posted 10/06/2008 (Mon) @ 08:00 am
>>> Music Reviews
Jaguar Love - Jaguar Love (2008)
Punk / Indie / Noise
caterwaul -noun: the cry of a cat in rutting time.
- Highways Of Gold
- Bats Over The Pacific Ocean
- Jaguar Pirates
- Georgia
- Vagabond Ballroom
- Humans Evolve Into Skycrapers
- Antoine And Birdskull
- Bonetrees And A Broken Heart
- The Man With The Plastic Suns
- My Organ Sounds Like…
A moniker more apt would be difficult to come by. The Blood Brothers may have fallen apart and exploded, but all the gore, teeth-gnashing, and creepily high-pitched noises we’ve come to expect from their—umm, shall we say “unique”?—singer rode the shockwave all the way here.
With his flair for surrealist lyricism and “Cedric Bixler getting a root canal sans novocaine” shrieks fully intact, whatever’s hurtling out of Johnny Whitney’s mouth at any given moment becomes Jaguar Love’s main attraction. This Jaguar still has claws, but bizarre sub-mashups with showtunes (”Georgia”) and dance-rock flirtation (”Jaguar Pirates”) whet its appetite moreso than the all-out wild animals mating cacophony of early Blood Brothers. Near the end of their career, they had begun to tread this road; Jaguar Love’s extension of the theme will cause fewer stomach aches, by far.
The exotic wails and caterwauls pervade an overgrown jungle of differing guitar techniques, courtesy of Cody Votolato. He provides some solid ground and a safety net for would-be victims of the big cat: “Humans Evolve Into Skyscrapers” pits blast furnace chords—TH-THUD!… TH-THUD!… TH-THUD!—against a rabid drum machine and squirrely keyboard licks; taken at face value, it’s about as anthemic and carefree as anything on Clear Channel, except for you know what. Also beware dangerous head-bobs the likes of “The Man With the Plastic Suns,” and circus caliber organ noodling typical of later Blood Brothers (see “Vagabond Ballroom”).
Love it or hate it, Jaguar Love is par for the course for Blood Brothers side project afficionados. Completely unlistenable to the Michael Bublé crowd, Jaguar Love’s most damning feature (you guessed it, the singing) is simultaneously their most striking, and endearingly unique. If you don’t mind being struck or clawed at, they’re a potent antidote to everyday, run-of-the-mill angular indie rock.
Tags: blood brothers, indie rock, noise, post-hardcore
