Thee Oh Sees – “Minotaur”

S.F.’s Thee Oh Sees are at it again, with a new album out April 16 called Floating Coffin. As Pitchfork reports, the album comes from “the mindset of a world that's perpetually war-ridden.” The track is more ominous than anything the band has released thus far from the outset, carried through with somber strings that sound amazing in their lo-fi setting, making Thee Oh Sees sound like some zombie orchestra. John Dwyer’s vocals are appealingly deadpan throughout. With having just released Putrifiers II last year and Castemania and Carrion Crawler/The Dream both the year before, Floating Coffin sounds like it’ll continue their tradition of getting better with each release. Hear it at Pitchfork.

Local Natives – “Heavy Feet” video

Local Natives have unveiled an almost painfully charming video for their song “Heavy Feet,” a standout on the excellent recently released Hummingbird. It’s one of the rare videos I’ve seen recently where I immediately thought of the glory days of MTV — this shit would’ve been buzzworthy fo sho. Something about talking sandwiches, cute old people painting planes and burying a cake. It reminds me a bit of the looney Michel Gondry videos of the ’90s, though not as manic. Read my interview with the band here; see photos of their amazing Amoeba performance here.

The line wrapped around the block to see Local Natives play one of the biggest Amoeba in-stores in recent memory.

The L.A.-based band appeared Jan. 29 in support of their sophomore album, the epic Hummingbird, released the same day. Despite having released only one previous album, Gorilla Manor, in 2009, it was clear by the shouts of screaming girls and dudes alike that the band’s cult has grown sizably over the years.

The band opened with “You & I,” the majestic opening track of Hummingbird, with singer Kelcey Ayer booming his throaty voice through the store in the song’s opening lines and the band engaging in solid harmonies. “Breakers” sounded intense live, inspiring a clap-along.

From the get-go, it didn’t sound as though the band needed time to find their footing or were still trying to work out kinks in new songs; they sounded well-rehearsed and ready to go. They paused to sweetly give a shoutout to their hometown, offering gratitude and reflecting on the times they were on the other side of the stage.

In an offering to their fans, they launched into “Wide Eyes” from Gorilla Manor, a song they’re probably sick-to-death of playing, to huge response — a kind move in a show meant to promote their new album. They moved back to Hummingbird for standout “Heavy Feet,” which features some of the liveliest drumming and singing on the album, doubling that strength live in the show’s best moment.

Southern California’s Local Natives are playing Amoeba Hollywood Jan. 29 at 6 p.m. Prior to that, and the release of their much-anticipated second album, Hummingbird, that same day, I caught up with lead singer Kelcey Ayer about the band’s development, the nearly four-year break between their albums and what went into creating the band’s new album.

PST: Some bands force a second record out quickly, while you guys have seemed to take your time, refining and changing your sound over the past couple of years. Did you aim to take your time with this record, or was that a byproduct of touring or other priorities and obligations?

Ayer: It’s kind of both actually. People think we took all this time off, but we practically didn’t take any. We toured all of 2009 and 2010, and planned to start writing at the beginning of 2011, but then these offers came in that we just couldn’t say no to (opening for Arcade Fire, playing the Walt Disney Concert Hall with an orchestra, traveling and playing throughout Mexico, etc.). We finally locked down our own rehearsal/recording space together that summer, but diving into writing got postponed yet again because of a death in my family. From there we spent a year writing and making the record, and by the time it was finished last September, we decided it would be better to release it the beginning of this year. But none of that bothered us since we’d always told ourselves that we wouldn’t rush things. We thought if there was any way to avoid the sophomore slump, it would be by taking our time and not giving ourselves that unneeded pressure. We figured that it doesn’t matter when a record comes out if it’s not your best effort.

This inaugural Weekly Roundup features some great new tunes by Bleached, Local Natives and more. Just a refresher: This is the place where I highlight local and up-and-coming artists from around the LA and SF area, mostly. Email me at billy.gil@gmail.com if you would like to be included!

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down – “We the Common (For Valerie Bolden)”

SF resident Thao and her Get Down Stay Down have released the first song from their upcoming new album We the Common. It’s a bigger, more fully produced sound and more politically charged song than her previous work, and I think the changes suit her music well. We the Common is due Feb. 5 on Ribbon Music.

Bleached – “Next Stop”

LA punks Bleached, lead by the Clavin sisters Jessica and Jennifer (formerly of Mika Miko), released one of my favorite songs of last year, “Searching Through the Past.” Now their first full-length record, Ride Your Heart, is up for release April 2 on Dead Oceans. “Next Stop” is the first taste of that record and features the hard-charging surf punk guitars and scrappy sister harmonies of their previous singles, honed down into a hearty two-and-a-half minutes.

It’s still December 2012, but there’s plenty to get excited about heading into the new year, music- and movie-wise. Check out the preorders we have available below. 

In addition, new records hitting shelves early in the year include new records by Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Spring), the late, great Broadcast (The Berberian Sound Studio [Soundtrack], Jan. 8), Frightened Rabbit (Pedestrian Verse, Feb. 5), Unknown Mortal Orchestra (II, Feb. 5), Azealia Banks (Broke With Expensive Taste, Feb. 12), Veronica Falls (Waiting for Something to Happen, Feb. 12), Beach Fossils (Clash the Truth, Feb. 19), Iceage (You’re Nothing, Feb. 19), Girls Names (The New Life, Feb. 29), Johnny Marr (The Messenger, Feb. 26), The Mary Onettes (Hit the Waves, March 12), Low (The Invisible Way, March 19), Wavves (Title TBA, March 26), The Knife (Shaking the Habitual, April 9) and, of course, Guided by Voices (English Little League, April 30). My Bloody Valentine are supposedly releasing their long-awaited follow-up to 1991’s classic Loveless, the favorite album of many a music nerd, as they’ve just announced via their Facebook page that they finished mastering their new album. Any MBV fan knows that recording, let alone mixing, let alone mastering a new album by the shoegaze titans is a painfully long and arduous process at best, so this is very exciting news! Though supposedly the record will come out on their website first, we’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything about a new, physical My Bloody Valentine LP.