Stream the Local Natives in full

On Monday, Pitchfork bestowed the coveted designation of “Best New Music” on Los Angeles’ Local Natives, a well-deserved feat for this band I’ve been loving ever since they wooed me last summer with their propulsive melodies, joyful urgency, and clattery Simon & Garfunkel covers in the backyard.

The band just sent me this link for you to stream their whole album, and I think you should. “World News” remains one of the very best things I heard all of last year. Their debut full-length Gorilla Manor came out yesterday on Frenchkiss Records (The Hold Steady, Freelance Whales).

And this should be fun….

LOCAL NATIVES US TOUR
3/18-20 Austin, TX – SXSW (venues to be announced)
4/20 Tucson, AZ – Solar Culture
4/22 Dallas, TX – The Cavern
4/23 Austin, TX – Emo’s Inside
4/24 Houston, TX – Mango’s
4/26 Little Rock, AR – Sticky Fingerz Chicken Shack
4/27 Hattiesburg, MS – Thirsty Hippo
4/29 St. Augustine, FL – Cafe 11
4/30 Nashville, TN – The Basement
5/1 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
5/4 Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506
5/5 Washington, DC – DC 9
5/6 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
5/7 Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie
5/8 Allston, MA – Great Scott
5/11 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
5/12 Columbus, OH – The Basement
5/14 Chicago, IL – Schubas
5/15 Rock Island, IL – Rock Island Brewing Company
5/17 Minneapolis, MN – 400 Bar
5/18 Iowa City, IA – The Mill
5/19 Columbia, MO – Mojo’s
5/21 Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
5/22 Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
5/25 Spokane, WA – Empyrean
5/26 Boise, ID – Neurolux
5/27 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
5/28 Vancouver, BC – Media Club
5/30 The Gorge, WA – Sasquatch
6/3 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill

Let’s be Local Natives

I always take you guys’ suggestions to heart when you email me all giddy about a band you’ve just seen or stumbled across. So when three readers in one week emailed me about Silver Lake band Local Natives, I made sure to pay attention.

I haven’t had the privilege of seeing them live yet, but all three who wrote had just done precisely that, and raved about their energy and melody. Me, I love the clattery percussion and the summery sound. They boast “the charisma to tempt even the most despondent hipsters and shy concertgoers into dance machines,” which we can all admit the world needs more of.

Local Natives have been on tour with Blind Pilot (who we love) and will be heading out for a few dates with Of Montreal. They end the summer with a residency at LA’s Spaceland. The Heartbreak Tango blog wrote winningly that “If Arcade Fire and Grizzly Bear consoled their broken hearts in the corner of a dive bar, this is what it might sound like.”

Airplanes – Local Natives

I really super-dig the song “World News,” you can stream that one on their MySpace, and they have the Sun Hands single due out next week (hear that one here).

UPDATE: Holy mackerel. I was already planning to post this today and Matt Picasso just tripled my joy.

This cover is enough to make me immediately want to run away with these guys to faraway lands, or at the very least invite them to my next summer BBQ and give them many implements of percussion:

Cecilia (Simon & Garfunkel) – Local Natives

Ahh, that felt so good.

[photo by the luminous laurie scavo]