Local Natives - Gorilla Manor

Another one of my big supporters has always been my partner in crime, Heidi. And it doesn't happen super often, but once in a while she'll drop me a band she's grooving on and wants to get my input on them. Well, this is coming much later than I'm sure she wanted, but here goes nothing. Local Natives are an indie rock band based out of Los Angeles, California. This album dropped in the United Kingdom in November of 2009 - but didn't make it's way across the pond until nearly March of 2010. The band mates knew each other from high school - and then they went on to attend UCLA together as well. They 100% self funded this album, which is super cool. That means you have the five members jamming away - and not putting anything out that doesn't pass their standards. The album is named after a house they stayed at in Orange County, with a pretty neat backstory: "It was insanely messy and there were always friends over knocking around on guitars or our thrift store piano. It was an incredible experience and I’ll never forget that time." Love band stories like that. In terms of sheer style, I have no idea what I'd call this. Almost every track seems to be a three part harmony, which for some reason I'm finding super cool. It's somewhat uptempo, yet still really chilled out - which is an odd paradigm. I think these guys have merely scratched the surface for what they're capable of. But this is still a really worth while album. Fun listen. The whole thing kind of runs together into something beyond my words. This is a great "get you into the weekend" type of record, so please, check it out.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Wide Eyes
2. Airplanes
3. Sun Hands
4. World News
5. Shape Shifter
6. Camera Talk
7. Cards & Quarters
8. Warning Sign
9. Who Know Who Cares
10. Cubism Dream
11. Stranger Things
12. Sticky Thread

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Wide Eyes
2. Warning Sign
3. Airplanes

FINAL RATING:
4 out of 5 stars