Pryor Stroud: A new cut from the Dandy Warhol’s just-released Distortland, “You Are Killing Me” is a straightforward, chomp-rock ballad that glides forward with a spry Magnetic Fields-esque melody. In fact, Courtney Taylor-Taylor’s lyric here also bears traces of Stephin Merrit’s despondently affecting vocal style, and the track as a whole could be conceptualized as a B-side Merrit composition that the Dandy Warhols got their hands on and drenched in amplifiers. “You are killing me / And everything you love about me / You’re making it harder and harder and harder on me,” Taylor-Taylor drones over a chugging guitar line, assuming the role of a protagonist in one of Merrit’s tragicomic dramas: now, in the hands of Taylor-Taylor’s lover, the “Book of Love” has become a weapon used to bludgeon the very romantic who once contributed to its content. [7/10]
Emmanuel Elone: “You Are Killing Me” is a song that I should like. The chugging guitar riff, the grunge-inspired vocals, and a punchy drum groove are all great elements of a pop-rock song, but The Dandy Warhols don’t manage to fit all the pieces together well. The vocals are too lethargic to carry any energy or feeling, and the guitar and drums could be quite a bit heavier. Overall, “You Are Killing Me” isn’t a bad song, but it leaves a lot ot be desired. [5/10]
Chris Ingalls: The Dandy Warhols were a ’90s musical blind spot for me, so I have no frame of reference here. I will say that the song has a great power-pop feel to it (albeit a semi-gloomy one) and it fits in well with the current state of guitar-based indie rock. If you’re pining for the ’90s (or not), this is a welcome throwback to that era. But it works well on its own merits. [7/10]
Chad Miller: Seems to be about a dysfunctional relationship, but the way it’s portrayed in a lyrical sense doesn’t allow for a lot of relatability, nor does it seem like a very profound assessment of the situation. The music itself is slightly catchy, but it’s nothing special. Some dynamic changes would have been nice to combat this, but the song just seems scared to progress. [5/10]
SCORE: 6.00