs in italics are intermission-instrumentals arranged and conducted by jherek bischoff.
All The Things
The Ride
Congratulations
Drowning in the Sound
Hold On Tight, Darling
The Thing About Things
Life’s Such a Bitch Isn’t It
Judy Blume
Feeding the Dark
Bigger on the Inside
There Will Be No Intermission
Machete
You Know the Statistics
Voicemail for Jill
You’d Think I’d Shot Their Children
A Mother’s Confession
They’re Saying Not to Panic
Look Mummy, No Hands
Intermission is Relative
Death Thing
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ALL THE LYRICS:
http://amandapalmer.net/therewillbenointermissionlyrics
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AND NOW…….
i want you to share it as far and wide as you can.
the reviews and critics are weighing in….and the reviews are great (i’ll post some later) and, sure, the accolades mean a lot.
but they don’t mean fuck all compared to what these songs mean to me. what this community means to me.
it’s you. it’s me. it’s us. it’s THIS.
these songs aren’t, and never were, built to be commercially successful. i didn’t write these songs to be welcomed into some other club. i wrote them for this goddamn club right here.
i didn’t write them to win praise. i wrote them to heal. to heal myself.
they written to help me through the dark.
and maybe then, if i did my job right, to help you through your own dark.
i hope you feel that when you listen to this album.
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and i do hope you share it….not because you want to help me and my “record sales” and my “career” – which would be nice, of course – but, rather, because you truly love this record and the songs on it, and you want other people to find solace and joy in listening to it.
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HERE IS HOW TO LISTEN TO (AND SHARE)
“THERE WILL BE NO INTERMISSION”
ready?
IF YOU SHARE ONE LINK AND ONE LINK ONLY, SHARE THE LINK TO THIS POST.
it is in your web browser bar right now, or use this:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/25219616
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WANT A REAL RECORD ALBUM? C’MON!!!!!! WE WORKED OUR ASSES OFF TO MAKE IT SO BEAUTIFUL YOU COULD NOT RESIST!!!
even the CD is a work of art…..and includes little frameable pictures.
to order the CD & vinyl (+ other merch) in the USA or UK web stores, head here: http://nointermission.amandapalmer.net
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which reminds me to tell you….
the patron only-edition of the vinyl have started to arrive in the mail….. this special edition includes a signed art insert, and the record is pressed on MIDNIGHT BLUE vinyl. it’s a dark blue, best viewed in natural light (it’ll look black in fluorescent light).
IT IS SO DEEPLY METAPHORICAL.
THE VINYL IS SO DARK YOU NEED A LIGHT TO SEE THROUGH IT.
GET IT???
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HOW TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD OF “THERE WILL BE NO INTERMISSION” ...information for ALL THE PEOPLE (since this is a public post):
there are several ways to listen/get the record online.
1. PATREON
FIRST AND BEST, you can BECOME AND PATRON for as little as $1 and click this link to unlock the download post i already sent to patrons. it’s a wetransfer file of the entire record. patrons will also, in the days to come, be getting lots of bonus material (demos from the record, extra symphonic bits, covers i didn’t include on the street release etc.).
https://www.patreon.com/posts/this-is-it-there-25037722
2. BANDCAMP!!!!!!!
https://amandapalmer.bandcamp.com/album/there-will-be-no-intermission
YAY BANDCAMP.
bandcamp is one of the few platforms that did not require me to censor my album artwork. thanks bandcamp!
3. or….pick another platform of choice.
https://apalmer.lnk.to/NoIntermission
this link will direct you to a gazillion digital music providers.
AND…..EVEN IF YOU HAVE THE ALBUM VIA BANDCAMP OR PATREON: HELP ME…!
if you use apple music, spotify, itunes, tidal, amazon music etc. etc. please favorite the album or add the songs on your personal playlists! this’ll help encourage these platforms to support the album in their playlist and “discovery areas” and help encourage new victims…er people… to discover the album.
4. YOUTUBE!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdCjn28n1Ao_nrjtRdaEuQRyTZJKcc4Ol
if you wanna listen on youtube or share that way, we did something kinda cool and made a playlist of the entire album, with LOTS of the artbook artwork from the kahn & selesnick photo shoots accompanying each track. it’s nifty,
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(photo by hayley rosenblum)
THERE WILL BE NO INTERMISSION: WORLD SONG & STORYTELLING TOUR
i’ll be touring this album for the next two years as a solo piano and storytelling tour.
the show is three hours, there is one intermission
(get it?)
all tour dates, ticket links and show information is available on my website:
http://amandapalmer.net/shows
i kick off the north american tour later this month, and then embark on a tour of the uk and europe. come. let’s weep together.
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also out today is the companion ARTBOOK, filled with tons of gorgeous photographs by kahn & selesnick, allan amato and stephanie zakas, in-depth stories about each song and the creation of this album, and the lyrics.
it clocks in at 90 pages and it is absolutely stunning. the designer who made the CD and vinyl, andrew nelson, also designed this entire book, side by side, with yours truly.
you can grab a copy at the merch table on the tour or online:
USA SHOP:
https://shop.amandapalmer.net/products/there-will-be-no-intermission-the-artbook
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AND NOW….
some behind the scenes photos from the album’s recording.
day one in the studio:
me and jherek, arranging….
uke.
(above two photos by allan amato)
a short clip from recording voicemail for jill….
(go watch at https://www.instagram.com/p/BoP7vr_niSi/)
if you’re going to make an album to take down the patriarchy, you’d better make sure your piano is prepared….from the making of “drowning in the sound”
take after take after take:
the “BABY DIDN’T DIE” CHORUS!!!!!!! almost all of them are patrons!!!
THANK YOU ALL FOR DOING THIS.
listening to the final mixes for the first time….
—-
me and beloved john congleton…the best engineer/producer i have ever worked with, hands down. for real.
(photo by allan amato)
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some words from john congleton:
there will be no intermission is some of amanda’s finest work to date. singular, uncompromising and evocative. i should stress that amanda is bringing a serious A game in the songwriting department here. next level stuff. the second single, voicemail for jill is really stunning. some of my most favorite lyrics of amanda’s. AND it also coins the term “abortion shower” which should be immediately absorbed into the lexicon.
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me and my dear, deep, beloved musical collaborator, jherek bischoff….who contributed so much more to this record than i imagined:
(photo by allan amato)
words from jherek bischoff:
When Amanda said she was coming to LA to record her new record with John Congleton and asked me to be a part of it, I was extremely excited. Amanda and I have been slowly perfecting the way we work together, and I was so excited to see what we could do with John’s eyes and ears overseeing things. Amanda and I hopped on the phone to chat about the project, and she came right out the gate saying NO STRINGS! You can imagine my heart sank a little. She talked about how, sure, all of these songs would sound beautiful with strings — it’s such a natural and classic approach to long, sad piano songs — but Amanda and John wanted to explore a vastly different approach with synths and weird sounds, etc., like sound collages. I am always game for a challenge, but my brain could not hear how it would work!
I went into the studio the first day a little bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to contribute much. We listened to the songs with just piano and vocals and immediately thought, well, it kind of sounds done as-is. That kind of gave us a helpful safety net in the backs of our minds, having such strong songs and words that we could try absolutely ANYTHING with, and if it didn’t work, it would still be amazing anyway.
Before going to the studio the second day, I watched a bunch of YouTube videos of people “preparing” pianos. I wrote down all of the funny little things people put on their piano strings to make them sound wild and went to the hardware store and bought a bunch of weird things to make the piano sound crazy. At the studio, we completely got absorbed in creating sounds and teaming up, sometimes with three sets of hands, all working together to create the perfect sizzle or clank sound. It was a lot of fun.
After that, the floodgates opened. We didn’t have to think about what to do next; we just did and it all felt super organic and REALLY FUN! We were having such a good time, laughing a lot and laughed some more thinking about how strange it was to be laughing so much while making such a heavy record! But what I have found in my own art-making life is that there has to be some balance. There were times, of course, where we were all feeling the weight of the songs, but we could pull ourselves out of that to keep a feeling of lightness and fun rather than spending a month spiraling down into the depths of despair. We do that enough already!
When the recording wrapped, Amanda and I talked about how long and heavy the songs were and how they sort of needed palate cleansers. We came up with the idea for me to compose short little vignettes based on themes from the songs and we could sprinkle them throughout the record. I had about four days to write, record and finish them. We assembled a bunch of awesome musicians and I finished everything literally a few hours before it all had to be turned over for mastering. It was pretty stressful, but SO MUCH FUN! In the end, there ended up being some strings after all.
One of the reasons I love working with Amanda is that she is always incredibly open to trying new things. I have always been inspired by how much trust she puts in people around her. The fact that she trusted us so much with her extremely personal songs was some next level shit. She let us fail and fall at times, which in most other situations would be embarrassing, but she was always there with an open and keen ear, ready to try the next wild idea. I can’t imagine another scenario where I will get to make a record like this one, and I feel so proud of the work we did.
Thank you, Amanda! And super mega shout out to John and Max who are THE BEST collaborators ever.
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here’s a short clip of jherek recording upright bass:
(watch here https://www.instagram.com/p/BoX1PmznMo_)
….
and this is the album’s secret weapon, max henry, on synthesizers.
i had never met max before we got into the studio – he was brought in by john congleton as a massive, musical trust fall exercise.
which worked.
(photo of max recording synths, taken by moi)
words from max henry:
What can I say about the process. The songs were already there in such a real way by the time we arrived. It was our not so simple task to extend these gestures in whatever way we could without trampling them. I think of these songs a little bit like Chinese lanterns, they tell stories — you have Amanda’s voice and piano burning bright at center of things — and Jherek and John and I, we tried to contour that light in little ways, to make the projections on the walls. …Or something, jesus. Amanda’s the writer.
Every day was a surprise, a challenge — Amanda would come in and be like, shit, why don’t we try this approach — I was amazed at the willingness to shake up something that was already of such a high caliber, to really take a risk with it.
Amanda wasn’t precious about the music at all, save for the most important thing — that it’s important to take risks, that being musically safe sucks. Man…I’ll tell you, it’s easy enough and fun as hell for me to come in and do my thing, but it takes some serious grit to let a stranger stomp into your house like that, into these stories populated with such intimate gestures.
It was punk a.f., basically.
…….
please understand.
i cannot thank these three men – these male allies – enough for the contributions they made to these songs, to this album as a whole.
these are some of the most personal songs i’ve ever written, and working on this album was unlike any other project i’ve ever done.
i had the songs, i had the performances, but i didn’t have the SOUND.
these three men came in, like fierce, ferocious and careful interior decorators of the heart, and they held me so beautifully.
john, jherek and max….thank you.
thank you.
—-
THE FULL ALBUM CREDITS:
musicians:
jherek bischoff – double bass, guitar, vibraphone, prepared piano, backing vocals
john congleton – drums, synths, sequencing
max henry – synths
amanda palmer – piano, ukulele, organ, synths, vocals
joey waronker – drums
jason webley – accordion
there will be no intermission was produced, mixed and engineered by john congleton
studio assistant: tyler karmen
recorded at: 64 sound, los angeles
mixed at: elmwood west
mastered by greg calbi at sterling sound, new york
all songs written by amanda palmer, published by eight foot music
administered by kobalt songs music publishing
except “look mummy, no hands” written by dillie keane
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all inter-song instrumentals were arranged and mixed by jherek bischoff
vibraphone, double bass, sub bass synth, cymbals, bass drum, glockenspiel recorded by jherek bischoff
violin, viola, and cello recorded by jaron luksa at the rattle room, los angeles
inter-song instrumental players:
double bass, sub bass synth, cymbals, bass drum:
jherek bischoff
cellos:
april guthrie
aniela marie perry
violins/violas:
laurann angel
madeline falcone
nicole garcia
paris hurley
rachel iba
vibraphone & glockenspiel:
jodie landau
the “baby didn’t die” choir (almost entirely PATRONS!!!!! thank you all…)
anthony palacios
carly d. weckstein
charlotte kaufman
david goren
ian michaels
jherek bischoff
joy craig
kale chase
lisa schneider
marvel star de la cruz
michelle gibson
paul bellantoni
phoebe pinder
sara bartel
simon vance
theresa richardson
vanessa rodriguez
xine trevino
the original “machete” string players, sampled for this version of the song:
violin: crystal brooke alforque
viola: lauren elizabeth baba
cello: aniela marie perry
“machete” string arrangement by jherek bischoff
originally recorded by jaron luksa at the rattle room, los angeles
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art credits that won’t make sense until you see the packaging, but here they are:
sleeve photography: allan amato
insert photography: kahn & selesnick
stylist on kahn & selesnick shoots: regina harris
on the set:
piano stewards – ngo’e crossan, julius ross bright, philip marshall, nico deslis, joe yarabek and ben ranes
library dept.: justine marzack, ash
dress on inner sleeve designed by: marc littlejohn
album artwork designed by: andrew nelson at down in the valley creative
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and thanks….
thank you to my husband, neil gaiman, and to my son, ash-for-short david karl gaiman. i love you both so much.
special thanks to ben folds for the songwriting help on “drowning in the sound”, to my patrons for the lyric help on “drowning in the sound” & “the ride”, and to dillie keane for letting me cover her song. thank you to marco benevento for letting me borrow his studio for “the ride” songwriting session. and a huge thank you to all the engineers and musicians – all over the world – who hosted and worked on the extensive collection of recording demos for this record.
thanks to martin & everyone at cooking vinyl.
a massive, heartfelt thank you to the extended members of team AFP, all of whom worked with me over the course of the last seven years:
sean francis, eric sussman, superkate slepicka, bill hartman, jordan verzar, hayley rosenblum, alex knight and michael mccomiskey.
at fame house: nick rizzuto, brittney bomberger, megan rondeau, braxton carter, courtney catagnus, and mike sachetti.
this team has helped me – over the course of the last few years espeically – more than i can explain. with my business, with my life, with every aspect of my existence.
i cannot do this alone. my gratitude to my team is endless. THANK YOU, my team.
and to my patrons….i’ve said it enough.
but it bears repeating….without you: this wouldn’t have happened.
not in this way, not with this depth.
you have created this with me.
i love you all. we’re gonna be okay.
it’s just a ride.
