Send "Amanda Palmer " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 Of course, Palmer takes things a bit farLike many people, I became an Amanda Palmer fan after seeing her perform in concert. Her charming personality, visceral beauty, boundless enthusiasm, and willingness to take risks—not to mention her eagerness to do just about anything to please her audience—made her a difficult act to resist. Therefore, the fact that Palmer has just released a live album makes sense. Actually, the disc is not completely live; she has includes three studio tracks for reasons not exactly clear, but almost all of the songs on Goes Down Under have Australasian themes and concerns. Of course, the term “down under” also suggests something a risqué, which is reified by her picture on the CD’s cover, wearing nothing but a pair of knit panties with the design of the New Zealand flag. Sexual teasing has always been part of Palmer’s persona, so perhaps it is no surprise that the first song features Palmer singing and playing the ukulele on the old Eddie Cantor chestnut “Makin’ Whoopee.” She does the song straight and lets the sly lyrics about love, marriage, and marital responsibilities speak for themselves. The live audience heartily approves. Palmer happily engages the crowd. A good time is had by all. This cycle repeats itself on all the live tracks, with different audiences in both Australia and New Zealand. Yes, Palmer panders to her fans. She sings a self-penned song called “Australia” and one about the national dish “Vegemite” (as well as including a singalong to the Vegemite theme song, “We are Happy Little Vegemites”) to an Australian audience. And she also performs one called “New Zealand” to a Kiwi crowd. She knowingly banters with the audiences about local subjects....full text |
| Musicomh |
| Amanda Palmer's second solo offering (and her second consecutive record with her name in the title, fact fans), Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under, sounds like it was almost never intended to be an album. For starters, most of the songs here are taken from live shows in Australia and New Zealand; only a quarter of were actually done sans a live audience. However, if you're willing to give this album a chance, it will eventually charm you in the same that her previous LP, Who Killed Amanda Palmer, did. Sometimes the live setting actually seems suitable for some tunes and, for the most part, it is not too distracting. It also adds an air of spontaneity and looseness to it, which is in stark contrast to the elaborate and slick production job of the last record. The lead single, Map Of Tasmania, is a massive red herring in terms of sound and, thanks to The Young Punx, the closest she's come to making a radio hit; that is, if a song about pubic hair could be considered a radio hit. It's a loud and proud electro-stomper that is totally different to anything she has done. It's also undeniably catchy, no matter how much you don't want to be swayed by it initially. Thankfully, for those who aren't impressed with Palmer's sudden change of direction, this is her only foray into synthpop. The rest of the album is an eclectic mix of the piano ballads that made her such an enthralling artist in the first place, some ukelele ditties, nods to her cabaret roots and a couple of covers....full text |
| Avclub |
| Since the 2008 release of her first solo album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer, The Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer has come from seemingly out of nowhere to amass an adoring army of followers who have made her shockingly successful. (In one well-publicized case, she made nearly $20,000 in 10 hours via a spontaneous Twitter merchandise brainstorm and auction.) Thanks in large part to Twitter, where she has more than 470,000 followers, Palmer has become a new face of the do-it-yourself work ethic and close relationships with fans. That closeness ties together Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under. It’s a stretch to refer to it as her “second solo album,” as the accompanying press materials do, since it was released to coincide with her current tour of Australia and New Zealand, and it’s dominated by live performances (including several covers and two songs about Vegemite), with just a few studio tracks. The whole album feels like an enjoyable trifle cranked out for the hell of it. Palmer is clearly enjoying herself, whether via the ukulele-assisted electro-pop “Map Of Tasmania” (which debates pubic-hair habits), or collaborating with friends like Tom Dickins of The Jane Austen Argument, a.k.a. The Australian Dresden Dolls (“Bad Wine And Lemon Cake”), or letting Mikelangelo of The Black Sea Gentlemen sing his “A Formidable Marinade,” which sounds like an excerpt from a pro-sodomy Broadway musical....full text |
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