Carnivores at the Larimer Lounge

Some of their recordings conjure a straightahead blues band with a knack for mimicking surf rock, but that’s a bit misleading, particularly for a group with a name like Carnivores. You would be excused for thinking the handle was some kind of ironic moniker. But while these guys wouldn’t exactly eat Iggy and GG for breakfast, their live sound has teeth. If you could put an entire band through a gnarly distortion pedal, it might sound like this. Although there’s some ugly moments, overall the music is mostly gritty, fragmented garage rock performed with a gleeful lack of artifice and a complete disregard for ossified genre conventions. Fortunately, Carnivores (due at the Larimer Lounge on Wednesday, January 20) remembers that rock and roll shouldn’t smooth over all its imperfections.