| This Machine | ||||
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| Released | April 24, 2012 | |||
| Recorded | May–November 2011 | |||
| Genre | Neo-psychedelia | |||
| Length | 43:02 | |||
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| Producer |
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| The Dandy Warhols chronology | ||||
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| Singles from This Machine | ||||
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This Machine is the eighth studio album by American rock band The Dandy Warhols. It was released on April 24, 2012, by record label The End. The album features a more stripped-down, laid-back style than much of the band's previous work.
While playing at Sydney's Enmore Theatre in May 2011 as part of their 2011 Australian tour, lead singer Courtney Taylor-Taylor announced the new album would be titled This Machine and is to be released in February 2012 (Taylor-Taylor had previously jokingly announced it as The Pastor of Muppets, [1] Shitty Shitty Band Band [2] or Whirled Piece [3] in blog posts on the band's official website). [4] On the same tour, the band debuted two new songs which would later appear on the album, "Seti vs. the Wow! Signal" and "Rest Your Head". [5]
This Machine was recorded between May and November 2011.
The band collaborated with ex-Bauhaus member David J on the track "The Autumn Carnival"; J co-wrote the song and supplied backing vocals and bass guitar to the track.
The band announced the release of the album's first single, "Well They're Gone", on their website on March 1, 2012, allowing visitors to download the track for free after entering their email address. [6] A music video for the track "Sad Vacation" was released to YouTube on April 20.
This Machine was released on April 24, 2012.
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 50/100 [7] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [8] |
| The A.V. Club | D [9] |
| Robert Christgau |  [10] |
| Classic Rock |   [11] |
| Consequence of Sound | [12] |
| Pitchfork | 5.1/10 [13] |
| PopMatters | 4/10 [14] |
The album has received a mixed response from critics. [7] Benjamin Aspray of PopMatters wrote "Like reformed alcoholics who were more fun when they drank, This Machine is alternately sullen and unconvincingly earnest, and inoffensive to a fault. [...] As the appropriately titled The Dandy Warhols Are Sound —the pre-Nick Rhodes version of Welcome to the Monkey House —made abundantly clear, a stripping down does not become them. They're an object lesson in self-conscious style as substance, and that's the fun of it!" Pitchfork gave it a 5.1/10 grade, their highest rating for a Dandy Warhols since 1997's ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down , calling it "the most sober Dandy Warhols album to date, reining in the stoner rock sprawl, the curled-lip snark and bad puns endemic to so many Dandys releases", but "an all-too-fitting descriptor of a band going through the motions", commenting that frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor "just sounds bored". [13] The A.V. Club called it "an undistinguished slog of an album". [9]
AllMusic, on the other hand, gave it a positive review, writing "It's the closest the band has come yet to something genuinely uplifting and irony-free – no small feat for these tongue-in-cheek provocateurs, but This Machine suggests that the Dandy Warhols are actually improving with age, which is an even bigger accomplishment." [8] Stephen Dalton in his review for the magazine Classic Rock writes that the band sounds "refreshed and rebooted" and the album "is possibly their best yet", despite ultimately being "a triumph of inventive arrangements and lush production over songwriting." [11]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sad Vacation" | Brent DeBoer, Courtney Taylor-Taylor | 4:27 |
| 2. | "The Autumn Carnival" | Taylor-Taylor, David J | 4:00 |
| 3. | "Enjoy Yourself" | Taylor-Taylor | 3:01 |
| 4. | "Alternative Power to the People" | DeBoer, Taylor-Taylor | 2:45 |
| 5. | "Well They're Gone" | Taylor-Taylor | 4:15 |
| 6. | "Rest Your Head" | Taylor-Taylor, Miles Zuniga | 4:12 |
| 7. | "16 Tons" (Merle Travis cover) | Merle Travis | 2:08 |
| 8. | "I Am Free" | Taylor-Taylor | 4:07 |
| 9. | "Seti vs. the Wow! Signal" | Taylor-Taylor | 3:17 |
| 10. | "Don't Shoot She Cried" | DeBoer, Zia McCabe | 5:53 |
| 11. | "Slide" | DeBoer | 4:57 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12. | "Kiss Off" (Violent Femmes cover) | Gordon Gano | 2:51 |
The Dandy Warhols are an American alternative rock band, formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1994 by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and guitarist Peter Holmström. They were later joined by keyboardist Zia McCabe and drummer Eric Hedford. Hedford left in 1998 and was replaced by Taylor-Taylor's cousin Brent DeBoer. The band's name is a play on the name of American pop artist Andy Warhol.
Dandys Rule OK is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band The Dandy Warhols, recorded from 1994 to 1995 and released on 6 April 1995 by Tim/Kerr Records.
...The Dandy Warhols Come Down is the second studio album by American rock band The Dandy Warhols. It was released on July 15, 1997, by Capitol.
Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia is the third album by American rock band The Dandy Warhols, released on June 12, 2000, through record label Capitol.
Welcome to the Monkey House is the fourth studio album by American rock band The Dandy Warhols. The album was recorded between September 2001 and December 2002, and released on May 5, 2003 through record label Capitol.
Odditorium or Warlords of Mars is the fifth studio album by American rock band The Dandy Warhols. It was recorded from April 2004 to January 2005 in the band's own Odditorium studio, and was released on September 13, 2005, through Capitol Records; their final album before parting ways with the label.
Courtney A. Taylor, known as Courtney Taylor-Taylor, is an American singer-songwriter from Portland, Oregon. He is the lead singer and guitarist of alternative rock band The Dandy Warhols, a band he co-founded. Taylor-Taylor has written the majority of the band's songs.
"Bohemian Like You" is a song by American alternative rock band the Dandy Warhols. The song was written by frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor after seeing a woman pull up in her car to the traffic lights outside his apartment. It was released as the second single from the band's third studio album, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, on July 11, 2000.
Dirty Projectors is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002. The band is the project of singer-songwriter David Longstreth, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The band's current line-up consists of Longstreth, alongside Mike Daniel Johnson (drums), Maia Friedman, Felicia Douglass and Kristin Slipp.
...Earth to the Dandy Warhols... is the sixth studio album by American rock band The Dandy Warhols. It was recorded in 2008 and released on May 19, 2008, the first album released on their self-founded Beat the World Records label after leaving Capitol Records in 2007.
Wavves is an American rock band based in San Diego, California. Formed in 2008 by singer-songwriter Nathan Williams, the band also features Alex Gates, Stephen Pope and Ross Traver.
The Dandy Warhols Are Sound is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock band The Dandy Warhols. It is the original mix of the band's 2003 album Welcome to the Monkey House, by Grammy Award-winning soul music mixing engineer Russell Elevado. It was released on July 14, 2009, through the band's own label Beat the World Records.
The Capitol Years 1995–2007 is a greatest hits album by American alternative rock band the Dandy Warhols. It was released in the UK on July 19, 2010, and in the United States on August 24, 2010. It comprises their years with Capitol Records, before the band left the label and started their own, Beat the World. It also features one original composition, "This Is the Tide," for which three different music videos were produced.
"Plan A" is a song by American rock band The Dandy Warhols. It was released as the third single from their fourth studio album, Welcome to the Monkey House, on 24 November 2003. It peaked at No. 66 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Get Off" is a song by American rock band The Dandy Warhols. It was released in 2000 as the first single from their third studio album, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, and was re-released in 2002.
The Black Album / Come On Feel The Dandy Warhols is a 2004 double album released by American alternative band, The Dandy Warhols. The two-disc set was released on their own Beat the World Records label. Initially, the album was only available to purchase through the band's website. It is now available to own via other sources.
Courtney Melba Barnett is an Australian singer, songwriter, and musician. Known for her deadpan singing style and witty, rambling lyrics, she attracted attention with the release of her debut EP I've Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris in 2012. International interest came with the release of her EP The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas in 2013.
Beat the World Records is a record label founded by The Dandy Warhols in Portland, Oregon, in 2008.
"Norway" is a song by American dream pop band Beach House, from their third studio album, Teen Dream. The song was released on January 18, 2010, with "Baby" as its B-side. The song was released as a free download on the band's site on November 17, 2009, before its commercial release.
Distortland is the ninth studio album by American alternative rock band The Dandy Warhols, released on April 8, 2016 by record label Dine Alone.
