Record Review: Howler

by | May 1, 2011 | Reviews

Howler
This One’s Different
Minneapolis, MN

“For the basement dwellers”

You ever think that something can sound the way something looks? Well, take a scene from a smoky basement complete with cigarettes, Dr. Martens, flying beer cans, sweet guitars and a great time, and you’ll probably appreciate what Howler has done with their thoroughly garage rock EP, This One’s Different. It contains just five tracks, all maxed out at less than four minutes, making up its slightly punk, slightly Jay Reatard-ish nature. And even if the songs are brief, they’re still capable of transcending their runtime on the stereo.

The albums slowest track, “You Like White Women, I Like Cigarettes” contains a synthesizer part reminiscent of 1980s lonely pop and guitar parts that are low, fuzzy, physical and nostalgic, grabbing onto every sad leather jacket and carrying them over to its lyrics “I need a drink and a guitar.”

Howler’s instrumentation is definitely something else that earns a round of applause from all the basement kids, especially in appreciation of all those powerful chord structures, pretty harmonies and easy-yet-cool distorted guitars. (So-TM)

Produced by Chris Heidman and Jeff Lorentzen // Recorded at So-TM Studios in Minneapolis // Mastered by Jeff Lorentzen at So-TM Studios

www.myspace.com/Howlerjams