Customer Reviews

Gorilla Manor

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After hearing Local Natives play Los Angeles several times, I couldn't wait for Frenchkiss Records to release its USA version of Gorilla Manor next February, so I bought Infectious Records' EU version that dropped last month. (How ironic they've blown up huge in Europe and are still relatively unknown in the States!)

I have to thank a Brit called "The Wolf" for writing the following review of Gorilla Manor and Local Natives; The Wolf said it better than I could:

"Glorious Gorillas in Our Midst

Abso-blinkin-lutely loving this every-which-way. You're going to love it too. Promise.

As incandescent a bunch of songs as I've heard this year and there are a whole healthy dozen of them to be getting on with.

Local Natives hail from Silverlake, California, U.S.A.

They are Taylor Rice (guitar/vocals), Kelcey Ayer (keyboards/vocals), Ryan Hahn (guitar/vocals), Andy Hamm (bass) and Matt Frazier (drums) and together they make a distinctive and beautiful sound.

This is tricky stuff to pin-down so I'll leave it for someone more gifted in the realms of genre sub-divisions to fix this for us later.

What I found here transcends genre in so many ways.

It is BIG music. Heart-warming music. Enveloping and uplifting music. The melodies are complex and absorbing; the singing fresh and vividly alive. These young gentlemen are creating sounds of true substance!

You could plunge in anywhere really and be lifted up by the pure energy and enthusiasm of their committed performances.

Let me tell you about a few of these wonderful compositions.

'Camera Talk' manages to combine a viscerally raw rhythm, under-produced and untainted in the best possible way, with an intoxicating melody and delicious vocal harmonies.
The high-flying violin lifts the energy straight through the roof.

The spirit of CSN&Y lives on in 'Cards and Quarters'. Mr. Frazier's drums hold down a strong but simple beat around which the song unfolds in evermore complex layers. The last chiming chord hangs in the air like the aftertaste of a half-remembered dream.

There is a dream-like quality running through much of this album.

'Airplanes' is unquestionably one of the project's finest compositions. Good-humoured and uplifting in equal measure, I found myself completely (and willingly) swept away by the ensemble's prodigious musicality.

'Sun Hands' has so much passion it is at risk of spontaneously combusting and 'World News' is chock-full of a jolly kind of goodness rarely captured by any band in any time you might care to imagine. Joyful, rapturous stuff!

I'll shut up now !

It's good. It's very, very good ! It's the kind of music to make all of our lives just a little bit richer and more bearable.

(Oh Heck! Sorry I just can't help it.....'Shape Shifter' made just about every hair on my body - from nose to tail - stand to attention!)

I stumbled upon this truly inspiring little band entirely by accident.

Trust me on this one - it's glorious stuff !"

This album is right up there in terms of best debuts in recent years. It's a mixture of Fleet Foxes, Port O'Brien, and The Format all rolled into one. The vocal harmonies and the melodies are fantastic. The lyrics are creative and not cliched or trite like so many others. I'm not gonna write a full blown review but I felt Local Natives needed more love. I'd recommend this album to anyone who likes good music.

I'll admit, I'm an amateur. I've never written a review. I just wanted the opportunity to recommend this cd to anyone interested in good music. Very easy to listen to, (but certainly not "easy listening" music). Nice layers and textures both musically and vocally. Not usually a fan of covers but do take exception with the fantastic "Warning Sign"/Talking Heads cover. Hope to catch these guys on tour sometime in the near future. I have listened to this cd repeatedly over the past couple of weeks and it just keeps getting better.

Without creative musical ideas, you're merely a poet with an instrument; without good lyrics, you're merely a soloist with a microphone. Local Natives still have room for lyrical growth, which accounts for half of a song.

That said, let me wholeheartedly compliment their musical endeavors in Gorilla Manor. The drive, the cohesion of harmonies, the instrumentation, the distinct quality of sound: all commendable! Full chordal vocal harmonies are rare, and in that respect, Fleet Foxes are brought to mind in accompanying Local Natives in finding the fullest vocal sounds (harmonically). A melancholy, industrial, and full experimental sound exudes from this album.

In that respect, it would almost be far-reaching to assume this song or that is "the best" on the album. Every song is new! Every song contributes to the variety of this new sound! I will say, however, that pieces of songs such as "Cards & Quarters," "Shape Shifter," and "Who Knows Who Cares" are unexpected and appreciated breaks from the sometimes brash and monotonous drums that carry most of the album's moving, rhythmic sound. Some of the best moments on the album are without the tribal meandering of the drums. It could be argued that many songs share similar qualities, but I believe this to be an emerging consistency in the sound of Local Natives, not a lack of originality. We'll see with future material!

Back to lyrics. Let's be honest: lyrics play a large part (half) in making a song meaningful, relevant, and legitimate. I loved the album upon my first listening!... and then I listened to the lyrics. In that regard, Local Natives have room for experimenting with the connection between sound and lyrics, and that includes the rhythmic consideration of lyrics. For instance, "Airplanes" has the potential of moving every listener (okay, a stretch). But it makes me cringe to pay attention to the lyrics of this truly moving song. "Made of... made of... of wood" seems like such a powerful and climactic musical phrase, ruined by trite, unconnected thoughts. "Taught abroad... taught abroad... in Japan" follows this lyrical gem with hardly any relevance or rhyme, and it ruins what could have been such a moving lyrical thought. And there goes a third of the song already. It settles where it could have shined. Toward the middle of the song the lyrics include the word "encyclopedia" where perhaps two syllables should have gone. It reminds me of someone hopelessly ad-libing their improvised words to another tune. The trend continues in the track "Warning Sign." In this particular song the disappointing lyrics are "move my hair; move it around a lot; I don't care what I remember." Perhaps these lyrical shortcomings don't bother other listeners. To me, however, they scream inadequacy and inexperience. Luckily, the music is creative, engaging, driving, and skillfully executed. I'd be curious to find these lyrics accompanied with disappointing music; I doubt we'd have heard of the band. Local Natives are carried by their varying, original sound. In the coming years, I expect to find Local Natives with a larger audience after they find the emotional, rhythmic, and poetic nuances of their lyrics.

Another pandora-found masterpiece.

Ok, the masterful harmonies weaved into these tunes are disarming..... having an almost fleet-fox like chant feel at times. And suddenly you're getting kicked in the face with some simple, but perfect growling guitar, only to be immediately transported back to choir-boy harmonies. And I can't say enough about the drumming... was this guy's drum-teacher a pack of wolves??? At times his style seems to come from a lost dimension... (try to change the tune 'Sun hands' during the intro.... you can't)

Can't wait to see these guys down in Denver. Check out the u-tube videos too. They are just as good/better live.

I only heard about Local Natives a few months back, and now they are my favorite band. I would highly recommend this CD to any Indie Rock lover. It's ecclectic, peaceful, and insanely creative... I love it!

I just started seriously listening to rock music again after a long, long break (think 20 years) and I am amazed at the high quality of many "indie" rock bands putting out records today. This album may be my best find yet. I can only echo what everyone else has said about the beautiful music, vocals, lyrics. I don't know how old these guys are, but there is a certain innocent/trandscendent quality to this record (not to be confused with simplicity)that seems to capture the enthusiasm for life that people often have in early adulthood that can be hard to sustain. This is magical stuff, and like much great art, it makes me want to live more fully and intensely. Highly recommended. This deserves a wide audience.

Come Decemeber, this album will undoubtedly be on all the critics 'Top Albums of the Year' lists. Been listening to it all summer and still not sick of it. Great album through and through. Highly recommended.

There are quite a few reviews here that sum up how I feel about this album so all I can really add is that I just love it. I have not been able to stop listening to this album, start to finish, every song, for more than 3 weeks now. i try to listen to other but just come back to this ... it's just one of THOSE. Honestly they remind me in many sensibilities of The Shins but they sounds take the music to a level that I always found myself WISHING the Shins would go to. Driving rhythms are nearly always present at least by suggestion... full of energy... even the quiet ones simply vibrate. These words are ridiculous - just buy it now. It's one my favorite albums in years, period.

I like almost every song on this album. It's an excellent debut and similar as others have said to bands like Fleet Foxes. The best songs are Airplanes and Who Knows Who Cares; each song has wonderful harmonies and playful beats. Lyrics like "It sounds like we would of had a great deal to say to each other/I bet when I leave my body for the sky, the wait will be worth it," and "The most beautiful colors chase the sun/They wrap her trail/In a taunting gesture that seems to sing out loud" evoke strong emotions and images without feeling banal.

Listen to a few songs to get a feel, and I'm sure you'll find one if not more that tickle your ear. Check this album out because these guys will get big soon.