On Jan 25 ‘04, Courtney Taylor-Taylor (frontman of The Dandy Warhols) gave me the devil horns. Life was good.

At the ‘04 Sydney Big Day Out, I risked life and limb to press myself against the main stage barrier for the Dandy Warhols. Despite being a Dandies fan-girl from way back, I really only wanted to hear the very cynical and tongue-in-cheek I Am A Scientist, from their 4th album Welcome To The Monkey House. The band spent most of the set in a foggy haze of meandering tunes like Pete International Airport and Plan A. Screw that…

“Courtney! Courtney!!! Scientist!!! … play SCIENTIST!!! SCIIIIIENTIIIIIIST…”

He opened his eyes lazily… peered straight down at me from the smoky stage… shook his head… and slowly proceeded to give me the horns. Point of the story? None really… Just that they shoulda played Scientist and that us music nerds have simple pleasures.

Actual news: the album Welcome To The Monkey House opens with the claim “When Michael Jackson dies, we’re covering Blackbird“. And so they just did.

But in the meanwhile, they had something else on the burners… The Dandy Warhols Are Sound is the “director’s cut” of the original Monkey House album, but mixed by Russell Elavedo. Monkey House was co-produced by Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes – despite the Dandies originally intending to work with Elavado, the Grammy-winning soul mixing engineer who has worked with D’Angelo, The Roots, Common, and Alicia Keys.

So now The Dandy Warhols Are Sound will be released on August 7, in all its Elavedo glory. More versions of Scientist, wooooooo!

My main man Greg Gordon (Producer/Engineer/Mixer – Run-DMC/Public Enemy) said it well: “This might be the coolest record I’ve ever heard in my life!”