Take Me to the Sea

Jaguar Love | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 19, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Matador Records
• ASIN: B001B92E9O
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #250,063 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing album - worthy of multiple listens (with headphones!), September 4, 2008

By 

Eric S. (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Take Me to the Sea (Audio CD)

With "Take Me to the Sea" Jaguar Love reinvent indie-pop/punk. Don't believe me? Listen to the album. Repeatedly; it grows and expands on each listen. And with headphones; this is an album with surprising sonic depth.

What is the sound? It's jagged and propulsive and it rocks, but it's also melodic and it's warm and it's catchy (not immediately, but again, after a few listens). It rejects the 'indie-disco-rock' trend that so many bands have gravitated towards -- think The Killers, Interpol, and sometimes The Arcade Fire -- for a unique approach that incorporates elements of bands such as The Mars Volta or The Blood Brothers (of course), Animal Collective (on "Bats Over the Pacific Ocean"), cabaret showtunes ("Georgia"), and even Elliott Smith (an admitted influence on "Bonetrees and a Broken Heart").

For every angular guitar line there is a fuzzy keyboard melody or a soaring vocal line. The vocals are difficult to love at first, even for a fan of Johnny Whitney, but after a few listens they begin to make perfect sense. This is an album to get lost in; let it take you wherever it wants to.

The mix is very odd -- at first, I thought the production was the weakest part of the album. But it grew on me. I could see the more up-tempo songs being 'heavier' live, but at what cost? Melody comes first on "Take Me to the Sea." It is truly the absolute newest breed of indie-rock.

Buy it. Don't download it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This ain't commerce, this is music., August 26, 2008

By 

Alec "Alec" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Take Me to the Sea (Audio CD)

Jaguar Love remains a curious prospect of a band. As it seems, the best way to describe almost any project involving former members of the Blood Brothers and Pretty Girls Make Graves is as something "not for everyone." Too much happens on this record for something with such little respect for "accepted" music. Then again, that was the point of rock and roll in the first place. As such, calling Jaguar Love a "glam" or "punk" band is a misnomer in itself because, it seems, these are the only straws we can grasp at to deal with music that shifts and writhes almost as much as the band does on stage. A lot of people consider this music "destructive" or "explosive" and they wouldn't be too far from the truth. But in this case, what gets destroyed gets rebuilt, sometimes pieced together in a way we never conceived.

Comprised of singer Jonny Whitney, guitarist / bassist Cody Votolato and drummer /keyboardist Jay Clark, this outfit manages to push a lot of buttons at once. Clark and Votolato do a great job at keeping the listener off their toes. "Videoscape Seascape" does a 180 that never gets old and the "Highways of Gold" remains an impressive romping track. Whitney's voice (always controversial, even at times of the Blood Brothers) is not as bad as people think, but annoying and irritating are probably it's finest qualities. That is a compliment actually: sometimes he's Jonny Rotten, sometimes he's Mick Jagger, sometimes he's Freddy Mercury. His stream of consciousness / surrealist lyricism remains one of rock's rare gifts, taking you from black waters, to flamingos flying to Australia, to murdering the moon. Yet somehow, this volatile mix of people creates the funk of "Jaguar Pirates," the unprecedented dance / thrash of "Humans Evolve into Skyscrapers," and the almost-Broadway ready "Georgia."

This ain't commerce, baby, this is music. If you want to hear something on the edge that keeps you on the edge, grab this LP.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars um, amazing, August 25, 2008

By 

Euphoric Kittty (Detroit, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Take Me to the Sea (Audio CD)

So, yes, the vocals might turn off people who are more into Josh Groban, but for those looking for something that doesn't sound like another Three Doors Down or Seven Days Grace (i.e. anything on the radio that all sounds the same), check out Jaguar Love now. For those of you coming over from the Blood Brothers camp, jaguar love is not the blood brothers. Don't expect it to be. Enjoy it for what it is. Beautiful music composition and unique vocals with abstract lyrics. ...actually that does sound like the blood brothers...