Jaguar Love, the newest Matador Records band, comes out of the ashes of the Blood Brothers and Pretty Girls Make Graves. On their first release, this self-titled EP meant as a preview for their upcoming full length, they manage to carry on the energetic tradition of both of those bands. The first track “Highway of Gold” sands down the fangs from the Blood Brothers’ sound and meshes it nicely with a more melodic drive without losing any bite. “My Organ Sounds Like…” is a massive builder of a song that ends with a freak out worthy of Johnny Whitney’s hair-raising screech. Unfortunately, sandwiched between those two songs is “Videotape Seascape”, a song that sands those fangs down to gum-line nubs, and on top of overdone synths Whitney’s shriek sounds cartoony and cloying. It’s a sound you’ll hope they avoid on their full-length, since these guys are so good when they’re just plain rocking. Jaguar Love EP is terribly brief, and imperfect, but two good songs out of three ain’t bad.

• "Bats Over the Pacific Ocean" MP3
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