There\u2019s nothing stupid about the music of Los Angeles quintet Dummy, though it might leave a listener a little stupefied. The band makes no bones about what they\u2019re building, splitting the difference between the sweet, steady analog pulse of Cluster and Harmonia, and The Velvet Underground\u2019s warm, welcoming wall of jangling guitars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a formula that\u2019s familiar enough. In fact, \u201cSlacker Mask\u201d could pass for a Stereolab outtake, at least until it erupts into a squall of distortion in its final lap. The extended closing track \u201cTouch the Chimes\u201d, meanwhile, is unadulterated kosmische content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thing is, Dummy wasn\u2019t born out of a gritty basement bar in West Berlin, nor some bat-cave of a loft in New York City. These are coastal California kids, and the longstanding local tradition of hazy, sun-dappled psych-pop carries through into these pieces, imbuing them with charm and colour uncommon among the efforts of their contemporaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n