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SXSW Review: Jaguar Love at the Cedar Door
(Thursday, 1 a.m.)
As driving forces in what used to be Seattle’s ear-piercing, inflammatory pioneer hardcore act The Blood Brothers, guitarist Cody Votolato and vocalist Johnny Whitney are expert crafters of jarring hooks. Alongside former Pretty Girls Make Graves drummer Jay Clark, the two found themselves veering last year toward a danceable, more pop-sensible brand of abrasive punk in Jaguar Love.
As many fans found out last night at the Cedar Door, they’ve taken that sound a step further, as Clark has been replaced by a drum machine. It’s an interesting shift — rather than smashing into each other in frenzied mosh pits, fans now bob, bounce and flat out dance to the throb of electro beats. And though Jaguar Love held onto some of their best songs like “Jaguar Pirates” and “Highways of Gold,” many from last year’s debut full length have been replaced by new numbers, presumably because of the difficulty of translating the rhythms into programmable beats.
But for the most part, the elements that draw fans to Jaguar Love remain the same. Whitney still belts soulful yet slightly disorienting melodies in an impossibly high, seemingly helium-altered register between breakdowns filled with his primal screams. And Votolato’s razor sharp riffs still dance over dissonant scales before diving into power chord blasts.
Unfortunately, something wasn’t quite working with the sound last night at the Cedar Door. Whitney’s vocals kept getting lost in the mix, and eventually the onstage monitors gave out.
But overall, it was a nice preview of the next phase of Jaguar Love, and fans at least now know to come to shows ready to dance.
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