A Fall to Earth

I keep telling people that Portland is cool. Portland is the new New York, right? The in flux of youth and a burgeoning creative melting pot for any and every Indie band looking to make it big is drawing a music scene that supports artistic individuality. As those sentiments start to become realized to the rest of the world, one band has been holding it down since the mid-90s. And how Dandy they are!

The first album since leaving Capitol Records, Earth to the Dandy Warhols... is almost a slap in the face to any devout listener for the last decade. Yet, for any new listener to the Dandy's this may be a refreshing swallow. The Warhols are known for changing it up, dramatically. The difference between Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia and Welcome to the Monkey House were significantly pronounced. Their ability to start out as college rock to garage rock to synth-heavy androids to...a well psychodelic/folksy sound. Courtney Taylor is more breathy here than Janet Jackson in "Rope Burn," and sometimes it actually works.

In "Love Song," the band sets this folky, jam band soundscape against Taylor's sweet, whispered vocals. Everything feels effervescent and while you'd love to hear a more pronounced Warhols sound, this sound uses their knack to incorporate different influences into honest work. While the Warhols are criticized for perhaps imitating their influences wholesale without creating individuality, the sheer number of different sounds they are able to create sets them apart from near anyone else. Granted, there is something to be said for the mastery of a single sound.

From the offset, "The World Come On" itself becomes a bit of a teaser for old-school fans. One of the album's most upbeat songs besides "Valerie Yum" features the bevy of Warhol-like screams and euphanisms. It, in turn, becomes their most forgettable song as well. The group must have sat around the Odditorium to brainstorm a fuzzy, garbled mess for an opener, because the pure sonic disaster may be enough to scare off the casual listener at first notice. One of their influences, Kevin Shields and My Bloody Valentine came up with a way to use swirling guitars to create a soundscape never quite actualized before. During tracks like "Wasp In the Lotus," "Talk Radio," and "And Then I Dreamt of Yes," I can definitely hear Loveless playing as mentor in the background. The swirling guitars masking Taylor's vocals work well as the Warhols channel their inner-shoegazer.

The oddest track on the album may come in "Mission Control" as it feels like a misplaced B-side to Orgy's Candyass. The one synth-heavy track feels at odds with the rest of the album, therefore losing a lot of its relevance. However, through its faults lies another piece to the Warhols' mystical puzzle. While the beginning of the album lacks, it gains steam throughout the middle and "Beast of All Saints" and "Valerie Yum" are surprisingly hearty.

Rating a Warhol album is like trying to pick a favorite Beatles song. There are so many genres, moods, and presentations that it is hard to throw a cohesive blanket over the makeshift beast. One song brings back shades of Weezer while the next Pink Floyd. The Warhols find some of their best work within "Valerie Yum" and "Welcome to the Third World" which features the sardonic, witty Taylor in his element.

Andy Warhol created pop art and the Dandy Warhols took pop music and created art fused with sounds and legends of the past. What helps is just that they are so fucking cool. This will not be their best album by a long shot, but damn it if they don't sound cool nonetheless. From the the repetition of the words "Val" and "Yum" in super slo-mo in "Valerie Yum"...get it? Taylor is not foreign to making fun of their own song-crafting ability. Ironically, Andy Warhol also was the originator of the phrase, "15 minutes of fame," and the Dandy's, while lending a decade of solid music, may be on borrowed time.


Best Tracks - "Talk Radio" "And Then I Dreamt of Yes" "Valerie Yum"


6/10


This. Is. Truth.