by Tracy Graham

Avant-garde performer and musician Amanda Palmer recently began a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter to promote, mix, manufacture and distribute her first studio album since 2008. She has spent four years writing songs for the independently-created album and has recorded it with her new backing band, The Grand Theft Orchestra. Palmer and her band have begun touring worldwide. The campaign is currently the most-funded music project ever on Kickstarter. In just two days, her fans have donated over $300k to it.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amandapalmer/amanda-palmer-the-new-record-art-book-and-tour/widget/video.html

In addition, she has spent six months secretly working with over 30 artist friends to create album art which will be published in a hard-bound book. Here is a list of the participating artists to date:

Amanda Palmer, Barnaby Whitfield, Blake Brasher, Cassandra Long, Conrad Keely (...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead), Cynthia von Buhler, David Mack, Desi, DJ Spooky (Paul Miller), Empire SNAFU Restoration Project, Hans Rickheit, Heide Hatry, Judith Clute, Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses), Kyle Cassidy, Lee Barron, Meghan Howland, Michael Pope, Michael Zulli, Molly Crabapple, Neil Gaiman, Nicole Duennebier, Rick Berry, Robyn Hitchcock, Sarah Beetson, Shepard Fairey, Steven Bogart, Sylvia K, Tao Lin, Tony Albert, Vladimir Zimikov, Walter Sickert, and Zea Barker.

Collage

Art by (from l-r, top-bottom) Kyle Cassidy, Tony Albert, Cynthia von Buhler, Cassandra Long, David Mack, and Tony Albert

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amandapalmer/amanda-palmer-the-new-record-art-book-and-tour/widget/card.html

photo by Tracy Graham