It’s no secret that we at The Deli Portland are pretty big fans of electro-gloom pop progenitor Logan Lynn. And where Lynn’s mastery of making you feel dirty within synth-heavy, minor-melody blasts of no-wave electronic rock is arguably one of the more interesting deviations from the main plug of the Stumptown scene, Jaguar Love take a wet mop to the whole shebang.
Forged from the ashes of beloved Seattle dance/noise/punk group the Blood Brothers, Johnny Whitney and Cody Votolato have taken the short route from spastic, experimental trash-punk meanderings, and written a whole new chapter in their ascension simply by switching to electronic muses. There’s little to find, it seems, between the sassy toddler screech of Whitney, and the manic plunk of Votolato’s guitar work, as deviated from their output in the Blood Brothers.
This isn’t to say that the crew is any less enjoyable; it’s simply a thrash-pop-lite hybrid of the Seattle noise scene they helped cultivate. Whitney certainly doesn’t writhe quite so nasally as he once did. The singularness of those curdling yelps, interestingly enough, helped catapult his vocals to some of the most instantly recognizable in the country, and nearly jettisoned TBB’s music to second fiddle. It doesn’t do that with Jaguar Love. And where a pop bent does trickle in on tracks like "I Started a Fire" and "Highways of Gold," old habits die hard on pulsing jams like "Jaguar Warriors" and "Up All Night."
The band will be releasing their new album on March 2nd via Fat Possum Records, titled Hologram Jams. If you pre-order the album by going here, you will receive a handmade wristband (most likely handmade by Whitney, whose Crystal City Clothing company continues to grow).
Both Lynn and Jaguar Love will be playing a FREE show this Tuesday, February 2nd, at Holocene. The show is part of the monthly live touring show The Rumble, on which Jaguar Love will be playing every single West Coast date.,
Show at 8:00 p.m. 21 and over. DJ A Train opens.
For a look at the pop-y side of J-Lo (I’m gonna try to make that stick… I will fail), check out the below video for the aforementioned "I Started a Fire."
– Ryan J. Prado