As I vehemently discussed at the #FoJ lodge during the wee hours of 2010, if humanity ended this year the alien civilizations that discovered our legacy would rapidly conclude that  the best thing our species had done was music. After I said that I realized that I don’t talk about the music I listen to enough. So, my 2010 blogging resolution is to write about my favorite albums and tracks at least twice a month. You can always see what I’m listening to at last.fm but I’ll use these blog posts to highlight the vibrations occupying the majority of my aural real estate.

With that being said,

Local Natives – Gorilla Manor

Download this album!

The Local Natives are one of my Los Angeles trifecta, a trio of three awesome bands from the city I hate so much. The other two, Fool’s Gold and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros have been on my playlists for a while but a KEXP Song of the Day of the Natives turned my attention to Sun Hands. They sound like a more rockin’ version of the Fleet Foxes with equally apt overlaying melodies and echo-laden lyrics. When I went to see Edward Sharpe at the Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver the Natives took the stage first to my surprise. After their set, lead vocalist Taylor Rice apologized for not bringing enough copies of their album to the show… the only solution was that fans in the crowd should download their album. I agreed with his logic. Gorilla Manor is due out on 2/16.

Surfer Blood – Astro Coast

Echo!

Two-thousand and nine was the year I learned to stop worrying and love the echo rock. Surfer Blood is another band that was willing provide me with a sound reminiscent of the days when I used to yell creatively into a small room. Swim is one of those fist pumping singles that makes your head turn to pay attention to the name of the band appearing on your iPod set to shuffle. The rest of the album isn’t as grabbing as that one song but there is nothing wrong with that. Astro Coast is on its way, next Tuesday.

Quiet Village – Silent Movie

creme de la fromage

While the two albums above have yet to be released, Silent Movie by Quiet Village was released all the way back in the spring of 2008. Remixing old 1970s tracks for our vintage obsessed hipster generation, now we can feel like the music we got is from the same thrift store where we bought our clothes. But seriously, this is fun stuff. I like sitting alone with my knit sweater as much as the next guy but these tracks aren’t all slow. I felt like an amalgam of Shaft and Dragnet shooting at criminals from a cruiser while listening to Circus of Horror. Utopia was more reminiscent of how I feel during a late night trek to my apartment after spending time at a bar. The disparity of moods on the album is what makes it so much fun for me. Sure, it is cheesy but that’s why I love it so much.