Carnivores

***Atlanta’s CARNIVORES are geographically in the right place for smelting pop into lo-fi garage post-punk, though the indelible fingerprints of Georgia’s favorite sons only stretch so far. From the skittering drums, the resonant and insistent organ and the lazy surf-bum guitar figures, everything feels like it’s being dragged lovingly into an alternate era. Having spent time on stage with the likes of Best Coast, Black Lips, No Age and Abe Vigoda, their smeary, oblique twitches into echo canyon seem fairly natural. Certainly the New York Times, The Fadar and Pitchfork have allowed them to settle comfortably in various degrees of praise, as well as fans everywhere, from Surfer Blood to Jarvis Cocker. Their latest single “Prom Night” b/w “Second Impulse” merely confirms that all of these admirers are right to do so; sonically adventurous while never reneging on the promise of their personable and stinging melodic haze, Carnivores are the natural successors to the elemental garage-rock sound predators of the past decade.