The Dandy Warhols
Beat The World Records
(2008)
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Nobody can ever accuse the tragically hip Dandy Warhols of not knowing how to have a good time. The band’s most recent offering, Earth To The Dandy Warhols — its first concept album since Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia (Capitol, 2000) and its debut since having left Capitol Records to form label Beat The World — is part pleasure, part mind-fuck. While I am at a loss as to why it is that concept albums allow The Dandy Warhols to break out of its smug albeit talented cage of music, Earth to the Dandy Warhols is, regardless of my speculation, a breath of fresh air in the increasingly crowded indie-pop scene. To some extent shaking off the band’s Velvet Underground-inspired roots, Earth To The Dandy Warhols gives the allusion of letting everything go wild while in fact being an incredibly compact, flawlessly tight yet simultaneously sprawling album.

Never ones to shy away from the strange, The Dandy Warhols use their love of moody rock symphonies with a side of synth to make an album centering around the theme of outer space. However, just because the work happens to take place out of this world does not mean The Dandy Warhols won’t use every opportunity in the album to comment back on the world and the society they so love to hate. In “Welcome to the 3rd World,” a song you can imagine hearing in the background of a rocking college party (if only most college students had good enough taste to appreciate such bands), Courtney Taylor-Taylor and company sing eyebrow-raising lines such as “Your lips match my wallet” followed by a mocking chorus of “The boys like the girls and the girls like the money…. The girls like the boys and the boys like the honey.” Meanwhile, fans of The Dandy Warhols’ Welcome to the Monkey House (Capitol, 2003) will enjoy such psychedelic gems as “Wasp in the Lotus” and “And Then I Dreamt of Yes,” where hypnotic-cool lyrics rub elbows brilliantly with the synth-rock, hand-claps, and bells provided by Brent De Boer (drums), Peter Holmstrom (guitars), and Zia McCabe (bass). In “Wasp in the Lotus,” Taylor-Taylor’s melodic lyrics clash with the harsh riffs of the guitar, unexpectedly amplifying the pleasure of the song… bestowing the listener with a musical example of the phrase “so good it hurts.” This hurts, but dammit we just can’t stop listening.

Perhaps therein lies the genius of The Dandy Warhols. These four musicians are able to make their fans shake their heads in self-loathing while simultaneously shaking their booties in celebration. While such awkward dichotomy is key to the humor of many of today’s beloved television comedies (The Office, Arrested Development), it should be noted that The Dandy Warhols have been doing this since 1995– way before it was cool and right when it was annoying. The band members know they are assholes: they just don’t care. And you can’t help but love guys like that… or at the very least, admire them.

Even as one of the songs in Earth To The Dandy Warhols called “Jenny Yum Yum,” repeats the absurd phrase “yum yum” for the duration of the track, it is still saved by the orchestral talent of the band. Thus, as much as we want to hate The Dandy Warhols for creating an album that is so thematically silly, we cannot help but give the album a repeated listen and grudgingly, and eventually grinningly, accept the band’s genius. The Dandy Warhols have made an art both musically and lyrically out of giving their audience the middle finger.

While it has become expected of The Dandy Warhols to use their music as both a mockery and a celebration of pop culture and pop music, I cannot help but wonder if, as the album title suggests, Earth to the Dandy Warhols is not just a send-up of the planet Earth, but of The Dandy Warhols themselves. Points for chutzpah, guys.

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http://www.dandywarhols.com/news.php

The track “Rebels In The Roses” is Everest at their best, which also explains why it is the song garnering the most press, featured on shows such as Conan O’Brien… yet another impressive feat for the alt-country rockers. Gorgeous and upbeat at one moment, sad and mellow the next, “Rebels In The Roses” is beautifully dynamic — a welcome addition to the softer side of indie-rock.

Nonetheless, the band is newly formed, and thus these LA songwriters still need to work out more than a few things. For example, merging its members’ considerable lyrical talent with their musical chutzpa. Oftentimes, the band’s ambient overtones, often illustrated in its love of the reverb knob during guitar riffs, unintentionally overshadows many a great poetic line. Nevertheless, in some blessed albeit rare occurances Everest manages to enhance the message behind the lyrics and subsequently elevate the songs’ meanings so that not just the words are metaphors, but the sound itself works on a metaphorical scale, too. “Reloader,” for instance, seems to reload itself instrumentally with each successive chorus, effectively building up the crescendo so that by the end you get thoroughly caught up in the rush of pure emotion.

While the epic name, Everest, may seem, if anything, a rather oxymoronic moniker for the band’s nuanced indie-meets-folk approach, the imagery of the album still manages to evokes a starry sky under which these songs could have very well been written and sung, huddling around the campfire in camaraderie.

For a freshman album, such a gentle and poignant effort will win over the hearts of many the Death Cab for Cutie lover. Yet some listeners, like myself, may yet yearn for more from this home-grown band. The band can go farther, reach greater peaks, if they tried. Everest’s first effort is a winsome prelude to a blossoming musical career, I just can’t wait to see the actual blossom.

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http://www.everestband.com/

However, there seems to be wavering indecision on the part of Gibbard; he doesn’t seem to know if he wants to go down a new trail of in-your-face rock or continue to experiment with the atmospheric tones his fans have come to appreciate. What would serve him well is the knowledge that “true” uniqueness, and subsequent edginess in his work, came not from trying to be in-your-face experimental; rather, Death Cab’s greatest gift was its subtlety. As such, Death Cab for Cutie delivers an album at once dazzling and disappointing, with a handful of tracks still able to reach into the listener’s heart and elevate, while another handful may leave the same listeners stone cold.

The album’s premier single “I Will Possess Your Heart” reminds us what was wonderful about Death Cab for Cutie in the first place (a reminder we’ll certainly need once we near the end of the album). This eight-and-a-half minute long song spends the first four minutes and thirty seconds as nothing but instrumental playfulness: you can practically hear Gibbard’s band-mates Chris Walla (guitar), Nicholas Harner (bass), and Jason McGerr (drums) work out their emotions (in this case, unrequited love) through their music. The effect is haunting and beautiful, and only intensified by Gibbard’s lyrics, the chorus “You’ve got to spend some time, love/You’ve got to spend some time with me” perhaps explaining the reason for the length of the single, an artistic self-indulgence that informs us this piece may have been written by and large for the members of Death Cab for Cutie with no conscious intention to please its now-massive audience.

Songs like “Cath…”, which tells the sad tale of a doomed bride marrying out of fear rather than love, contain such brilliantly simple yet powerful lines as “She holds a smile like someone would hold a crying child”; and the song “No Sunlight”, whose deliberate cheerfulness makes you grin and nod your head, no matter how bad your day has been. All this exemplifies Death Cab for Cutie’s uncanny ability to play its audience like puppets, still capable of twisting the strings of listeners’ hearts. Lucky for Death Cab for Cutie, we like being played.

The problems arise when Death Cab for Cutie aims less for the murky regions of the heart and more for the obvious. Songs such as “You Can Do Better Than Me,” “The Ice Is Getting Thinner,” “Your Twin Sized Bed,” and, really, most of the songs that end Narrow Stairs, veer from what Death Cab for Cutie listeners have come to respect. Certainly, any band’s sound should be encouraged to change and grow, but by the end of Narrow Stairs, this one’s sound began to feel like it was tailored more for mainstream consumption than being about the art. As a result, while the first half of album is, for the most part, a more mature twist on Death Cab for Cutie’s style, the band either threw in the towel before the last few songs or lost faith in its listeners along the way. By then, Gibbard throws his obvious metaphors in our face over and over again, an unpleasant effect amplified by the band’s strained attempt to sound more like a band we’d hear on mainstream radio and less like a song used as background for contemplation and self-discovery.

Thus, like Gibbard’s attempt, I must also leave the Narrow Stairs, ambivalent. Some songs are worth a re-listen, but if it comes to choosing between that album and its prior release, Transatlanticism, I would go with the latter. “This is the New Year,” and, sadly, I do feel different.

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http://www.deathcabforcutie.com

While the Submarines realize that yes, they too are experiencing their “honeysuckle weeks,” soon enough it’s inevitable that the sun might not shine as brightly, and those light weeks will give in to heavier years. Thus, each track is really an enchantment that lures you in through deceptively cheerful melodies while simultaneously conveying frightening—oftentimes harsh—truths about relationships. Take the track “Thorny Thicket,” whose exaggerated lines, “We tore the thicket down vine by vine/by naming each pain that had brought it to life/and then in the clearing two hearts undeceiving/no prickers no briars to upset our meeting only love” tells the tale of two lovebirds baring their souls and sharing their most painful secrets in an attempt to become closer.

The pervasive theme of newfound love in Honeysuckle Weeks comes as little surprise, as the album was conceived shortly after band mates Blake Hazard and John Dragonetti became an official couple. While you may think their blossoming relationship would be a distraction in the recording studio, the musical duo prove quite the opposite, utilizing their shared love to expand upon their earlier style, marked in their freshman album, Declare a New State! . Honeysuckle Weeks ’ experimental track “1940,” for example, is a perfect blend of The Submarines’ original pleasantness tempered with a darker, experimental beat. When listening to this song, it’s hard not to visualize, with lyrics such as, “Something’s wrong when you regret/Things that haven’t happened yet/It’s a curious day when morning comes/Without the feeling of alarm,” doubles as a twisted, haunting homage to depression—only tastefully played out at a 1940’s burlesque show.

Countering such neuroses, however, The Submarines also provide us with lighter love ballads, such as “Swimming Pool”, a track that perfectly conveys happiness—without the worry—upon the first exchange of “I Love You’s” with your soul mate. “When you kiss me in ways I’ve forgotten/Love is a swimming pool with no bottom.” Who cannot relate to an otherwise suburban metaphor? Sung with the help of The Submarines’ usual chimes and claps, we merrily accompany Hazard and Dragonetti’s romantic summer interlude.

All in all, Honeysuckle Weeks is more than just a well-crafted album. It’s the lyrical and melodic retelling of young romance, the rekindling of pleasant memories with just a tinge of sadness to keep the listeners in check. Their new release is the kind of album that will have you pining for love whilst set on repeat in the car stereo.

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http://www.thesubmarines.com/

While the opening title track of Water Curses does indeed accomplish what Animal Collective claims it sets out to do: “produce the sound of a smile,” more so “Water Curses” emotes the memories of a summer day in your early childhood, a sun-filled afternoon full of nothing but giggles (enter said smiles) and glee. This is accomplished by Animal Collective’s as-always bizarre use of synthesizer and sound effects, repeatedly replicating the sounds of both a bubble blower and a carousel in its upbeat melody, thus stealing the soundtrack of your most joyful youthful memories. This track, however, is unevenly followed by the annoyingly whiny “Street Flash,” which does not deserve more than this one sentence. The jewel of the Water Curses EP, if there really is one, would be “Cobwebs.” “Cobwebs” symbolizes what Animal Collective is all about—mixing the bizarre noises and beats of the every day with intense albeit archaic lyrics, only to create pure poetry. “Cobwebs” is gorgeous, worthy of Strawberry Jam , if only Strawberry Jam could have found room for it. While I am normally a fan of an album quitting while its ahead, “Cobwebs” is followed up by “Seal Eyeing,” a languid, ambient otherworldly tale that ends our high a mellow one. The track is nothing special, but it’s nothing terrible, allowing you to end the small and somewhat-mighty EP feeling as if you have gone on one short yet sweet journey. This certainly is nothing new for Animal Collective, as they always bestow their listeners with a listening-experience– not always sweet, definitely not always short, but an experience nonetheless.

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http://www.myanimalhome.net/