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Dresden Dolls

Posted on: 2006-03-12

Every month or so I have some new music that I'm obsessed with. Recent champs have been Brendan Brenson, Yoko Kanno's soundtrack music for Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, and Neko Case. The latest, just in this last week, is the Dresden Dolls.

They're sort of a Goth / Cabaret White Stripes - a couple of ambiguous attachment, with the woman playing piano and signing and the man playing drums. The feel is a bit Robert Smith and Tori Amos go to Weimar and go drinking with Kurt Weill.

See their fun videos on their site, which also includes a section devoted to Hate Mail. I can't get Coin-Operated Boy out of my head.

So I got their album and the first half is brilliant, fulfilling all one's expectations of what they call 'Brechtian Punk Cabaret' - but then the tight focus seems to drop, and the second half seems to be meanderang angsty piano songs that lack the quirky charm of the first part. Maybe on further listening, 'The Jeep Song' will pick up for me - but maybe not.

They have a new album coming out and the already leaked track 'My Alcoholic Friends' looks like they're back on track - hopefully the rest of the album won't be B-Sides.

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