The Dandy Warhols Are Sound Finally

When The Dandy Warhols entered the studio in late 2001 to begin working on the follow-up to the rather successful Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia, who knew the resulting album, Welcome To The Monkeyhouse, actually was first birthed as something rather different? Most of the songs were the same, yes, but the sequence was different, the mixes entirely altered.

When then Warhol home Capitol was given the finished product, titled The Dandy Warhols Are Sound, they were less than impressed. The mixes were given back to the band with instructions to remix it to make it more commercial. So the label went ahead and remixed it to make the Monkeyhouse we've all lived in for the past six years. But now that the Warhols are on their own, the world (outside of dire Warhols fans like myself who have had been circulating this for years) will finally get a chance to hear The Dandy Warhols Are Sound, the way we were supposed to hear it with alternate mixes and titles in some cases, when they drop it on July 14th.

I haven't listened to it in years, but I always remembered that version of "I Am Over It" being so much better. The drums not coming in until halfway through the song, this beautiful swells of acoustic guitars around it. It also features the closing noise of "Pete International Airport," previously unreleased until this Bastille Day.

The Dandy Warhols Are Sound, I think:
01 Burned
02 Scientist
03 We Used To Be Friends
04 The Last High
05 Wonderful You
06 Love Me Lovely
07 I Am Over It
08 Heavenly
09 Plan A
10 Hit Rock Bottom
11 I Am Sound
12 Insincere
13 Pete International Spaceport

Download: "Wonderful You" [mp3]

SIS The Best of 2008: Top 10 Songs

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Stranded in Stereo's Best of 2008! All week long here on the blog, we'll be celebrating the best in music and movies that 2008 has had to offer. While I'll be chiming in with my lists of albums, movies and songs, I've also got a few special guests presenting their lists in their own special posts along with you fine readers who have sent in their Top 10 lists for me to share with the world as well. I'm really excited to share all of this with you like you have no idea.

That being said, shall we get down to the first unveiling of the week?

Stranded in Stereo: Top 10 Songs of 2008

This year, there were a lot of songs that made an impression on me. I remember writing back in the summer how it seemed a theme in 2008 between the albums and songs that were really making the biggest impression on me were all about being on the side of brief and concise. Albums clocking in at around 30 or so minutes with songs sometimes barely clocking in at a minute were so catchy and hook-ladened that I just could not ignore them.

That is not the case with our pick for the coveted Song of the Year. Clocking in at nearly six minutes, "Welcome to the Third World" is not just the cornerstone of a rather amazing album, but also in the career of Portland, Oregon's own The Dandy Warhols. Taking a riff that's practically lifted from Blondie's Auto American competing with the slap bass of Nile Rodgers and Chic, Courtney Taylor-Taylor tells a precautionary tale of boys and girls the likes that Damon Albarn couldn't have ever written back in 1994. Congratulations to them and the rest of our winners:

01 "Welcome to the Third World" by The Dandy Warhols / ...Earth to the Dandy Warhols...
02 "Apple+Option+Fire" by Hot Lava / Lavaology
03 "Group Transport Hall" by Women / Women
04 "Two Ways Out" by Darker My Love / 2
05 "Sleepyhead" by Passion Pit / Chunk of Change
06 "White Winter Hymnal" by Fleet Foxes / Fleet Foxes
07 "Crystal Stilts" by Crystal Stilts / Crystal Stilts
08 "Teenagers" by Department of Eagles / In Ear Park
09 "Skeleton" by Abe Vigoda / Skeleton
10 "Are You Lightning?" by Nada Surf / Lucky

Like with last year, I give you the gift of Top 10 in a convenient zip file which you can download for a limited time only! Make sure you play this at least once at your New Year's parties, please.

Download: Stranded in Stereo's Top 10 Songs of 2008 [zip]

SIS At The Club: The Dandy Warhols

The Wilbur Theatre is located in the Theatre District in Downtown Boston, a block away from the Boston Commons. It's very glitzy on the inside; the carpeted floors and regal looking balcony and mezzanine would better house a traveling production of Annie Get Your Gun than a rock concert. But then, The Dandy Warhols, they came to town, and they transformed it from playhouse to rockhouse (or Monkeyhouse, if you wish to insert the word from their 2003 album, Welcome to the Monkeyhouse). And although, the soundsystem was very lack with only a row of speakers on each side of the stage, the Warhols seemed to make due for their two hour set.

Spanning almot their entire career, save for anything off of their 1995 debut, Dandys Rule OK?, the quartet surprised me when five songs in they performed "The Beast Of All Saints" from this year's magnum opus, ...Earth To The Dandy Warhols... T'was an interesting choice for a slowed up sonic rocker so early in the set, but people would soon get what they wanted. Gears were shifted quickly, though, as die hard fans and those only familiar with their larger hits were then treated to a one-two punch of "Bohemian Like You" and "Get Off" from 2000's breakthrough Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia. Head Warhol Courtney Taylor-Taylor had then taken a moment to greet the crowd, once again commenting on the lack of speakers, saying their sound man had said it would be a great place for banjos. "Love Song" would be played later, but without Taylor squared's diatribe about how Steve Martin wouldn't playng the twangy instrument, leaving them with Mike Campbell and Mark Knopfler instead.

It was halfway through when the funniest moment (at least to me, standing up in the front) had occured. Key bassist, keyboardist, and sexiest Warhol since 1994 Zia McCabe stepped off stage for a moment along with drummer Bret DeBoer while guitarist Pete Holmstrom held that sustained note that begins "Godless". And right when the song should've launched in, from sustained notes to guitar strums and tambourines, DeBoer was still missing, and a few chuckles came from the crowd and the band as the one known as Fathead, now complete with handlebar mustache, returned to the stage.

When the heavy rocking, seizure-inducing-from-strobe-lights-strobing "Wasp In The Lotus" was played, it was a fury. Heavy guitar licks melted and mixed perfectly with the harmonies of singing cousins DeBoer and Taylor-Taylor. And when they played that song, the one that made me the fan that I am and one they apparently 'had not played in a really long time' noted Taylor-Taylor ("Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth"), I just had a moment. McCabe and I made eye contact and she just smiled at me as I snapped a picture of her. They would then launch in to "Boys Better" before the we-don't-leave-the-stage encore of "Country Leaver" that was just the come down for the night. After two hours, the band was done and they left the stage, and we were left with memories.

As I left and headed back out in to the theatre district, I ran in to the band as they were talking to other fans. DeBoer talking about the sound, Taylor-Taylor snapping photos with fans, checking their cameras to make sure they were good enough to have, or he would just have to pose again. I ran in to Zia, and she declared "I smiled at you, yes! You just seemed so familiar. Had a good time?" Good time, I believe, was an understatement.




Set List:
Mohammed / We Used To Be Friends / Welcome To The Third World / Mission Control / The Beast Of All Saints / You Were The Last High / All The Money or The Simple Life Honey / Bohemian Like You / Get Off / Love Song / Godless / The New Country / And Them I Dreamt Of Yes / You Come In Burned / Good Morning / Now You Love Me / Wasp In The Lotus / The Last Of The Outlaw Truckers / Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth / Pete International Airport>Boys Better / Country Leaver

Read my interview with Zia McCabe here.

Download: "The Last Of The Outlaw Truckers" [mp3] // [Buy Here]

The Dandy Warhols: Earth to The Remix EP, Vol. 1

The Dandy Warhols new album has been available digitally for a few months now, and we're still a few weeks away from the physical release of ...Earth To The Dandy Warhols..., but the band is finally ready to drop something tangible on the public's greedy hands.

Being made available in select independent retailers tomorrow (select as in 400), Earth To The Remix EP Volume 1 is a free 4-track EP with exclusive remixes of Earth tracks from each member of the band. Check out what will take up 38 minutes of your day:

1. Come the Fuck On – A Peter Holmstrom/ Jeremy Sherrer Remix
2. The Monster Mish – A Taylor-Taylor / Jacob Portrait Remix
3. Welcome to the Skin-up Remix – Fathead / Jeremy Sherrer
4. Dub In The Lotus – A Zia McCabe / Jeremy Sherrer Remix Paul Brainard

So, be sure to grab that while your out doing your new music shopping tomorrow.  The band
is currently on the road in Europe and have mapped out their US tour that will take place in
September and October:

Sep 09 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue*
Sep 10 - Madison, WI @ Barrymore*
Sep 12 - Chicago, IL @ Vic Theater*
Sep 13 - Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus*
Sep 14 - Montreal, QC @ Club Soda*
Sep 16 - Boston, MA @ Wilbur Theatre*
Sep 17 - New York, NY @ Terminal 5*
Sep 20 - Philadelphia, PA @ TLA*
Sep 22 - Washington, DC @ 930 Club*
Sep 23 - Atlanta, GA @ The Center Stage Theater*
Sep 26 - Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall*
Sep 27 - Denver, CO @ Gothic Theater*
Sep 28 - Aspen, CO @ Belly Up*
Oct 01 - San Diego @ Belly Up
Oct 03 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern #
Oct 04 - San Francisco, CA @ Warfield %
Oct 05 - Portland, OR @ The Roseland Theater

All shows with the Upsidedown
*With Darker My Love
# With A Place to Bury Strangers
% With the Charlatans
^With Monstrous

Download: "The Legend Of The Last Of The Outlaw Truckers (AKA
The Ballad Of Sheriff Shorty)" [mp3] // [Buy Here]

New Dandy Warhols Video: "Mission Control"

The last two and a half weeks of my life have been consumed by this new Dandy Warhols record. It's their best album to date, and I hate to spoil what will be coming in a few weeks, but is ...Earth To The Dandy Warhols... my album of the year? I usually hate to have one of my all-time favorites take such a claim, but right now this is the one thing that has grabbed my attention more than anything. You know why? Because I wasn't looking forward to it. The live songs I found on YouTube last year did nothing to hold my interest, but now I can listen to this record from start to finish (ok, save for the last song, "Musee D'Nougat," 15 minutes of blubbering about candy bars? No thank you) and it's just great.

Anyway, I was trolling the internet last night and came across the video for "Mission Control" on their MySpace. Courtney Taylor-Taylor: is that a ponytail you are hiding back there? Anyway, the band's in outerspace, disclosing nicknames and classifying marriage information. And Zia McCabe hasn't looked any hotter.

(Video removed per request)

You can buy the album now via their subscription service which includes an automatic download of the album and a free poster and all that stuff I mentioned a while back. If you rather just wait and buy the CD at your local retailer, you can pick it up on August 19th. The band have a few Northwest dates booked later this month before they head over to Europe for the summer. A full scale US jaunt is scheduled for September.

06/17 Victoria, BC @ The Element
06/18 Vancouver, BC @ The Vogue Theatre
06/20 Seattle, WA @ Showbox
06/21 Portland, OR @ Roseland

...Earth To The Dandy Warhols...

Several months ago, The Dandy Warhols made their first hints at what was to come with their sixth album, ....Earth To The Dandy Warhols.... We were given teaser pimps on YouTube, showing the band at the studio, their guitars floating in outerspace, the soundtrack being provided by new songs from their latest offering. Each teaser ended with the album's title and today's date, May 5th, aka Cinco de Mayo. At midnight EST last night I sat hoping their website would give me something since they had been mum ever since then, so I went to bed thinking that the July 22 release date Wikipedia mentions was the new release date.

And then I woke up this morning, and aside from downloading that new Nine Inch Nails record (did Trent give you The Slip? Get it!? I hope I was the first to use that line -- more on this album later,) the Warhols website was totally revamped with a statement from the ... cosmos, let's say.

Earth is available today, in over 10,000 AMI jukeboxes around the US of A (and the rest of the world question mark.) Can someone locate me one of those here in Boston? If you lead me to a venue that has one of these and you care to sit and listen to the new album with me, the first round of Cinco de Mayo beers are on me. E-mail me for direct contact, please. If you can't track one of those down, the album will be available for purchase and download on May 19th, as part of a new subscription service that will also offering up new B-sides and live material.

Until then, they left us with only one parting gift - a free download of Earth's opening track, "The World The People Together (Come On)." It's pretty fresh if you ask me - hand claps, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and Courtney Taylor-squared's trademark falsetto adorn the near five-minute jam. I encourage repeated listens on headphones.

One place you can hear the new record today is at the album listening party the band is holding at 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco from 5 until 11 PM local time. Zia of topless bass playing fame will also be spinning records and the band will schmooze and drink with you. Have fun.

Download: "The World The People Together (Come On)" [here]