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| Band crush: Local Natives. |
Local Natives have recently entered my top five favourite bands (which I shall no doubt blog about at some point so be prepared). I recently purchased their album, recorded in 2008 to then be released in 2009, Gorilla Manor and found myself falling in love with their wonderful harmonies and their all over indie rock appeal. Who would've thought that an album that was named after and written in a house that they all lived in together could sound so beautiful? How they ever managed to find so much inspiration when they were forever confind to only a few rooms is beyond me. I guess talent must be on the tap for these guys.
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| Hard at work being rockstars. |
They originate from Silver Lake, Los Angeles and include the band memebers; Taylor Rice (who has the most INSANE mustache I have seen in years, reminiscent of Freddie Mercury's in fact), Kelcey Ayer, Ryan Hahn, Matt Frazier and Gabe Noel who is temporarily stepping as their bass player as their previous bass player, Andy Hamm, decided to part ways with the band. They came together during high school and eventually they managed to commit to the band full time and so, even though they had no manager or label to help them out, they managed to book their own gigs, create their own artwork and networked via blogging and so eventually they captured record executive's and the media's eye after gaining so much hype on the internet.
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| Album artwork for their debut album, Gorilla Manor, created by the band themselves. |
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| Looking very happy/exhausted after playing an arena gig. |
After the completion of their album the band went and played nine (yes, nine) shows at the 2009 SXSW which gained them many favourable reviews comparing them to the likes of Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire, Fleet Foxes and Grizzly bear just to name a few. Not bad for your first few reviews to compare you with the likes of those giants huh? Since the begining of 2011 they have been on their European Tour and I must say I am sincerely gutted I didn't discover them sooner as I have now missed the opportunity to see them for they have rolled in and out of the UK :'( Oh well, not to worry, they happened to announce at Loolapalooza that they are about to start recording their next album so I can see them perform even more songs on their next tour! YAY.
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| Contemplating ideas for future guitar riffs. |
So I would definitely recommend purchasing Gorilla Manor by Local Natives. I've had it on non-stop repeat ever since I bought it a month ago, so 1/12 of my year has been stolen by them, hehe, but I don't mind. Also, if you're strapped for cash and can't afford a whole album right this second, then I recommend you get one of these five singles which I believe to be the best on the album (in no particular order though, that's just too hard to choose).
1. World News
2. Wide Eyes (random fact: it was written about an acid trip ahaa)
3. Sun Hands
4. Cubism Dream
5. Camera Talk
Happy listening everybody and, btw, Taylor Rice is MINE.
