Dandy Warhols Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia (Capitol)

Dandy Warhols

Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia (Capitol)

Dandy vox populi Courtney Taylor-Taylor has both the chops and the cheekbones to rule the world, so why do the Dandys continue to play out their existence within the deadly wilderness of post-collegiate radio and M2? They're big in Europe, sure, but so is my dick. 1997's The Dandy Warhols Come Down..., with the achingly catchy "Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth," was a hooky little masterpiece that passed under pop radar like a Blur in the night. This new disc, admit-tedly, took some getting used to, with its smooth horns and Lock-Tite production, but it's now lodged in my CD player like a bad cold. Opener/ single "Godless" is all brass and pocket change, pure pop pleasure for wow people, sleek and chill and yummy, so cool it oughtta be required listening for Ob-Gyn waiting rooms. "Nietzsche" and "Cool Scene" are psychedelic rave-ups that make you want to be the last junkie on earth, and the sarcastic Byrdsian romp of "Bohemian Like You," with its "whoo-hoo-hoo" chorus and Pete Holstrom's sleazy riffs, is enough to make you go stock up on the oxblood pegged pleather trousers. Taylor-Taylor channels both Velvets-era Lou Reed and unfiltered Luckys this time out, and the result is a deadpan coup, improbably gorgeous, a gooey slice of Portland boho slackadelia, horns and all.

(The Dandy Warhols play the Mercury on Tuesday, Nov. 14.)