The Dandy Warhols: Earth To The Dandy Warhols

Once, The Dandy Warhols was a workmanlike,

enjoyably cynical rock band with one reliably catchy novelty single per

release. But relentless tweaking annoyed many people away; any would-be vegan

waiters probably checked out after the deadly accurate "Bohemian Like You."

Being outed as "inauthentic" by The Brian Jonestown Massacre in the documentary

Dig!—something that should've been obvious all

along—seems to have thoroughly unnerved them. 2005's Odditorium, token single aside, was

a droning mess, and Earth To The Dandy Warhols doesn't even offer the

comfort of a solid single. The jokes fall flat these days: The last three

minutes of "Valerie Yum" consists mostly of "yum yum yum yum" repeated ad

infinitum. Guitars roar like stoned elephants, repeating the same chords with

little variation. When they do stretch, it's hard to see the point: "Welcome To

The Third World" is technically on-point disco funk, but the satirical point of

a song about a failed chat-up line ("Why don't we go back to my place so we can

talk about Dostoyevsky") is a little too obvious. Clubs are vapid, girls like

money—got it. With far less fanfare than Radiohead or Nine Inch Nails,

the Warhols aren't just recording themselves now, they're self-distributing, so

take this as their uncut vision. They were better as clever corporate whores.