The Thousands

Wigging, frontiers-wide and triple-smoked instrumental brilliance from New York-defectors Blues Control on their third and most accessible album to date, Local Flavor (sic). While second passes at the best of exploratory music from the 70s is mode default for American bands right now – Wooden Ships, Endless Boogie, Emeralds – this Virginia duo go further with the notion of Eno’s best German work (specifically Bowie’s ‘Warszawa‘) than you’d believe possible: compressing its reedy sci-fi tones with the lessons of today’s underground pop; anti-ostentation, pummelling repetition and deliberate mis-registration of signature historical sounds.**Which is to say Local Flavor does and doesn’t sound nostalgic, and does and doesn’t sound wildly futuristic at the same time. ‘Good Morning’ starts with a drum track on Walkman cassette, classic ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ piano part and some millionth-copy guitar riff before everything’s enveloped in echo, cascading horns and an indescribable gurgle. ‘Tangiers’ is rhythmically baffling and transforms the pan-voice MIDI patch used on the Rugrats theme into something beautiful, and sixteen-minute ‘On Through the Night’ carries out the record with hymnal keyboard, jetstream harmonica and heavyguitar Frippertronics. 2020 country dawn irregular dream tunes.