Local Natives: Gorilla Manor 2LP Maroon Vinyl

Why you'll love it

This deluxe maroon 2LP set is cut at 45 RPM, giving the songs extra room in the grooves. Pitchfork gave the album Best New Music, and it debuted on the Billboard 200 and at No. 3 on the New Artist chart.

This edition

2LP set
Cut at 45 RPM
Deluxe edition
Limited edition
Stereo mix

About the album

Gorilla Manor was a real house, and by guitarist Ryan Hahn's account an insanely messy one: an Orange County place the band all shared, with friends always over knocking around on guitars and a thrift-store piano. Most of the album was written there, and you can hear that communal spirit in every stacked harmony.

Local Natives paid for the record themselves and made it with Raymond Richards at his Red Rockets Glare studio in West Los Angeles, with Dan Long and Hugo Nicholson mixing. Taylor Rice, Kelcey Ayer and Ryan Hahn share the vocals, and those three-way harmonies drive "Wide Eyes" and "Sun Hands," while "World News" and "Camera Talk" rattle along on Matt Frazier's busy drumming. All five members sing, which is why the choruses feel like a room full of friends. "Airplanes" is Ayer's tribute to his grandfather, and "Warning Sign" is a Talking Heads cover.

It came out in the UK on Infectious in November 2009 and in North America on Frenchkiss the following February. NPR said the camaraderie practically oozes out of the music, which is also the kindest possible description of a shared house.

Also at Kops: more Local Natives on vinyl · browse Alternative