Local Natives are coming to Penn

I’m not sure there are a lot of concerts I wouldn’t pay $1 for — even the most terrible band imaginable, maybe like an ABBA cover band, would probably merit parting with a buck. After all, it’s only $1 away from everyone’s favorite price: free!

But we’re not talking about some catchy Swedes from the ’70s but Local Natives, a sun-soaked afropop quintet from Los Angeles. Want to see them at the Troc on Wednesday? It’ll cost you $22.45 (plus whatever pork Ticketmaster inevitably tacks on) — which, in my opinion, is already worth your hard-earned cash. But on Friday, they’re playing the Rotunda for the measly sum of one dollar for Penn students.

These guys dropped their debut, Gorilla Manor, in the UK at the end of last year, but the album is pretty much all things summer 2010 — way ahead of its time.

The band’s clean, resonant guitars are reminiscent of the ones fellow Angelenos Fool’s Gold lay down in “Surprise Hotel” , but the songs’ constant percussive drive is more akin to something you might hear from White Rabbits or the Dodos. The album also features the occasional Yeasayer-esque half-yelled gang vocals, like at the end of “Sun Hands”. Other highlights on Gorilla Manor include “World News”, a bright, hazy track that screams “L.A.” at every turn, and “Wide Eyes”, which retains the rest of the album’s characteristic mellowness but gives it a darker, more contemplative spin.

Here’s “World News”, the fourth track off Gorilla Manor. See you at the Rotunda.

-Jared McDonald

Jared’s show Penntatonics airs Mondays at 4 on WQHS