Tulip Frenzy

Just as the 1964 Worlds Fair seemed so spanking new in its evocation of the future, only to leave Queens with rusting metal and anachronistic architecture, there once was a time the coolest thing on Earth was the collaboration between Brian Eno and Robert Fripp.  That was a long time ago now, and though aspects of No Pussyfooting and Evening Star are every bit as relevant today as they were in the late ’70s, it does seem like these were remnants from a prior age.  You can still hear Eno’s mid-Seventies run of classic art-pop echoed in the choruses of the New Pornographers and likeminded archaeologists, but Fripp not so much.  Until we stumbled across the albums by San Francisco’s Citay.

Thanks again to Uncut‘s samplers, we’ve been playing Citay’s two albums — Dream Get Together and Little Kingdom — on airplane flights and mornings when we can wake up on our own terms (listening to music, not rushing to work), and they’re pretty great.  Not simply instrumentals like the Fripp-Eno collaborations, they’re more like Eno albums with a strong Fripp presence.  In some cases, the dual guitar figures become so baroque and intertwined, the music is too rich, like trying to subsist on a diet of chocolate cake.  But if you, like me, wish that Eno was still making pop records on his own, or collaborating with his crimson king pal, you’ll love these ‘uns.