by JPI haven't been able to find much information online about the Growlers outside of their MySpace page (apparently they're from Orange County, California). But fortunately, their debut album is available for download on iTunes.
It normally takes several listenings of an album for me to fully appreciate individual tracks, but this much I have already deduced: The Growlers: Greatest Hits is over 1 hour of killer vibe. Much like their album and poster artwork, the tunes are a dynamic collage of bluesy grooves, scrappy reverb-drenched guitars, 60s-kitsch sound effects and vocals casting spells of laid-back cool. It's a retro sound that feels completely unaffected. Listening to Greatest Hits feels like stumbling across the long-lost early recordings of the Doors...if they started out as a surf-noir garage band.
Go to MySpace, check out the tracks, buy the album. I hope I get a chance to see a live show. Soon.
A few stand-out tracks: "Red Tide," "Slack Back Boot Man," "Her Command" and "Killed My Woman."
