Wowzers castle, a side-project! As you can probably tell from the title, the band in question is Jaguar Love, featuring the talents of Blood Brothers vocalist Johnny Whitney (he has nice blonde hair) ; guitarist Cody Votolato (awesome little beard) and Pretty Girls Make Graves (RIP) multi-instrumentalist, Jason ‘J’ Clark (wicked specs and beard.)
Those of you who can’t stand Mr. Whitney’s high-pitched (“is it a girl?”) -kitten-being-tortured-shriek, should probably go read something else. Otherwise, continue. In keeping with the tradition that seems to follow through Whitney’s projects, Jaguar Love song’s feature the similar lyrical complexity and warped visual abstracts. The song titles are just as crazy; but whilst the magical delights of Piano Island have been pushed aside this time, we are treated to such lucious wording in the form of ‘The Man With The Plastic Suns‘ and ‘Welcome To The Birdskull Paradise‘ (a nod towards Whitney’s electro-spazzcore outfit, Neon Blonde perhaps?)
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Jaguar Love’s sound is one I’m having great difficulty to tie down. Obviously, Whitney’s unmistakable vocal chords are going to indicate strong similarities to his main band; but he seems a calmer, less manic, but still a passionate and committed individual. Votolato and Clark add a crisp indie rock sheen, juxtaposing summery-guitar licks with twee-piano loops and a post-punk sound.
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The band are currently working on a release, (format unknown) recording tracks in a house in Portland. Here’s hoping a UK release emerges in the near future and maybe some European tour dates (after the absence of Whitney’s last project on our fair shores, we better see this one!) A promising and exciting new band.
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Links
Jaguar Love
The Blood Brothers
Pretty Girls Make Graves
Neon Blonde
Lizard Hips
Junior Vice President of Keep It Fast. In other news: I work in social media, talk about dinosaurs, run a book club and have amazing facial hair. I am also a male man who is still not dead.
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