Here’s another neighborhood band to put on your music radar — hailing from just over Cypress Avenue in Ridgewood is Blues Control, the improv rock-noise duo of Russ Waterhouse and Lea Cho.

The pair recently opened for Animal Collective on January 20th at a sold-out Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom (Inauguration night… of course, you may have had other plans). And Blues Control’s free-form sonic swamp of guitar and keys drowned in effects were anything but an obvious choice to open the pop-focused Animal Collective show. “We’ve played a few shows like that — with Deerhunter, Fucked Up, Bill Callahan, etc.,” says Waterhouse. “It’s always interesting and challenging to play for an audience that may not know anything about us.”

The pair moved to Ridgewood about two-and-a-half years ago from Greenpoint because, Waterhouse says, “it was getting too expensive there. In Ridgewood, we can afford to live without roommates, but still work on music at home.” In addition to music, Cho works as a copy editor and Waterhouse temps to pay the bills and still allow for flexibility during tours.

Recently, the band released a 7-inch with the Sub Pop Singles Club, a subscription-only imprint that offers monthly recordings of bands that’ve included Tyvek, Black Mountain, Black Lips, and the Notwist. Blues Control’s “Snow Day” served as the club’s December offering. (The b-side, “Paul’s Winter Solstice,” is up on the Blues Control’s MySpace.)

On the horizon, the band has a few April shows, including one at Death By Audio on Sunday April 5th, with Brazilian funk rock Garotas Suecas. “We’re working on another, but nothing is set in stone yet,” Waterhouse says. “We’re taking it easy show-wise until we finish our record. We will be done with our record for Siltbreeze by the end of March, and it should come out this summer.”

The band also has plans to tour Europe in September (with Tropa Macaca), with a US/West Coast tour afterward. Which hopefully means a summer of local gigs.

In the meantime, check local shops (or mail-order from the Fusetron shop) for more Blues Control sounds. The group’s most recent full-length, Puff, was recorded at the Rear House, a studio on Bushwick Avenue near the Montrose L stop, and was re-released on CD last March.

Check out a preview track, “Tenku You,” from Blues Control’s upcoming album.