The Dandy Warhols

By Spencer Patterson

Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008 | midnight

As music fans, we’re auto-conditioned to side with bands over labels whenever the two butt heads. The bands, we reason, create that which we love; at best, the labels simply mass-produce it.

It’s natural, then, to fault Capitol Records for the dramatic deterioration of once-nifty psychedelic rock group The Dandy Warhols. It was Capitol, after all, that rejected a finished record, Capitol that pushed for a radio-friendly sound and Capitol that abruptly cut bait, after, the Dandies assert, severe under-marketing of a final project.

It’s also possible that Capitol rejected the finished record because it paled next to previous work, that Capitol pushed for a radio-friendly sound because simple pop hooks were once the band’s forte and that Capitol cut bait because the final project, 2005’s Odditorium or Warlords of Mars, sucked major eggs and didn’t deserve to be marketed.

Sloshing through the excesses of … Earth to The Dandy Warhols …, the debut for the Portlanders’ new in-house imprint, it’s tough not to side with (gulp) label over band. Though a few worthwhile tracks—short-and-snappy rock tune “Mission Control,” drugged-out mood piece “And Then I Dreamt of Yes,” banjo-driven pop ditty “Love Song”—help it outclass Odditorium, it comes up well short of, say, 2000’s Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia. Distracting production techniques, unintentionally laughable lyrics and painfully unfettered, 15-minute closing cut “Musee D’Nougat” practically beg for a suit or two to pull the musicians back from the brink.

The bottom line:**1/2