Album Preview: Local Natives “Gorilla Manor”

Anyone who knows me personally has already gotten an earful about the Local Natives. Their self-funded album “Gorilla Manor,” produced by the excellent Raymond Richards here in LA, maintains everything I love about their live shows – a controlled ruckus filled with passionate percussion and beautiful melodies. These guys seems like brothers – both on stage and off – and their mutual admiration and collaborative spirit lifts their music to new heights. I put this CD on my best of ’09 list because I was lucky enough to have them burn me a copy, but I expect it to top a lot of ’10 lists now that it is finally getting a stateside release via French Kiss records. Even though they are from LA, they got distribution in Europe first and they are currently touring there right now.

Check out KCRW’s album preview of Local Native’s “Gorilla Manor” streaming on-demand for 30 days, from today until Tuesday 3/2/10.

RR