In the music industry, Dandy Warhols frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor is pretty notorious for being difficult to work with. Tales of bizarre musical tangents, entire albums being recorded and then rejected by the label for being unlistenable, and chaotic live shows gave the band a reputation, which was only enhanced by Taylor-Taylor's studied 'don't give a toss' attitude when they actually did manage to release something. Despite this, Taylor-Taylor and his band are widely recognised as having released some of the best indie pop of the past decade, and as almost single-handedly flying the psychedelic pop flag in the modern era.

Still, it was no surprise when the band decided to strike out on their own after being dropped from Capitol records after 2005's underrated "Odditorium or Warlords of Mars". Fans and critics alike held their breath, wondering what would happen to the band without the check of a cold heartless corporation keeping them at least somewhat on the straight and narrow. Thankfully, their first record since they've struck out on their own, "...Earth To The Dandy Warhols..." plays on their endearingly shambolic just enough to be interesting while avoiding becoming tiresome.

That said, this is still a record that would never ever have been released on a major label. Even the first track, 'The World The People Together (Come On)' for instance eschews actual listenable vocals in favour of a hazy, shimmering wall of sound in the mould of My Bloody Valentine. It's very effective, setting the tone for the rest of the album, and sounding almost unstructured, even though there is a strong beat in the background driving the song along. It's followed up with Mission Control, which swaps the guitars for 80s synth rock in the vein of "Welcome to the Monkey House", but lasting for just over two minutes, it's not overdone.

These initial tracks are nice and all, but it's not until you get to Wasp In The Lotus that things really start to heat up. Featuring a circling, processed guitar riff and vocals that have been distorted and deformed to all hell, it manages to perfectly encapsulate everything that made this band great in the first place. There's no grand plan or statement in the song, but its mixture of stoner rock, psych-pop and alternative garage rock absolutely hits the target.

The other song that everyone is talking about is Love Song, which features guest appearances from Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) and Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers). It's an absolutely gorgeous fusion of deep countrified acoustic rock and shimmering shoegaze elements, where the guest star's contributions are prominent enough to be noticeable if you listen closely, but subtle enough that they don't overpower the track; despite the unconventional (for this band) sound, it's still a Dandy Warhols piece right down to its core.

Remaining tracks never quite reach these heights again, but they're still varied and occasionally bizarre enough to make the second half of the album worth listening to. It's interesting that there are no obvious singles here, which is the most glaring indicator that there was no major label interference in the songwriting process, but the actual level of consistency is a lot higher than what the band has been able to manage in the past.

Time will tell if this is seen as the beginning of a rebirth for the Dandy Warhols or whether it's just a blip on the radar. Certainly, the distribution method for the album (fans can pay to "subscribe" for a year to the band, getting the album and some other goodies out of it) is an interesting way of doing things that really underscores how the traditional music distribution model is doomed. In the meantime, this album is not the mess that it could have been, and while it doesn't have any out and out hits that you'll hear on mainstream radio, it's got enough decent songs to be worth a listen.