Odditorium Or Warlords Of Mars Review From RockBeatStone
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RockBeatStone
by Daniel Westerlund
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I would stretch my neck out and say that the Dandy Warhols have never made a bad album. Ever since their debut ‘Dandys Rule OK?’, an unsure yet intriguing affair, they have never produced a complete dud. Of course, they have never really made a truly great album either, although many would argue that ’13 Tales from Urban Bohemia’ more than satisfies this description. While there is doubt that they can write disturbingly catchy pop songs ‘Not if you were the last junkie on Earth’ and ‘Bohemian Like You’, this often detracts from that fact that this is one of the most extraordinary bands of the last 30 years. The mind boggles as to why they have been relatively neglected.
Their latest album was recorded in their studios in Portland in an art and recording space, built by the band, called ‘The House that Vodafone built’, or the ‘Odditorium’, if you prefer. The resulting album is, like all Dandys albums, a mixed affair. There are moments of sublime brilliance, there is a fantastic track that sounds it was written by the Rolling Stones in 1973, and there are a couple of forgettable ones. What makes this album different that past offerings, however, is the sensation of supreme confidence and self-belief that was never as present in the music before. They no longer hide behind the same hipster-irony that was a feature of their previous albums, opting instead for an exciting diversity. The typical Dandy Warhol sound is still the centrepiece, especially on the more epic tracks such ‘Love is the New Feel Awful’ and ‘Holding Me Up’, both of which are absolute gems of intelligent pop music, clocking in at 9mins 36 and 7mins 15 respectively.
Long gone are the forgettable parodies of their past, in favour of tracks like ‘All the Money or the Simple Life Honey’, which is without doubt the best track the Rolling Stones never wrote. Courtney Taylor-Taylor’s strut is positively believable, the arrangement is completely stripped down, which makes it even more conspicuous in the midst of the more lushly arranged tracks. It also serves to parallel the message of simplicity in the song’s title. While there is a sizable chunk of what some grumpier hacks may criticise as derivation, there are some real good-time rock and roll songs on this record, not least the Stooges-esque ‘Smoke It’, which is bound to get even the most cynical feet tapping.
Another highlight is definately the electro-influenced ‘Everyone Is Totally Insane’, which weaves between nuances of Talking Heads, Duran Duran and a whole tangled mess of other new wave bands who, like the Dandys, are just too cool for school. All this whilst never forgetting to rock. This debt to 80-electro is again expressed in the awesome album closer ‘A Loan Tonight’, whose 11.49mins are as close to perfection and dark electro pop since Depeche Mode. Although in all likelihood it will remain yet another underrated Dandy Warhols gem. Oh well, c’est la vie.
This is a band who have gotten older, and this is reflected in their lyricism as well as their overall sound. The humour is wry, rather than silly or toothlessly shocking, and this means that Oddotorium is not as easy to listen to as ‘Come Down’ for instance, but in the end the effort is rewarding. For all it’s playfulness, ‘Odditorium…’ is a tense, brilliant album, which sees the Dandy Warhols taking advantage of their relative artistic freedom to produce an album of rich textures and depth, the likes of which they have only touched on in previous work. A grand effort. But this is not the album that will elevate them to the greatness they so deserve.
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