Jaguar Love – Hologram Jams

Oozing with brash stabs of dirty synth and riddled with some truly ear-piercing, almost glam rock vocal screeches, Hologram Jams – the second album from Portland electro duo and ex-Blood Brothers, Jaguar Love – is a difficult experience by any measure. Caked in noise, these 11 songs bark at you like a drunken flatmate in the early morning hour, with an unquenchable thirst for blind destruction. Mainly centred on some frankly haggard beats, the sounds used here reek of laptop-orientated overindulgence and offer nothing to hold onto that hasn't already worn you down. Cherry Soda, with its obnoxious glitches just seems thrown together, as does the tired party sentiment of Up All Night, whereas the seemingly soul-influenced A Prostitute, An Angel is the only track that really offers any kind of considered melody or accessible sonic palette, before it succumbs to overpowering, clunky guitar work. Despite their proclamations to the contrary, everything here is not awesome. [Ryan Drever]