Southern California’s Local Natives make it hard to draw comparisons. There are similarities here and there — Broken Social Scene and Fleet Foxes are among the contemporary names thrown around — but the Natives’ style is less erratic than BSS, more ballsy than the Foxes. Their harmonic style is indicative of the influence of hazy beach bums of 60s SoCal and Zombified Brit pop, while their percussion philosophy derives from somewhere more natural: a unifying connection between the five-piece developed over hours spent living together in their own guerilla hideaway in Silverlake, Calif.

I sat down for a little phone chat with the guys as they made the arduous journey from San Francisco to Portland. My grasp for the topography of the region is nearly nonexistent, thus making our teleconference, in my mind, just another hurdle for the group in what might be the toughest climb amidst a sea of switchbacks and sheer crags. Since this setting is always more interesting, I kept the image in my mind and forged on through the midst of cell reception woe. I hit them fast and I hit them hard, with the sort of tough grit that would make even Harry Callahan squirm. With half a day to drive from San Francisco to Portland at top speed, I tested out their mental dexterity while they navigated the treacherous mountain passes of Northern California. So after a minute or so of making sure our cell phones were indeed connected and working, my interview began with a real humdinger.

So how are you guys doing?
Kelcey: We’re doing good, on the road going from San Francisco to Portland. It’s a ten-hour drive, the longest drive on this tour we’re on right now. It’s a little brutal, but it’s all right… we started at 8 this morning.

I talked to (Tripwire photographer JENZ) earlier, said she had a little trouble getting into the show…
K: Yeah there was a little mishap with the list, a fuck up if you will, on our part. We tried to fill her full of drinks so that she could forget all about it.

That’s all right, she mentioned she’ll catch you guys again soon, opening for Ben Kweller?
K: Yeah, we’re opening for Ben in June, so we’ll have her out, it’ll be a great time.

Awesome, is that opening spot a result of meeting him down in Austin (at SXSW)?
K: Uh, well we met Ben in Austin, (through) his UK booking agent as well as his national booking agent. He brought Ben out to the show, and he really dug the music and had heard a lot about us and really likes the stuff and so he was stoked to throw us on a couple shows for him.

I was actually there at SXSW for a show you guys played where he showed up, at this little house party the last night of the fest.
K: Oh yeah, that was the place, yeah we saw him there.

How did the rest of SXSW go for you guys?
Taylor: SX was so excellent for us. It was really awesome, none of us had ever been before and we really got (thrown) into it because we had nine shows (over four days). So it was really intense, but we had a great time.

And you’d never been to Austin before that?
T: Well we had played Austin a couple times, but you know, that city is just transformed for SX. There’s like 2,000 bands and thousands of people and it’s really just like chaos for a week, which we really are akin to, we like that.

Nice. So you’ve got an album done, but no label?
T: Correct, yeah we’ve got an album but right now we’re just kind of shopping it around and talking to people.

Did that chaotic week help you guys out in the way of finding a home for it?
T: Oh yeah, it was really cool. I thought it was great to see the progression over, as I said, nine shows. I think it was the second to last show we played was one we added literally the day before, and that show was probably the most packed out of all of them. So it was cool to see this progression where you know, we made some fans early and there were some people kinda spreading the word about us, and so by that show there were all these people there checking us out, from the industry and not. So yeah, the dialogue has definitely increased a lot on pretty much all ends.

Ryan: It was really cool to meet people from the UK, too. That was a good opportunity for us to get to some people out there.

So hopefully sometime in the future a UK tour?
T: Yeah definitely, we just signed up with our UK and European booking agent, and he’s awesome and we’re really, really happy. We don’t have any firm plans yet but we’re already starting to throw out some ideas of dates and stuff and we want to get over there soon.

So it’s been a nice steep route you seem to have taken so far, you haven’t been together too long, correct?
T: Um, sort of, it’s been about two, two-and-a-half years in this lineup so not super new, but me (Taylor Rice, guitar/vocal), Ryan (Hahn, guitar/vocal) and Kelcey (Ayers, keys/vocal), the three of us met in High School. So we’ve been playing together, jamming for over six years. Then it was like everything really came together for us over the last year or so, really when we made our album, when everyone decided to throw all our eggs in the band basket and just go for it full time. We all (including Andy Hamm, bass; Matt Frazier, drums) got a house; we all live together in Silverlake and we’ve been really committed to this as our first priority. So that’s really relatively recent, but we’ve been playing together for a while.

Speaking of the album, the title is Gorilla Manor, is that right?
T: Right, yeah.

There has to be a story behind the name…
T: Well, yeah. So when we were writing the album we were all living together in a house, sort of sequestered ourselves, secluded away and it just kinda became the moniker for the place we were living, and we just came to identify (the house) with the whole process. Our band is really collaborative in terms of the songwriting process and so everyone is constantly throwing out ideas, and during this time (writing) we kinda felt like we found what was our sound and we found these threads that we felt unified us. So that’s kind of why we identified that with the album.

Well I have to say the few songs I’ve heard are excellent (I won’t go into my fan-boy-ish love for their track “Airplanes”). There’s a thoughtfulness to them, I can only hope that’s translated to the rest of the album.
T: Yeah me too. (Laughs.) Seriously, we’re very happy with it, which is actually saying a lot. We really tear all of our songs apart. As a result of the collaborative thing we work over things pretty hard.

And who did you guys get to produce the album?
T: We recorded it in L.A. in a place called Rancho Park with a guy named Raymond Richards, and he’s got an amazing studio in his house. It’s called Red Rockets Glare, and we made the album there over last summer, towards the end of summer. (To rest of band) Would we say he produced it? We kind of self-produced it, but I mean, he helped us a lot. He really is a master at all the tones and the fun toys that he has in his studio, and that was something that was really new to us. We had never done an album before, so he was so easy to work with. But we were really hands on in everything we did with the recording.

So any leads as far as what you might do with it?
T: Yeah we do, we’re talking with a lot of labels right now, but it’s all very tentative and superficial at the moment. Can’t really say much. But we’d love to find a home for it and have a goal to release around the fall so…

Awesome. Now the sound that you guys have, it’s very natural, your combination of almost tribal percussion, and the harmonies. Is that a result of your surroundings, something that naturally finds its way out, or is it something that you guys have made a conscious effort to emphasize?
T: Those two things are very much the kind of threads that we’ve found in a lot of our writing. Now way back when, we started out as a “guitar” band as most bands do, but now we spend almost all of our writing time, or most of it, on our vocals, the melody and harmonies, and also on the percussion. And I’m sure that has something to do with the area but it’s also mostly to do with our personal preferences and influences and who we listen to. You know, the 60s harmony bands is fairly evident, we’re huge fans of The Zombies, Crosby Stills & Nash for example, and we’re also huge fans of Animal Collective or Broken Social Scene, who really have that kind of strong percussive element that we’re drawn to.

I’m guessing Talking Heads is in there somewhere, seeing as you guys have that cover of “Warning Sign” out there and in your set…
T: Yeah we were actually just listening to that.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that I actually find your version a little more enjoyable.
T: Oh man, wow.

I mean it’s a great song, but you guys have really taken it and made it your own. It’s almost a different song now.
T: Well, I always think, well we all do, that when you do a cover it’s way more fun to take something that’s not exactly your sound and try to make it your sound. So it was really fun to try and make these pretty three part harmonies out of these David Byrne yelps.

You should start a cover of the month club.
T: (Laughs.) Yeah, we’ve thought about it.

So the rest of this tour you’re headed up into Canada?
T: We are, we’re gonna try. We’ve got Portland, Seattle and then Vancouver. We’ve never crossed the border as a band, and we’ve learned that you have to get this immigration exemption thing from the venue and all this stuff. So we’re really kind of winging it and we really hope that they don’t charge us like $800. That would be sad.

Well at least it’ll be a fun attempt if you can’t make it. So what do you foresee, or hope to see happen in the next six months for you guys?
T: Well we already kinda talked about it, but releasing the album is a major goal of ours and the fall seems like a really good time for that. Other than that, just touring. We really want to be out on the road as much as possible. Hope to have a national tour with a bunch of dates and then go abroad. Like I said, we’ve got some dates we’re planning on.

Ryan: It’s been a dream of ours to go to the UK and tour and now all of a sudden it looks like that’s going to become a reality in the near future.

Have you guys done much touring nationally so far?
R: We’ve toured twice nationally. We went out to Chicago one time and then we did a month long tour to New York and back. Other than that, we’ve done two little West Coast tours. So we’ve done a fair amount of touring, but we really like it, we’re trying to do it as much as possible.

So how much longer do you guys have on the road today?
T: Six more hours, or something like that.

And with that I wished them luck on their way, a group of nice guys making nice music for the masses. The Canadians are going to love that.

Metallica, the bay-area giants that legitimized “thrash metal” with albums like Kill ‘Em All, Master of Puppets, …And Justice For All and “The Black Album” were welcomed into the hallowed confines of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 4, 2009.

Their inclusion, though absolutely deserving in every conceivable way, poses a wider question to my ever curious mind: Will the inclusion of now two “metal” acts, (Black Sabbath being the other. Let’s face it, Led Zeppelin and The Who don’t count as metal.) clear the way for other metal and proto-metal acts?

The governing body of “The Hall” is still skittish when inductions are concerned. The Hall has inducted piano music lightweight Floyd Cramer, but has passed up The Stooges. They’ve welcomed jazz “rockers” Steely Dan and the doo-wop group The Moonglows, but took forever to induct The Ramones and The Talking Heads. So, what would make you think The Hall will get heavier anytime soon?

There are several bands that fall into the metal, punk, thrash and hardcore categories that are entirely deserving of the honor of induction. Here is a list of bands that are eligible and in my mind, should be included. Bare with me, it’s a short list.

Motorhead: Without Lemmy Kilmister and the boys, the genre of thrash (and Metallica) probably would never have existed. Their album, Ace of Spades, is a benchmark of lawn killing volume and speed.

Megadeth: Dave Mustaine, former member of Metallica, focused all his aggression and hatred into classic ear splitting albums such as Rust in Peace, Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?, Countdown to Extinction and Killing is My Business and Business is Good. And as an added bonus, the band takes it’s name for the loss of lives from a nuclear detonation. Now that’s Metal.

MC5: The Detroit based house band for the Black panther Party was the first to “Kick Out The Jams”. Their explosive shows, incendiary guitar work of Fred “Sonic” Smith and Wayne Kramer and controversial political stances helped set the stage for both punk and metal.

The Stooges: Again, another band that helped in the invention of metal and punk. For god sake, listen to Raw Power and tell me Iggy Pop and his Ann Arbor, Michigan brethren don’t belong.

Black Flag: No they aren’t metal, but hardcore punk arose from the “forbidden beat” created by metal and more precisely, Motorhead. Black Flag gave birth to thousands of punk and thrash bands either by groups attempting to copy their sound or by guitarist Greg Ginn’s indie record label SST.

The Melvins: Masters of sludge and drone, no Melvins equals no Nirvana. No Nirvana equals none of the good bands and some of the bad (I’m talking to you, Bush and Candlebox) that appeared in the 1990’s wake of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.

Judas Priest: Rob Halford is the King of the 1980’s wave of British Metal. British Steel is an album for the ages.

And there is just a taste of the metal, thrash, hardcore and punk bands that have shaped the musical landscape over the past 30+ years that are up for induction. They have all, either directly or indirectly, changed the public’s perception of what is great, what is groundbreaking, what is acceptable and what is not. And in the process have warped my brain for the better.

I must extend my congratulations to Metallica. They truly are one of the greats of this or any other time. Who knows, maybe next year someone from my list will be asked into The Hall, but my bet is that the voters will probably go with The Carpenters instead. Man, could they wail!

The rumor mills have been spinning with talk of a possible Talking Heads reunion, but it looks like David Byrne has dispelled these hopeful thoughts. Sorry Talking Heads fans, but it looks like you’ll be more likely to see Byrne twirling around in a tutu on stage these days, than seeing him team up with his former band anytime soon. 

In response to an interview with Metro, Byrne said “I’m not keen and it’s unlikely to happen. I don’t need the money badly enough.” Talking Heads haven’t been on stage together since 2002 when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. 

The band split up in 1991, and Byrne has been busy with numerous side projects since, including his record label Luaka Bop and most recently, his collaboration with New York dance trio Brazilian Girls on “Losing Myself” — Byrne’s third hip-hop/dance collab of 2009 according to Rolling Stone.

Byrne will be taking the stage in June as one of the headliners for this year’s Bonnaroo music festival, so if you need your Talking Heads fix, don’t worry. Byrne will most likely be taking your mind on a classically conceptual “Head trip” — adorned with tutus and props galore.

Dedicated to those songs that I can’t stop playing, humming, or thinking about; the 4+ minutes you fall head-over-heels in love with. Past instances have included The Groovie Ghoulies’ “I’m Doin’ Fine,” Electric Six’s “Improper Dancing,” and Tender Box’s “Spectacular Spider-Man Theme.”

I don’t buy music every week, so when I go shopping I often pick up more than one album at a time. This is great and stupid, because while the one-stop shopping is an economic use of my time, I end up unfairly comparing two unrelated, dissimilar albums. If I’d purchased The Velvet Underground’s first album on its own without the accompanying purchase of Van Halen II, I have a higher opinion of it today. When I bought the pair — for whatever reason — I couldn’t get into the trippy stylings of the Velvets because I was head over kicked heels for VH II. Since then I have grown and adapted from my initial impression, realizing it was unfair: Not only is Velvet decidedly overrated and more than a little dated, but the run of the final three songs of VH II (”D.O.A.,” “Women in Love” and “Beautiful Girls”) are better than anything Lou Reed could pretend to care about writing. Velvet Underground can’t touch VH II’s ass-less chaps.

This comparison trend of mine was tested again when I received the dual gift of the Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible along with The Faces‘ A Nod Is As Good as a Wink… To a Blind Horse, and if I’d been placing bets, I would have put it all down on the boozy bar rock of Rod Stewart and Ron Wood. Chuck Berry covers, dirty riffs, sexism… Wink is like a Stones cover album and should have swept me off my feet. I promised myself I’d listen to both albums all the way through once before allowing myself the privilege (or the handicap) of repeated listens. Wink won the first listen of the pair (which was chosen at random — I try to do these things fair since I understand my own psychosis better anyone).

But then I moved on to Neon Bible, which started with “Black Mirror”, and I forgot all about rooster hair cuts.

“Black Mirror” — in fact much of Neon Bible — is a fantastic musical creation forged from the qualities I find annoying in bands I don’t usually enjoy. The overt sincerity of U2, the airy musicality of the Talking Heads, the sing-it-to-Saturn of Bruce Springsteen, the symphonic back-up of Coldplay. Maybe it’s a ratio thing: I can’t get past these annoying bits with these bands because their music seems to offer little else. If things were more evened out, maybe I could actually manage to get through Achtung Baby. But somehow when these qualities join together in this Arcade Fire configuration, it sounds like the kind of noise that could consume the world.

At the risk of outing myself as a hack, “Black Mirror” is a classic example of an album launcher. Some Track One’s start an album only to get out of the way, and others announce the album’s presence and tell everyone to get on board fast. “Black Mirror” possesses an unrelenting drive, feeling at once out of control — like a stagecoach headed by rocket elephants — yet fully aware of where it’s heading. It may be aiming for a cliff, but it knew that from the start. The Arcade Fire have a major Bowie thing happening with most of their work, and that would be a hindrance if they didn’t wear it so well. One review of “Black Mirror” compared it to a reworking of the “Suffragette City” riff, but that misses the point. The song may cosmetically sound a little like “Suffragette”, but the culmination of all those textures brings intensity, depth, darkness and hope along with them. If anything, it feels like “Heroes”. Bittersweet, heartsick and romantic.

On the rare occasion I don’t repeat “Black Mirror” and actually allow another song the daunting task of following up, I half expect to hear Radiohead’s “The National Anthem”. This would theoretically fit the mood, but where Kid A is an experiment in anti-music, “Black Mirror” is about music-music. It’s as pro-music as you can get. Kid A is clinical and shattered, Neon Bible is lush and voluptuous. Radiohead tends to write music to comment on music itself, but there’s no barrier separating you from the emotions and excitement of The Arcade Fire. Neon Bible gives a million of these kinds of emotional payoffs, but “Black Mirror” demonstrates them in the kind of way that tells you everything you’d ever want to know about the band, or hope to find.

Tension runs through the entire song, and it’s never released, only eased. The singing, instruments and song entirely build up to a cliff before “falling” into the chorus once again. Each verse is a remount back up that hill. The best example of this comes right in the middle. We build and build with the lyrics, and that familiar piano lick trickles in late enough to remind us it’s there and to keep us climbing. Then the lyric doesn’t lead directly into the chorus, but takes us to the “That curse is never broken” section, and it doesn’t get broken for many measures after. Win Butler suddenly breaks into a French version of the titular chorus, deftly giving the song a plateau but still no free-fall into the dark waters beneath. The backing vocals rise to the forefront after the full orchestra takes us through the chorus once again. “The kiss is never broken,” and neither is this rhythm. Butler talks to his mirror as everything seems to crescendo until we finally hit the water and gasp for air.

Individually as pieces, the music isn’t complicated at all. It’s a simple rhythm guitar lick, straight-forward drums, bass line, piano lick. That’s where the true power of the song originates: it’s not inventing new wheels to play with. It’s using all the wheels we already knew were available in a way we could only hope to achieve. The placement of these elements shows mastery. “Black Mirror” is one of those songs that is so good and so consuming and so powerful and so magnificent that you can’t imagine a single person in the free world who wouldn’t enjoy it. This is the curse of music loving — of course there’s someone out there who won’t like it, and even worse there are some who will simply dismiss it as, “Yeah… that’s alright.” I can understand not liking something completely, but when a song like this demands the kind of respect and attention it so obviously does, a mere dismissal like that would result in glove-to-face slaps in a more gentile era.

“Black Mirror” marks a year’s worth of Greatest Song at This Moment articles, and I’m thrilled beyond words that I can continue to enjoy this song without having to uphold my self-imposed moratorium on each artist I consume. If anyone wonders about the thesis of this project (i.e. “Trying to answer WHY these songs are so great at these moments”), I have no better answer concerning “Black Mirror” than I would for Van Halen II. The answer is: They’re the best.

Watch the “Black Mirror” video.

True story: Maia and I are at a bar waiting to interview Lady Sovereign when the bartender — who at at this early hour is just opening up the joint and spinning songs from his iPod — plays the song “Strange Overtones” from the David Byrne / Brian Eno Everything That Happens Will Happen Today album over the stereo. This prompts Maia to turn to me and ask if I’ve ever seen the video of David Byrne interviewing himself. I say no. Until now.

This hilarious video of David Byrne interviewing himself was originally shot for a Talking Heads‘ film concert by Jonathan Demme.