Minneapolis' Howler is the once side-project now main-project of Jordan Gatesmith. He is (was?) in that band Total Babe. He's also 19. He was also named by NME as one of the "50 coolest people of 2011." Oh, brother. Anyway... the more you know, the more you grow.

Howler plays that lo-fi surf garage thing that's been popular these days. But it's not really THAT lo-fi because these super catchy songs definitely have some polish. That's not to say lo-fi doesn't have much polish; it's just that lo-fi doesn't seem to have much polish. And that's something I DON'T back down from, unless I take the time to think about it some more.

When I first heard Howler I thought they sounded like Surf City. Other comparisons range from The Vaccines (Howler's upcoming tour mates) to The Strokes (haha) to any of those other bands that sound abrasively sunny but like... kind of doo-wop, too. You know what I'm saying? Good, because I don't.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to devise ways of getting on NME's "coolest people of 2012" list. I'm thinking it's going to start with "torn clothes held together with safety pins," but "don't quote me on that."



Howler plays a FREE show at Permanent Records, on Friday, March 23rd, and later that night at The Echo.