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.