The Dandy Warhols, ‘Sad Vacation’

Considering the wave of grunge nostalgia that overtook rock music in the last year -- appropriate, considering both Nirvana's 'Nevermind' and Pearl Jam's 'Ten' celebrated milestone anniversaries -- it's equally appropriate that the Dandy Warhols display their Pacific Northwest roots on their latest album, 'This Machine.' The Dandys were never big on grunge to begin with -- their sound always swayed a little more neo-psychedelic pop than Seattle sound -- but 'Sad Vacation' proves frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor and the band can crank out power chords with the best of them.

And that's just the beginning. Kicking off with a repetitive fuzz-bass progression and up-tempo beats, 'Sad Vacation' does sound absolutely grungy -- but soon finds itself being dragged out into sprawling psych-rock territory, where loud-soft dynamics are replaced by a steady diet of more rock. Think of 'Sad Vacation' as the sonic median between grunge and psych-pop.

Drummer Brent DeBoer, who penned the tune with help from Taylor-Taylor, tells Diffuser.fm, "'Sad Vacation' is a song I wrote about 10 years ago when I was living in the rock dorm in Portland, [Ore.]. It was a rough patch in my life where I was struggling in a relationship that was going south."

"It was a riff I had recorded, and after it sat for a few months, one night after leaving the bar I went home and plugged a mic in and basically sang it in one go," he continues. "It's nice to finally have a proper recording of it, and it's nice to have an amazing songwriter like Courtney help me dial in the lyrics to tighten it up. I'm hoping to hear it someday in a smoke and strobe light filled basement night club in East Berlin."

We're hoping to hear it there, too. In the meantime, download it for free below -- and crank it to 11! Even Kurt Cobain would've wanted it that way.