Three-minute blasts of guitars, drums, bass, and attitude may be among the simplest kinds of songs to make, but they're also some of the hardest to make truly distinctive.
The Strokes did it by evoking the heyday of New York's punk and new wave scene, infusing it with emotions that veered from too cool for school to unbridled glee;
the Ramones did it by subverting the sounds of '50s and '60s innocence with tales of sniffing glue and being sedated; and
the Libertines did it by harking back to
the Beatles and
the Clash while adding their own debauchery and poetry.
Howler obviously hold these sounds and bands in great reverence: they've got the handclaps, the strutting riffs, and the backing vocals in just the right places. Jordan Gatesmith's voice -- which is surprisingly deep for a guy still in his teens when these songs were recorded -- hovers somewhere between a sleepier
Julian Casablancas and a less excitable
Joey Ramone, and "Wailing (Making Out)"'s impatience and singsong verse melody play like a rewrite of
the Strokes' "The Modern Age." There's plenty of fun to be had in the rave-up "Black Lagoon," and songs such as "Beach Sluts" would have freshened up
Angles. "Too Much Blood," with its wall-of-sound beats and dreamy melody, hints at untapped depths to the band's sound, as does "Free Drunk," which finds Gatesmith singing in a more natural -- and original -- voice. ~ Heather Phares