Aimee Mann at City Winery

Independence
Disillusioned with both the ineffectual promotion and artistic meddling by her record label, an experience documented in songs such as “Calling It Quits” and “Nothing Is Good Enough”, she struck out on her own and founded SuperEgo Records in 1999. Mann self-released Bachelor No. 2 in 2000, having negotiated a contract release from David Geffen, and though initially only sold at concerts and via her website, the album became successful, allowing her to secure retail distribution through SuperEgo. The album, which included some songs from Magnolia and new material, was widely admired and Mann’s “more indie than indie” success was carefully noted by other musicians.
Mann, Penn, Brion, Fiona Apple, and other musicians had by this time developed a subculture around the Largo nightclub in L.A. Penn and Mann formed a concept called Acoustic Vaudeville to recreate it on tour in California and eventually on an irregular, ongoing national tour. The Acoustic Vaudeville shows intermix music and stand-up comedy; among the comedians joining them for individual shows were Janeane Garofalo, Patton Oswalt, and David Cross.
[edit]Lost In Space: 2002–2004
Mann continued her solo career with Lost in Space (2002), a somewhat more somber album in the same vein as Bachelor No. 2, featuring art by Seth. In 2003 her website released the Lost in Space Special Edition, which featured a second disc containing six live recordings, as well two B-sides and two previously unreleased songs. In November 2004, Live at St. Ann’s Warehouse, a live album and DVD recorded at a series of June 2004 shows in Brooklyn, came out; the two discs were sold packaged together in either a CD jewel case or a DVD case.
[edit]The Forgotten Arm and One More Drifter in the Snow: 2005–2006
Mann described her next album, The Forgotten Arm (2005), as a concept album set in the 1970s about two lovers who meet at the Virginia state fair and go on the run. The Joe Henry-produced album, which was recorded mostly live with few overdubs, was released May 3, 2005. The album’s illustrations and title reflect Mann’s interest in boxing, having trained with legendary boxing trainer Freddie Roach[4]. In 2006, Mann received her one Grammy Award to date for “Best Recording Package” for The Forgotten Arm. The album title derives from a boxing move in which one arm is used to hit the opponent, causing him to “forget” about the other arm, which is then used to deliver a harsher blow. The album received weaker reviews overall, with critics impressed at the totality but unimpressed with any individual songs.
Mann also released an EP for Christmas in 2005 as a cover single of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” for sale through her website and iTunes. It also included “Christmastime”, the 1996 duet she recorded with Penn for the Hard Eight soundtrack, and a cover of “The Christmas Song”. The iTunes version replaced “Christmastime” with a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “River” and “I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up for Christmas” from The Forgotten Arm.
Mann’s independence from the industry led to more overt political stances. She joined Artists Against Piracy, a group formed to act against the illegal downloading and file sharing of copyrighted music from the Internet. Mann, Penn and Hausman took their experience with SuperEgo to found the independent music collective United Musicians, which is based on the principle that every artist should be able to retain copyright ownership of the work he or she has created, in contrast to normal music industry contracts.
In July 2006, Mann announced that she would be releasing One More Drifter in the Snow, a full-length Christmas album. The album featured primarily covers of Christmas standards, as well as a new version of Christmastime and an original song, called “Calling On Mary”, written by Mann and bassist Paul Bryan, who produced the record. It was released on October 31 in the US, and late November 2006 in the UK. [5]
[edit]2007–Present
On July 31, 2007 the soundtrack for the motion picture Arctic Tale was released, featuring two new Mann songs, “The Great Beyond” and “At the Edge of the World”.
July 2007 also saw the premiere of the music video for a song entitled “31 Today” (which featured comedienne Morgan Murphy alongside Mann and Bobcat Goldthwait as director) was posted on YouTube.[6] The song appears on Mann’s seventh studio album, @#%&*! Smilers, released on June 3, 2008.[7]The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at Number 32 (one of Mann’s highest positions to date), and on the Top Independent Albums chart at Number 2.[8] @#%&*! Smilers was met with mostly praise, with Billboard stating that it “pops with color, something that gives it an immediacy that’s rare for an artist known for songs that subtly worm their way into the subconscious… Smilers grabs a listener, never making him or her work at learning the record, as there are both big pop hooks and a rich sonic sheen.” [9]
Mann also joined the 9th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians’ careers. [10] [11][12] She was also an inaugual member of the IMAs in 2002. [13]