Can The Dandy Warhols ever go wrong, really. Listening to the new offering from these indie greats, This Machine, is like coming home to a hot chocolate and a comfy couch with a bum groove in it on a winter’s evening – my fancy way of saying, the awesomeness you would expect of The Dandy Warhols is what you get on this album. After 18 years together, The Dandy Warhols have a knack for keeping their music current while not diverging from their core sound too much, which may be a relief for hardcore fans, and may be slightly unexciting for others.
This Machine’s opener, Sad Vacation, is a decent introduction to their new collection. It has a real 90’s grungy vibe and immediately gets you toe tapping.
Enjoy Yourself is such a playful track and when you buy this album and listen to it, ask yourself if you can almost hear a hint of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in the music. The vocals are almost theatrical and I really couldn’t get the image of Tim Curry in fishnets and red stilletos singing and dancing about out of my head whilst listening to it.
Alternative Power To The People sounds somewhat experimental. Twisted and drowned out vocals accompany this mostly instrumental track, but it has an energetic beat and an interesting and kooky sound, and therefore gets my thumbs up.
Well They’re Gone is my favourite track on This Machine. In talking about this track, Dandy Warhol lead vocalist Courtney Taylor-Taylor explains: “Falling in love is easy. Seems to not require any strength at all…”. The lyrics are certainly deep and melancholy, the music on this track is almost gypsy-like with a hint of accordion, and the music slow, dreamy and beautiful.
Classic Dandy Warhol melody and head-nodding affect is alive and well in Rest Your Head. The lyrics are uncomplicated and it’s an easy track to just enjoy for what it is, without having to think too much about obscure or metaphorical lyrics.
16 Tons is another of the unique and playful-sounding tracks with a definite roots/cowboy-esque vibe. Almost enough to make you want to start line dancing on a bar top. Yeeha.
This Machine is a neat little package of eclectic tracks from The Dandy Warhols that should leave fans happily satisfied. The band experiment slightly with some theatrical sound, which gives the album a definite fun, fresh and unique twist.
