#9 on the 2010 Musical Bacon Calendar

I first caught the Local Natives bug at day 2 of Sasquatch. They played near the beginning of the day, and I remember being blown away by the sheer number of people there to see them, considering Gorilla Manor, their excellent debut album, was only a couple months old. (Incidentally, they were followed by a second happy surprise of the day, the Tallest Man on Earth, who has already made an appearance on this countdown.)

Gorilla Manor is an album that is solid from start to finish. With a blend of three-part harmonies, keyboards and guitars, with a little tribal drums to fill it out, you’ll recognize similar sounds from other bands, like Yeasayer and Animal Collective. The band does stand on its own, and it’ll be interesting to see what they do next.

A fun little side note is this performance they did back in August for Yours Truly, one of a handful of indie–rock-based video crews out there making good clips of great songs. The Yours Truly recording of the Local Natives’ “Airplane” (official video featured above, but do check out this live version) features crime fighting as well as good music.

Halfway through the first take of “Airplanes,” the piercing sound of female screaming reached our ears from the sidewalk below the railroad tracks. There was a scuffle, at first I thought it was just kids fighting, but when I heard the girl scream, “NO, STOP!” I just took off running. Team YT does not tolerate crime, ESPECIALLY in the middle of a take, so we did what any average citizen would do and chased that motherfucker down. Luckily, he was slow, and not very smart, so we caught him, and received a hero’s welcome from our Local homies. The best part of the whole thing, our reward so to speak, was hearing them play “Airplanes.”

Good stuff, all around.

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10. The Head and the Heart by the Head and the Heart
11. Special Affections by Diamond Rings
12. Treats by Sleigh Bells
13. Write About Love by Belle & Sebastian
14. Wild Smile by Suckers
15. Learning by Perfume Genius
16. Forgiveness Rock Record by Broken Social Scene
17. Expo 86 by Wolf Parade
18. One Life Stand by Hot Chip
19. Big Echo by The Morning Benders
20. Here’s To Taking It Easy by Phosphorescent
21. This is Happening by LCD Soundsystem
22. The Mistress by Yellow Ostrich
23. Halcyon Digest by Deerhunter
24. Been Listening by Johnny Flynn
25. The Wild Hunt by The Tallest Man on Earth
26. Lisbon by The Walkmen
27. Scratch My Back by Peter Gabriel
28. All Day by Girl Talk
29. A Storm – A Tree – My Mother’s Head by Bobby Bare Jr.
30. 03 to TEN by Knathan Ryan
31. In This Light On This Evening by Editors