Carnivores is a four-piece garage rock band from Atlanta. On first listen, the spidery guitar intro and the sparse, drum-heavy arrangement of “Prom Night” reminded me of the former glory of Portland’s Explode Into Colors — a comparison that, in itself, is enough to excite. However, the resemblance fades at the bridge where the song breaks completely open courtesy of singer/keyboardist Caitlin Lang’s sprawling vocals of “Sheeeeee // she really loved the way you swore (?)…” before reverting back to the the Halloween-ish melody. Also, the jam-session at the concluding sixty seconds left a nice after taste in my mouth, urging me on to press reply at the end of each listen.

Download the track and check out the trippy vid below. You can cop the 7” via Double Phantom Records here.

Carnivores // Prom Night

Geez, everything that Double Denim Records releases is shear gold. Nine 7”s in (the majority of which I’ve already covered on this site), and they keep finding a way to knock my socks off. Their latest (and possibly greatest) comes courtesy of Tokyo’s soundscape creator Jesse Ruins. This dude is so good, he even caught the attention of The Guardian (with M83 and Grimes comparisons, nonetheless).

I’ll just let the music speak for itself with this one. Listen to the DD A-side “A Bookshelf Sinks Into The Sand” (which you can cop the 7” here) as well as an extra track “Sofija” that he produced a while back.

DD009 A1: Jesse Ruins // A Bookshelf Sinks Into The Sand by Double Denim Records

Sofija by Jesse Ruins

As promised, here are my two cents in two words on the new ((sounder)) 7”, out now on Mt. Inadale Records: It’s Awesome.

Oh where to begin… I’m usually not one to judge a book by it’s cover, but opening up the sleeve and seeing the cool (both in aesthetics and temperature) baby blue record was quite the treat. What can I say, I’m a sucker for colored vinyl.

As for the record itself, it’s a beautiful recording. The A-side “We’ll Turn the Coffins Into the Gardens” features front-and-center the sweet croonings of singer Mike Aho — who has a tinge of Band of Horses’ frontman Ben Bridwell in him. The lyrics are shear poetry, with a mid-stream intro line of “Not that I really mind the silence, that’s grown around me // like the weeds around the fence post” that is pure Joycean (à la Finnegan’s Wake). The B-side, “Don’t Bring It to Life,” is a perfect compliment to the more solemn A. With brass instruments, hand claps, and some verbal interjects in the background, ((sounder)) sounds like they are having a blast recording — something you don’t really see on too many tracks!

You can watch a live version of “We’ll Turn the Coffins Into the Gardens,” shot in their hometown of Austin, as well as some B&W footage of a previous track of theirs, “A War of the Coffee Table,” that’s just as good:

If you live in Austin, go to this. If you live in the world, buy this. And if you like music, listen to this:

(full review forthcoming)

Seems after a year of no news, we’ve been hit with a slew of Veronica Falls releases/tours/tracks in a span of two weeks — and I couldn’t be happier. Most posts center around their new 7” being released on Slumberland Records (which you can cop here). Slumberland has posted a stream to the A-side title track and Steregum premiered the video — all of which you can check out below. In addition, Weekly Tape Deck shared what looks to be a fan-made video for the VF’s track “Come On Over” (a twinge of loss when hearing it’s not a Christian Aguilar cover) which is a song scheduled for their upcoming LP, also on Slumberland.

Veronica Falls – Bad Feeling by Slumberland Records

Veronica Falls – Bad Feeling from Slumberland Records on Vimeo.

Veronica Falls – Come On Over from Army Of Kids on Vimeo.

Two days ago, I was thinking to myself, “hmm, I wonder what one of my favorite labels, Father/Daughter Records, have been up to lately.” Literally, ten minutes later I get an e-mail from them announcing a new 7” from the un-Oregon origin band Oregon Bike Trails. I’ve been waiting for this one for a while since OBT first burst on the scene a couple of months back and was quick to hit the pre-order button on this awesome 7”. Check out the smooth-pop A-side “High School Lover” below (in both audio and video form) and if you dig what you hear, odds are you’ll probably like everything else from the Father/Daughter backlist.

Oregon Bike Trails // High School Lover

Oregon Bike Trails – High School Lover from Cool Things I Find on Vimeo.

There is a lot of things I miss about living in Europe, one of which that resides near the top of the list is the ability to get records from European labels without international shipping. Case in point: every single Double Denim Records release. Their latest is courtesy of the Liverpudlian (or more accurately Wirralian) un-googleable psych-pop band Outfit.

To celebrate the pre-order, Double Denim is streaming both sides of the 7” from their soundcloud page (which you can check out below). The A-side “Two Islands” is the clear winner of the two. Opening with experimental drones/groans for a good eighty seconds, the noise gets pushed aside (but not forgotten) by the pure pop sprightly vocals of singer Andrew Hunt. The six-plus minute song could be classified as noise-pop but not in the traditional sense: instead of meshing the two genres in a mess that you can sing along to, “Two Islands” keeps to its namesake and separates the noise from the pop making for a disjoint, yet compelling, listen. Check out it out below as well as the less impressive B-side “Vehicles.”

DD007 A1: Outfit // Two Islands by Double Denim Records

DD007 B1: Outfit // Vehicles by Double Denim Records

Really going to become poor with all of these new vinyl releases… The latest one to catch my eye is this Railcars 7”, release by Gold Robot Records, featuring two tracks from the early incarnation of the group. The creative creator of Railcars, Aria Jalali, provides the imaginative instrumentals for Side-A “B’s Skeleton” and Side-B “Saints Are Waiting” while singers Biljana Mirkovski and Dasha Bulatova, respectively, bring each track back down to planet earth with their vocals. Although this 7” is hot off the presses, the recording of it actually precedes the stellar Cathedral With No Eyes and Cities vs Submarines records — giving you insight into the “early sketches of Railcars brilliance.”

You can download the B-side below and head over to Gold Robot’s site to listen in on the A (and of course purchase the hyper-limited vinyl).

Railcars // Saints Are Waiting

At this point in time, I think I probably should change the site’s name from “Part-Time Music” to “In Case You Missed It” because I no longer make any “hot off the presses” discoveries. Regardless, I’m going to stick with making belated picks because, for the most part, they are just too damn good not to talk about!

Take this track from San Francisco’s The Mantles that I snagged from Weekly Tape Deck a couple weeks back. Although the weather is super shitty in Utah right now, one listen to “Raspberry Thighs” melts away my late-winter/early-spring annoyance and gets me pumped with what the summer has to offer. Shimmering guitars: check. Airy keyboard chords: check. Easy-going vocals: check. I could unfold my tablecloth on the ground and have a picnic RIGHT NOW if it wasn’t so damn cold outside… *Sigh*

Cop the track below and if you live in France or love to pay international shipping, grab the 7” here.

The Mantles // Raspberry Thighs

Got a new track, “hot off the presses” (i.e. only a month ago) from former Lubbockites (present Richmonders?) The Diamond Center and man, it’s dense. A slow burner for sure, this 6 1/2 minute track is haunting throughout, starting with the slightly pitch-shifted opening chords and continuing with the monotonic vocals from singer Brandi Price, before smashing head-first into some killer reverbed-assisted guitar solos. For me, it’s very reminiscent to the drugged-out prog-rock ballads from decades ago…

Check out the track below in both audio and video form (directed by PT-Music favorites NervousRoomService). Also, pre-order the 7” featuring the track here.

The Diamond Center // Caraway