Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys - Shockheaded Peter
Back in March, Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys provided the music for a production of Shockheaded Peter at Boston's Company One Theatre . Unfortunately, I was unable to make it to any of the performances. Luckily, they just released an album of the musical accompaniment. Performing songs written and originally performed by The Tiger Lillies, Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys truly made each song their own, blending in their mixture of punk, folk, cabaret, metal, etc., or "steam crunk," as they call it. Since each song appears to be about the horrific fate of a character of the play, mostly children, it fits right into The Army of Toys' catalog, coming across like a darker, more musical version of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory or Ghastlycrumb Tinies come to musical life. The band attacks each song with a disturbing glee. "The Dreadful Story About Harriet and the Matches" is a jaunty ditty complete with creepy sounding...