This Machine (album)
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''This Machine'' is the eighth studio album by American
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band
The Dandy Warhols The Dandy Warhols are an American psychedelic rock, psychedelic/ band, formed in Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, in 1994 by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and guitarist Peter Holmström. They were later joined by keyboardist Zia Mc ...
. It was released on April 24, 2012, by record label
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. The album features a more stripped-down, laid-back style than much of the band's previous work.


Background and recording

While playing at
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
's
Enmore Theatre The Enmore Theatre is a theatre and entertainment venue in Enmore, New South Wales, Australia. It was built in 1908. It is located at 118–132 Enmore Road in Newtown, in the inner west of Sydney's suburbs. It was first opened in 1912 as a ph ...
in May 2011 as part of their 2011 Australian tour, lead singer
Courtney Taylor-Taylor Courtney A. Taylor (born July 20, 1967), 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 ...
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'', ''Shitty Shitty Band Band'' or ''Whirled Piece'' in blog posts on the band's official website). 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". ''This Machine'' was recorded between May and November 2011. The band collaborated with ex-
Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...
member
David J David John Haskins (born 24 April 1957, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England), better known as David J, is a British alternative rock musician, producer, and writer. He is the bassist for the gothic rock band Bauhaus (band), Bauhaus and for ...
on the track "The Autumn Carnival"; J co-wrote the song and supplied backing vocals and bass guitar to the track.


Release

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. A music video for the track "Sad Vacation" was released to
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
on April 20. ''This Machine'' was released on April 24, 2012.


Critical reception

The album has received a mixed response from critics. Benjamin Aspray of
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...
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 Nick Rhodes (born Nicholas James Bates; 8 June 1962) is an English keyboardist and producer, best known as a founding member and the keyboardist of the band Duran Duran. He has also been the only constant member of the group since their 1978 ...
version of ''
Welcome to the Monkey House ''Welcome to the Monkey House'' is a collection of 25 short stories written by Kurt Vonnegut, published by Delacorte in August 1968. The stories range from wartime epics to futuristic thrillers, given with satire and Vonnegut's unique edge. Th ...
''—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!"
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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 Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sl ...
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".
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
called it "an undistinguished slog of an album".
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, 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." Stephen Dalton in his review for the magazine ''
Classic Rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...
'' 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."


Track listing


Personnel

; The Dandy Warhols *
Courtney Taylor-Taylor Courtney A. Taylor (born July 20, 1967), 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 ...
– vocals and electric guitar * Peter Holmström – electric guitar and backing vocals *
Zia McCabe Zia McCabe (born Aimee Springer; June 2, 1975) is an American musician and realtor. She plays Keyboard instrument, keyboards, percussion and bass guitar, and is a member of American alternative rock band The Dandy Warhols. She is also a solo Disc ...
– keyboards *
Brent DeBoer Brent DeBoer is an American singer-songwriter from Portland, Oregon. He is in the bands The Dandy Warhols, Immigrant Union, and Super American Eagle and released a solo studio album, ''The Farmer'', in 2010. DeBoer now lives in Melbourne, Austr ...
– drums,
percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...
and backing vocals ; Additional personnel *
David J David John Haskins (born 24 April 1957, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England), better known as David J, is a British alternative rock musician, producer, and writer. He is the bassist for the gothic rock band Bauhaus (band), Bauhaus and for ...
– backing vocals and bass guitar on "The Autumn Carnival" * Steve Berlin – baritone saxophone on "16 Tons" * Kat Gardiner –
Theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named aft ...
on "Well They're Gone" * Daniel Lamb – trombone on "I Am Free" * Katie Presley – trumpet on "I Am Free" * Taylor Aglipay – tenor saxophone on "I Am Free" ; Technical * Tchad Blake – mixing * Jeremy Sherrer –
engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
at The Odditorium * Tim Johnston – Drums, backing vocals recorded at Coloursound Recording Studio,
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
,
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) * Mat Robins – engineering * Adam Ayan – mastering at Gateway Mastering,
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...
,
Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
* Sean Gothman – album design and layout * Hickory Mertasching – album cover painting * Dan Kivitka – album cover photography * Steve Birch – additional album cover production * Elliot Lee Hazel – sleeve band portraits


References


External links

*
Album information at Slabtown.net
{{Authority control The Dandy Warhols albums 2012 albums The End Records albums