The Dandy Warhols: Why You So Crazy (Dine Alone) Review

The Dandy Warhols

Why You So Crazy

Dine Alone

Jan 28, 2019 Web Exclusive By Timothy Michalik

The neo-psychedelic hijinks of The Dandy Warhols is an unexpected return in the year 2019. The veteran Portland four-piece, still fixated on tribute-esque psychedelic rock, has forged a sharper, more cohesive musical output on their latest album, Why You So Crazy.

Caught within a bizarre cultural shift in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, The Dandy Warhols found themselves the subject of a 2004 documentary—alongside “fellow” psych-fetishists The Brian Jonestown Massacre—Dig! They wrote songs called “Nietzsche,” “Big Indian,” “Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth,” and “Cool as Kim Deal” while other, even less fortunate song titles include “You Were the Last High” and “Hit Rock Bottom.” They wanted to be rock stars, badly—almost unapologetically so—and they fought and made up and drama ensued. But they were still a strangely enticing band from—besides the drama, press, and documentary—their sometimes interesting records.

Which brings us to Why You So Crazy—this album is, surprisingly, a steady, droning psychedelic experience. The Warhol’s fascination for structural excess and cringe-y song titles has disappeared, and a refreshed, glowing band has surfaced, proving so on the sparse “Thee Elegant Bum,” the sharply droning “Terraform,” and the lo-fi singer/songwriter “Sins Are Forgiven.” Other semi-highlights, such as the menacing “To the Church” and “Forever” are fairly enjoyable on a surface level, but repeated plays will leave you desiring less and less of these aging psych-rockers.

Is it better to burn out than to fade away? With The Dandy Warhol’s Why You So Crazy, fading away seems like the only option. (www.dandywarhols.com)

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