Fandom: Local Natives on Damon Albarn

(Local Natives have been an hugely important part of the LA music scene over the last few years. They’re hard at work on their 3rd album and will headline the first night of the Way Over Yonder festival THIS Friday at the Santa Monica Pier.)

From vocalist/keyboardist Kelcey Ayer:

Kelcey is the daring one in the middle!

“Damon Albarn is one of those people who makes you feel that, as hard as you’re working, you’re not working hard enough.

From Blur and Gorillaz, to one-album projects like The Good, The Bad & The Queen, plus his many collaborations — most recently with Tony Allen, Flea, and Bobby Womack — he is such a prolific creator of all different styles of music.

And despite whatever genre he’s tackling, his master-sense of melody is always there: never over-laboured, and always simple.

On top of all that, he has one of the most effortlessly beautiful voices I’ve ever heard.

Honestly, he just makes me want to throw in the towel. Fuck it, I’m throwing in the towel. It’s done. Tell everyone for me?

Wait… Wait… Ok, just took a breath. I’m good now. That was close.

The song I’ve picked is one he wrote with The Good, The Bad & The Queen, called “Kingdom of Doom“.

This comes from their self-titled album released in 2007, and it’s the only album they’ve made, which I think is criminal because of how good they seem to be together.

It’s Albarn, the guitarist of The Verve, the bassist of The Clash, and Tony Allen on drums, and the combination makes some pretty dubby, dark, dreamy songs that get stuck in your head.

This song is the one that I kept humming all last year when I was really digging into this whole album.

Please enjoy, and stay positive: if we all join together, maybe we can make more music than him… that son of a bitch…