How jam packed was your iPod this year? Were you someone who kept up with all the great music that was released in 2012, or did all the awesome tunes seem to pass you by? If you fall into either category, check out this a list of some great albums from 2012 that are definitely worth your time!

Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra

If you’re an avid reader of this site/user of social media and you don’t know who Amanda Palmer is, there is no better time to become a fan. A performer in every possible sense of the word, Ms. Palmer got together with her band, The Grand Theft Orchestra, and created one of the most diverse and emotionally resonant albums of the year. Palmer is famous for her brand of cabaret inspired art punk-rock, and while that theme is certainly present on Theatre Is Evil, many other influences come out to play. Synths and effect-soaked vocals begin the album on “Smile (Pictures Or It Didn’t Happen),” and that kind of shoegaze meets electro pop shimmer reappears on other album highlights like the rolicking single “Want It Back.” “Do It With A Rockstar” pulsates with a punk rock fury that will supercharge your morning commute. “Trout Heart Replica” is an emotional, string laden piano ballad. By the time “Olly Olly Oxen Free” crashes to its thundering close, you will have fallen in love with this alternately exciting and gentle art rock record.

A group of artists have written an open letter to Washington regarding the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (PROTECT IP) acts that have led numerous websites to go dark in protest today.

Artists include American Gods, Sandman, and Neverwhere author Neil Gaiman, comedian/actor Aziz Ansari, and Nine Inch Nails frontman and Oscar winning composer Trent Reznor, just to name a few.

The letter was posted on the Stop The Wall website, and you can read it in full below, including a list of those who have signed it.

Fans of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson got a nice little seasonal surprise on last week on the Halloween episode when alt rocker Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls, author and comics (Sandman) scribe Neil Gaiman (also Palmer’s husband), techno music trailblazer Moby, and Stephin Merritt of the pop rock group the Magnetic Fields got together to perform “Science Fiction Double Feature,” the opening song from the stage and film musical versions of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

You can watch the performance video here below.

Musician and performance artist Amanda Palmer posted a link to a short film she co-starred in with Bill Nighy called Statuesque, which was written and directed by her husband, author Neil Gaiman.

You can watch the entire 9-minute silent film here below.

Looks like it might only be online for a short time, so definitely check it out while you can.

Evelyn Evelyn
A Tragic Tale In Two Tomes
Written By Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley
Illustrated By Cynthia Von Buhler
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: September 21, 2011
Cover Price: $24.99

When Amanda Palmer is involved in a project, you can always be sure the end result will be something fresh and unique. Ms. Palmer (some of you might know her as Mrs. Neil Gaiman) and Jason Webley have come together to bring us Evelyn Evelyn, the story of a musical set of conjoined twins. After the two released an album last year that tells the same story, Dark Horse has now published Palmer and Webley’s vision in hardcover, with haunting art by Cynthia Von Buhler.

Orphaned in extraordinary circumstances within a half hour of their birth, Eva and Lyn Neville bounce from home to home throughout their troubled lives. They spend time in a chicken coup, a shady lodge for young girls, become musicians in the circus, and finally work in a motel. Friends and enemies are encountered along the way, but no matter the circumstance, their bond with each other remains unbreakable. At one point, one of their caretakers loses track of which twin is which, and they eventually begin to simply call themselves “Evelyn.”