The Dandy Warhols

Their wacky name made people think the Dandy Warhols were a hipster novelty act when they first appeared in the mid-'90s -- an impression reinforced by titles like "Lou Weed," from their 1995 indie debut album, and "Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth," their first single for Capitol, two years later. It soon became apparent that the Portland, OR-based quartet wasn't a joke, though leadman Courtney Taylor (or Taylor-Taylor, as he later renamed himself) purveys a distinctive brand of irony-laced humor, which is part of the Dandys' recipe. First album Dandys Rule OK? establishes a tone of subterranean artiness that draws in equal measure from the dry-ice cool of the Velvet Underground and the droning space-rock of the Byrds -- along with a touch of the Cars in their use of loopy analog-synth lines (provided by producer Tony Lash), but it's the style, not the material, that leaves the deeper impression. While much of the subsequent Come Down seems obscured under a layer of psychedelic haze, the momentum and wit of "Last Junkie" and "Cool as Kim Deal" burst through the murk, setting the stage for the band's strongest album, 2000's Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia. Here, the spaghetti Western soundscapes of "Godless" and "Mohammed" and the rock-symphonic "Nietzsche" combine to form a mesmerizing 16-minute opening suite, clearing the air for the signature tracks "Get Off," "Cool Scene," and -- best of all -- "Bohemian Like You," which combines a particularly wry sociocultural vignette with what may be the most muscular Stones guitar riff of the last 20 years. If Bohemia is a total delight, Welcome to the Monkey House is at best an intermittent one. The premise is pure Taylor-Taylor: He brought in Duran Duran synthesist Nick Rhodes to play on and produce the album, which re-creates the robotic feel of '80s synth pop in such a way that it's unclear whether the move is a send-up or an homage. Most of the tracks seem stuck between the two extremes, the exceptions being the killer single "We Used to Be Friends" and "You Were the Last High," which comes across with the world-weary romanticism of Roxy Music circa Country Life. The Dandy Warhols are a heady band, to be sure, but it remains to be seen whether they turn out to be an important one. (BUD SCOPPA)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide