When word first surfaced that a new album from the Dandy Warhols was on the way, I was immediately curious to hear what direction Courtney Taylor-Taylor would musically go. With an album title like Odditorium Or Warlords Of Mars, it was just a bit difficult to predict what the Dandys had in store for us. Would they go back to a Britpop or drone-rock sound, or perhaps a continuation of their danceable electro-pop from Welcome To The Monkey House. The Dandys have finally made THEIR album and it is brilliant. When I hear Warlords Of Mars, the band’s fifth full-length album, it sounds to me as if I am finally listening to the real Dandys, the way they sound on stage. The album begins with an amusing spoken word bit from A&E host Bill Kurtis, which leads to “Love Is The New Feel Awful”. This is classic Dandys, almost looking back to the days of “Godless” with its beautiful drawn out chords, Taylor’s floating vocals and plenty of trumpet. “Easy” starts off as a fairly simple rock song for its first five minutes, letting the guitars noodle around a bit over Zia McCabe’s seductive bass line and Taylor’s falsetto vocals. Once you hit that five-minute mark, the band breaks through the dam and showers us with a classic Dandys jam. Experimenting with country music is nothing totally new for them, which they do in the aptly titled track “The New Country”. Bring on the banjos and squaredancin’ bass line that will easily inspire the first ever hipster hoedown! “Holding Me Up” showcases the sound that the Dandy’s do best, a return to their beautifully distorted drone-rock. This is what I have been waiting for since 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia and it was well worth the wait. “Smoke It” is the most appropriate song title in this band’s history. Marked as the first single from the album, this is easily the song of the summer. With their custom blend of Britpop, psychedelic rock and country twang, it is simply pure Dandy Warhols. Just when you think it can’t get any better, Taylor & Co. take it to yet another level with the toe-tapping “Down Like Disco”, exploding out of your stereo with feedback drenched guitars and what I can only call that “Dandys’ sound.” This is the album I knew they could make. So how do I go about getting a tour of the Odditorium?

The Dandy Warhols
Capitol

1. The Dandy Warhols Have Gone “Totally Insane”
2. Dandy’s Singer Taylor-Taylor Directs Film-Film
3. New Dandy Warhols Album In 2005
4. Dandy Warhols Tour North America, Design Boot
5. Welcome To The Monkey House