For those of you who have lived somewhere underneath a small boulder in Australia for the past 5 or so years, The Blood Brothers broke up a while back. It was sad. I am sad. I’ve bitched about it to damn near everyone.
However, someday I’ll have to give up on the hopes of a reunion and just accept what has been left in their wake, which in all honesty is pretty decent. Johnny Whitney and Cody Votolato (co-vocalist and guitarist of the BB’s, respectively) have gone on to form Jaguar Love, a fairly rad band that is (slightly) less electronic-y than his last project, Neon Blonde. While I was never a huge fan of NB, I find myself digging what I’ve heard of their new album, Hologram Jams. Johnny’s distinct high-pitched voice definitely hints back at his Blood Bros days without allowing the band to become too much of a sound-alike.
Jordan Blilie (Blood Bros co-vocalist) has definitely backed away from the grindcore-esque sounds of his first post-Bros project (Head Wound City) with his not-very-new project Past Lives (he is joined by and Mark Gajadhar on drums and Morgan Henderson on bass). While their first record, Strange Symmetry didn’t particularly wow me when it came out (I was still mourning… I’ll give it another chance), their new album, Tapestry of Webs is proving to be pretty damn awesome so far. Their blend of digestible amounts of experimentation coupled with the group’s collective ability to create well-crafted songs just plain works.
Perhaps I’m just compensating for the fact that I cry over The Blood Brothers’ breakup every night (that is not true at all, it only happened once), but I think I could get used to these guys working independently of one another. Both bands come highly recommended, and Past Lives’ new record is in the station now (Jaguar Love’s album will be there soon, there are some songs on the digital releases computer).
Check them out, seriously.
Then listen to The Blood Brothers’ …Burn Piano Island, Burn, it’ll either blow your mind or cause severe hemorrhaging in your ear area.
– Kistler
yeah, i love that song too. i was going to post it but you know how it is. jason never ceases to amaze me at how cosenstint he is even for little releases like this one.are you going to see them in toronto?