Can we talk about how awesome Parquet Courts are?

I've had this record on repeat constantly for the last month. Finally saw them last night. Easily the most direct "indie" band I've seen / heard in ages. It's amazing how refreshing it is to hear a record that isn't smothered in reverb. It's also nice to be reminded how lucky I was to get to see The Yummy Fur so regularly in Glasgow during the 90s.

so ... SPIN called it the first "must have" (or whatever they call it) of 2013, but hasn't this record been out for months? i was listening to it on bandcamp in the fall, and i know you could order vinyl then.

is there a reissue on a bigger label happening right now?

and yes, it's a great record.

Yeah, it got picked up by a label for 2013. It was previously self-released.

Fantastic record.

saw them for free last night on a whim, never having heard anything by them ... they were f**king killer! i was too stunned to clap or hoot, really. must-see band imo.

i don't mind the record in a very early strokes-ish kind of way but maybe they're a band one needs to see live to 'get' properly

I've never once thought "The Strokes" when listening to this record. It's more like early-80s sloppy Slash Records stuff and a bit of Bob Pollard creeping in from time to time.

i definitely hear similarities between master of my craft & the modern age. it was not intended to be a slight.

you had me at

a record that isn't smothered in reverb

Here's my reference point much more than the Strokes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cckxia_T4po

Band name is terrible

they're "blowing up" at the same time as Foxygen, so i'll give them a pass

Counterpoint: I dig the band name

I like the name too.

And compared to Foxygen, I'd rather listen to the 4 Fat Guys Blues Band at my local pub than listen to another second of their horrible record.

(Foxygen's horrible record, in case that wasn't clear.)

I like this band so far, as solid indie rock. The Fall-via-Pavement graphics thing should probably be retired. They remind me a bit of Black Lipstick (see B.O.B. F.O.S.S.E. by that band on Spotify vs. Stoned and Starving) who were Texas arty punky slackers from the 2000s with similar influences, though less Pavement and more VU.

"The Fall-via-Pavement graphics thing should probably be retired"

thats the biggest problem with this record. over used.

No way. The cover is what drew me to it in the first place.

saw them do an instore in Nashville a couple wks back. had listened to the 2011/2012 cassette release American Specialties and Light Up Gold before I saw them.

I really see the comparison to something like the Feelies, also Pavement and Sonic Youth. For that matter, That Dog. I thought the cassette release had some great ideas on it, in terms of basic rock 'n' roll song form plus guitar riffage. some pretty good riffs. disposable riffs is a line from their song about how they find rock 'n' roll boring. to me, some of the new one sounds like the Vibrators. in fact the whole thing is kinda like Pavement ("N Dakota") crossed with the Vibrators' Pure Mania. but like I say, listen to that cassette, you'll hear a band trying to cross the basic with the twisted in the olde-time punk way, like I say, some great ideas in there. for that matter, they sound like the Individuals on "Stoned and Starving," the Hoboken-Chapel Hill guitar pop nexus.

I mean, I guess on some level the cover art drew me in too, since it makes it clear that the band knows The Fall and Pavement. But maybe they should just put a sticker that says "We liked Paint Work" on the front, and then design original graphics...? I don't know. It's not a big deal at the end of the day.

""The Fall-via-Pavement graphics thing should probably be retired"

thats the biggest problem with this record. over used."

i meant their music, not the cover art

don't really hear the strokes at all

kind of a Feelies vibe, that dry, nervous sound

this is good!

Not in love with the album yet, but loving the transition between the first two tracks.

I listened to a bit of this record the other night and liked the bits I heard.

i love the transitional blank between parquet and courts.

...and the two tracks themselves

[self xpost]

Definitely agree with the Pavement sentiment, as well as The Feelies. Never really listened to The Fall, so I cannot comment on their influence.
The only Strokes influence I can hear is really in the lead guitar parts at times, but that's pretty much it.
Stoned and Starving is my favorite song. Regardless, this is a really good record!

Here's the most overt Pavement/Fall crossover this side of Conduit. Though I vastly prefer Fall to P, I'm pretty fond of this one...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_STY9g7-YPA

i think the skwm callout in the pitchfork review ruined this record for me.

in that it wasn't an accurate callout in the least? yeah, i was a little disappointed that there weren't more guitar jams or anything else skwm excelled in. such a weird name to check considering all the other, more obvious influences. still, i really like this record.

love this album. so fun.

The Fall-via-Pavement graphics thing should probably be retired.

The Fall via Pavement MUSIC thing should probably be retired and yet "Careers in Combat" is one of the best songs on this. (reminds me of "Two States")

I like that it's not all Pavementy art punk straight through though. some of it has more of a Modern Lovers thing goin on. and so did the Strokes so I can see how you could hear early Strokes in this.

in that it wasn't an accurate callout in the least? yeah, i was a little disappointed that there weren't more guitar jams or anything else skwm excelled in. such a weird name to check considering all the other, more obvious influences. still, i really like this record.

― HAPPY BDAY TOOTS (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, January 22, 2013 11:37 AM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yup. gonna give it another shot tho.

iceage, royal headache, tronics, parquet courts <--- that is a pretty awesome run of re-releases & reissues btw

not sure why foxygen is in this conversation. I don't really wanna hear anyone trying that hard to do exile on main street unless it's royal trux.

weird, silkworm is not a band that i would even remotely compare this to....

silkworm is the fucking greatest

Yeah, let us please leave Foxygen out of this (or any other) conversation.

agree with everyone that this is a good band that sounds nothing at all like silkworm

modern lovers is a great ref point

i can't tell how much i like this band vs. how much i just miss bands that sound like this, i guess it doesn't matter but i am feeling old

^^^ yeah, i was wondering earlier today how much of my enjoyment comes from just missing bands like this so much. also, silkworm are fucking awesome. speaking of which, tangetially related, i was excited to see that iTunes now has the three exclusive tracks from that bottomless pit import collection thing. much cheaper to but the three tracks on there than fork out $22+ for that when i've already got all the other material.

ok nevermind i am really into this album now

It's been pulled from Spotify. ;_;

Still on bandcamp, tho: http://dulltools.bandcamp.com/album/light-up-gold

i'm listening to it on spotify right now

Hmm, it's telling me "This album is not available"

are you u.s.?

i can't tell how much i like this band vs. how much i just miss bands that sound like this, i guess it doesn't matter but i am feeling old

― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, January 22, 2013 3:30 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha yeah i can see feeling that way

btw listening now on spotify, i'm in the USA

Hmm, it's telling me "This album is not available"

if you click on the band name you'll see the one that's still available, there are two versions for the two record labels it's been out on

Yeah, I'm in the us. idgi...maybe my spotifies is broken.

Oh, I see! I had the old one bookmarked in a playlist.

I'm gonna go see them saturday in brooklyn at 285 Kent with Purling Hiss and La Big Vic

stoked

they're also playing here in March with The Men

they're also playing live on cherry time clinic on wfmu on saturday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs2_OMnkcxE

sorry cherry blossom clinic

I was de-bat-ing swedish fish

forget about it

socrates died in the fucking gutter

I was de-bat-ing swedish fish

― dmr, Thursday, January 31, 2013 4:38 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

The first few times I thought he was saying "deep-eating swedish fish" and i thought "yeah, i've done that."

The horrible thing is that as much as I like what Parquet Courts are up to, I'm coming around to the idea that I like Foxygen (at least some of their better stuff) better. Overt pastiche vs. not quite as overt pastiche?

Ugh, Foxygen is THE WORST. If there's a new band I hate more this year, I'll be surprised.

i just checked this out, and within 5 seconds, I was transported to a college dorm in 1990. in a good way.

This is pretty likeable stuff so long as I can convince myself I'm not just indulging nostalgia for the days of my youth. I get a very strong early Pavement (pre-Slanted and Enchanted) vibe, but this is a bit more straightforward, not as arty, which is good, because the arty parts of early Pavement are not the best parts. The album starts very strong, by the second tune I'm pumping my fist in the air, but then there seems to be a lot of songs that kind of blend into each other, but maybe I just need to listen to it some more.

i don't really hear a lot of pavement personally. although they have a derivative sound, it's hard for me to narrow down on specific bands they sound like (aside from GBV on "picture of health")

They sound kind of like Pavement's cover of "Box Elder" to me. It's something about the way the guitar/drums/bass sound, or maybe its the tunings, or the subtle country-rock/CCR influence. I'd have to listen some more to try and pin it down.

Do people who like this band like Fergus & Geronimo? That's another project with Andrew Savage, the lead vocalist/guitarist of this band. That one seems a bit more like a jokey bedroom recording project than a real band, but there were some catchy tunes on last year's album.

Do people who like this band like Fergus & Geronimo?

not as much. I did check it out after I got really into this record. it's ok.

box elder is not a cover

this album is really great. they sound v much like a NYC pavement

this album is pretty sweet

This is pretty likeable stuff so long as I can convince myself I'm not just indulging nostalgia for the days of my youth.

Or even if I am

So bummed out - I waited 5 hours after opening the window to buy tickets to their London gig and by the time I went to pull the trigger it was sold out.

digging it but the songs/tones/guitars sound so samey

idk if i like the tuneless singing

they sound v much like a NYC pavement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNvk1g53mw4

box elder is not a cover

You're right, sorry. I think it was mis-reported as a Wedding Present cover in some early reviews and the idea got stuck in my head. Also, since the lyrics were a bit more straightforward than other songs from the period, it was believable to me that it was the work of a different songwriter.

wedding present chose some great songs to cover

i dont hear too much pavement in this, but i did notice in Careers in Combat the lyric "there are no more art museums to guard", a job that SM and West had at the Whitney

liking this l.p a lot. don't hear a great deal of pavement, gbv or strokes(!?) but getting a big Eddy Current Supression Ring vibe from it - especially 'stoned and starving'.

strokes(!?)

yes okay i get it already, it was one part of one song, jeezalou

don't really think the strokes is that far off, more west coast, sunnier, less grey, skuzzier wonkier, v modern lovers but it's not really cool, it doesn't have that swagger, if jonathan richman was played by napoloeon dynamite. there's a bit of the geek energy of pavement but it's a bit too restrained and calculated to hit those highs, can't really imagine myself falling in love with this, but it's a lot of fun, i guess

also i feel like there have been diy bands doing this exact same thing forever, but i can't for the life of me think of any examples

liking that song youtubed upthread - what I'm hearing for now is, quite obviously, Wire

Might be slightly late to this party, but this band... Where else in the world can I find a new band who satiate my love of Pavement, early Talking Heads, Modern Lovers etc? If they sound like a bunch of old bands, I simply do not care.

They're a bit like Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats in that really they're a new band who sound like an amalgamation of a lot of old bands but somehow don't sound totally derivative of these because they're actually fucking great at writing and playing songs rather than being simply great at genre exercises.

have listened to first minute of first song, sounds good! surprised to hear they're from brooklyn -- oh, looking it up, i see they're really from texas which makes more sense

"borrowed time" kind of makes me think of art brut! so far this seems VERY DISTANT from pavement to me but songs denoted "pavementy" above haven't come up yet.

'N. Dakota' feels like a sequel to Motion Suggests Itself imo

I think the Pavement comparisons are largely (but not wholly derived) from the album artwork. I hear a passing resemblance to Black Lips too I think.

Anyone seeing them in London this week?

OK, "Yonder Is Closer to the Heart" does kind of start out like it's going to be a cover of "Yr Killin Me" and for that matter non-standard orthography of "Yr No Stoner" also reminiscent of, well, "Yr Killin Me?"

I guess I would say -- there are a lot of moments where the guitar tone reminds me of Pavement but the drums NEVER remind me of Pavement so as a whole this doesn't sound much like Pavement.

Anyone seeing them in London this week?

― the Shearer of simulated snowsex etc. (Dwight Yorke), Monday, March 18, 2013 3:11 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yup, going on thursday. Love this album - simple pleasure, spent 5 mins fretting about whether I was lazily indulging cognates of the sound of my youth but hahahahahaha dgaf this is fucking great.

http://www.nyctaper.com/2013/03/parquet-courts-march-7-2013-bowery-ballroom-flacmp3streaming/

I enjoyed the Sebright arms gig, mostly. They sound great, but vocals coming up a bit short - there's that kind of scruffy charismatic (for indie readings of charismatic) delivery that's there on the record, but absent on stage.

Crowd was arms-crossed and sluggish, I thought, which dragged things down. A London thing maybe - large numbers there for the event, not up on the songs – but maybe to do with attracting slightly older audience.

I have had "Borrowed Thyme" stuck in my head since Monday afternoon, definitely need to give this a full listen ( I play tracks on my radio show cuz it is in rotation).

they are SO good

Interviewed them last week. Was a little odd as we were being filmed by Vice and photographed by NME while I tried to interview them for another publication. Will post the results in here when it's online.

I spent about 5 hours today packing Parquet Courts records! Their label = best dude.

Here's the interview I mentioned last month...I think it's a pretty good feature:

http://crackmagazine.net/music/parquet-courts/

Still digging the record too.

This has definitely been growing on me as well - probably my favorite of the year so far. I'm not sure if I can tell the singers apart with 100% accuracy though I think the prefer the guy who doesn't sing in the high-pitched voice.

saw these guys again, this time supporting the breeders. odd set, opening with a new song then tearing through some favourites before bringing things back down with a long slow cover (didn't recognize it) and then playing 3 new songs out of 5 to close. BUT new stuff sounded great and we accosted one of the dudes after the show and he said they have just recorded a bunch of the new material, which is exciting. couple songs sounded like wire to me, i dunno.

coming in late. this fucking rules. pavement refs make sense to me cuz "master of my craft" has a definite pavement by way of modern lovers/early slashrecs vibe. not derivative, but suggestive of. they

dug a few fergus & geronimo songs early on (esp "blind muslim girl", the single version of "powerful loving" and "never satisfied"). this is much better though.

also: yummy fur! heard of but not heard. "deathclub" (linked way upthread) is astounding.

they

i can't tell how much i like this band vs. how much i just miss bands that sound like this...

― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, January 22, 2013 1:30 PM (3 months ago)

^^^ yeah, i was wondering earlier today how much of my enjoyment comes from just missing bands like this so much.

― HAPPY BDAY TOOTS (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, January 22, 2013 1:43 PM (3 months ago)

this weirds me out a little, cuz there's no shortage of similar bands out there. first that springs to mind are/were the soft pack (who started out as muslims, a much better name). also whatever brains outta NC. not the same, but occupying an adjacent ballpark.

muslims:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMF5A2oMDeE

whatever brains:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mzymn_4B5o

i like both those bands too, whatever brains more than the soft pack

I'll have to check out Whatever Brains. I liked the last Soft Pack record. But I don't think they really have the same vibe as Parquet Courts.

yeah soft pack are more like classic garage rock, whatever brains are more noise-punk weirdos, neither is quite as 90s-nostalgia-bait as parquet courts in my mind

i like the soft pack ok but parquet courts is way more interesting than the soft pack

speedy ortiz are super 90s nostalgia bait in a different style from parquet courts

actually maybe not that different

hope y'all like my piece :)))))0

heh someone was playing this in a record shop i went into this evening, and i thought it was a feelies alb i somehow didn't know, until i asked and was enlightened

they need anton fier, tho

New EP is good. A little more muscular.

Is that "Tally All The Things You Broke"? Seems like I heard this all before.

just bought it! i don't care if it's samey; i could listen to this sound forever.

"You've Got Me Wonderin Now" and "The More It Works" are both great.

On Jimmy Fallon tv show tonight

any idea what they'll be playing? stoned and starving i guess...

borrowed time ftw.

I can't tell if the long track on the new EP is awesome or garbage. Maybe it's awesome garbage.

that's the one that sounds kinda like beck? it's okay. i decided i like the first two tracks a lot but i can take or leave the rest.

playing here next weekend with destruction unit - weird match-up but i'm stoked

they were so good last time i saw them live

both bands were good-to-meh

New EP is good. A little more muscular.

― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Thursday, September 26, 2013 7:00 PM

they were much louder and noisier at this show. more shouting, more punk. there was even a pit at this show. that might have been down to the venue.

started with something slow, that i think was new. i thought it was painfully bad.

i have to admit i liked all of the old songs better than all of the new songs. they did a kind of motorik stretching-out of the ends of some of the old songs which was cool. i think it would be cool if they explored that direction a bit more.

fuck, i love all thse records:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G78dxojn8I

wow never seen that Fall video before! did not know they worked with Clark that early.

I just heard about em, so the bloom should be coming off shortly

“The music we play, it’s kind of like a quaint relic,” Mr. Brown said. “I feel a responsibility to show them, look what we’re doing. I’m hammered drunk right now and having a blast, and I’m playing a guitar, and there are no laptops onstage. It makes me feel old.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/arts/music/parquet-courts-proudly-hews-to-tradition.html

Driving over to Memphis to see them tomorrow night.

Just gonna drop this here re: Stoned & Starving because it's the very first thing that came to my mind upon hearing and I haven't seen it referenced yet either in interviews or on the mixtapes of likes/influences the band has made avail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma0gZAgIkfw

nice track

Fave part of the new album is the guitar solo on "Ducking & Dodging."

They really like to stay on one chord for a long time.

that makes me even more excited for this release

"Raw Milk" chorus is not just a Sonic Youth homage but a Dirty-era Lee Ranaldo Sonic Youth homage.

i had a similar thought (tho less specific than your thought)

It's like exactly halfway between "Theresa's Sound World" and "Sugar Kane."

I do like this band btw, if my tone was unclear.

"instant disassembly" reminds me of stoner-cowboy '70s dylan. it's a good look.

here's what i say about "duckin and dodgin" in my review, which will be up this week:

“Duckin and Dodgin,” which appears late in the album, is a dark horse: it’s the one people may forget about since it’s immediately after “Instant Disassembly.” The structure of the spoken-word meter has shades of Sonic Youth’s beatnik-cum-tribal “Making the Nature Scene” but has more spiritual connectivity with John Doe’s barkier moments with X. Parquet Courts’ biggest musical signifier, as diverse as the sounds can be, is first-generation punk, and that’s what “Duckin and Dodgin” gives us — the speed and lean build of those early UK singles, triple-filtered through someone’s memories of Dylan busting through pop culture and language conventions in the haze of an amphetamine binge.

i agree with pitchfork.
the new one is so much better than the previous which i didn't care about really.

fuuuuuck this album is so good. gonna be listening to this all summer

yeah i'm digging this

So far I think I like "Light Up Gold" more, it was a little songier and more of a pleasant surprise, but the new one could grow on me. I really like the lyrics.

new one sounds pretty good but the idea that it's much better than the first is o_O

Yeah, I dunno, I'm not feeling the new one as much.

"ducking & dodging" is what i assume all hold steady songs sound like.

Ha ha NOPE

only 1+ listens but i'm impressed at how different it is from the first album. definitely a gear i wasn't sure they had.

Man that Chrisma song andrew m. posted is absolutely killer - thanks for that! Got it on repeat!

Ok this new one is pretty boring. Couple of winners, but not enough hooks!

yuppp

I stan hard for both the Modern Lovers and Pavement -- the most obvious reference points here imo -- and this has all their signifiers but none of their charm.

On first listen, I don't like this as much as the previous album or EP. Will give it a chance though.

fuuuuuck this album is so good. gonna be listening to this all summer

― global tetrahedron, Wednesday, June 4, 2014 7:17 AM (4 weeks ago)

http://thequietus.com/articles/15777-parquet-courts-sunbathing-animal-review

This is my fave album of the year. I certainly don't think it's a bad facsimile of Pavement. I mean I hear a lot of bands in their sound and it doesn't detract from my enjoyment. You seem to be hung up on originality all the time which probably isn't the best attitude when reviewing a rock album in the '10s. There's some great lyrics on this record as well but you make no mention of that.

This record reminds me a lot more of Swell Maps than Pavement. "Instant Disassembly" is an instant classic but I kinda miss the tunefulness of the first LP and EP a lot of the time. It feels like a record that was written on tour - don't know if it was. It's got that road-weary vibe and the emphasis on stuff that would translate well on stage. Feel like they were aiming a lot more for one specific mode that on previous releases.

I think the tunes are stronger on this one tbh.

Huh- apparently it was written on tour:

Vocalist and guitarist Austin Brown stated, "We had to kind of squeeze recording in between long runs of touring; whenever we had a couple of weeks off, we’d try to arrange a few days in the studio."... Many of the album's lyrics were written whilst on tour in support of Light Up Gold.

I swear I hadn't read that before posting.

Sorry meant to post the link too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunbathing_Animal

this was my review -- without knowing for sure that it was written on tour, that was my guess.

http://www.redefinemag.com/2014/parquet-courts-sunbathing-animal-album-review-whats-rupture/

I like all the songs on the Sunbathing Animal when they come up individually on shuffle - it's just hearing them all at once that gets a bit too samey for me. But then again, I have the same issue with canonical bands like The Fall, so maybe it's me.

this doesn't do much for me.

yup

still loving this, tho taking it in measured doses so as to extend shelf life. agree that it's hard to avoid framing PC w/o ref to pavement, similarities are unavoidable, but maybe it's more about how comfortably the quarts would have slotted into "indie rock" as it was conceived circa 92-?, pavement's shining moment. the sound they're working isn't so completely tied down, owing to the velvets, television, modern lovers, swell maps, feelies, sonic youth even. moderns digging the same hole: eddy current suppression ring, tyvek (also on wyr? no surprise). i suppose it's that pavement are the end of that line, or seem like it from here, something about the early 00s "rock revival" making every too-similar subsequent feel like a cargo cult, heyday gazing.

that's unfair, of course. the appearance of one moment from another isn't definitive, just transitional perspective. but PC do make a rather fastidious point of not adding anything to the corpus that wasn't already present. even the meta stuff & in-joke self-mockery are straight pavement, the overheard strains of "the last classic rock band" dialed in from "fillmore jive". do like the noisier moments on this one, give it some cute, scrappy, fuck-you swagger, again unavoidably nostalgic. and the lyrics are, at least occasionally, excellent, "instant disassembly" being the obvious standout. would like to see them fuck with the formula just a little bit, but they're just getting started, so it seems boorish to complain.

yeah, pavement are just the final point of a postpunk/art rock continuum and the references to them w/r/t parquet courts are definitely overstated, but it'd be a lie to say they're not an influence.

I tried to get a mate into them and he said he likes the music (reminds him of the fall and pavement) but thought the guys vocals were terrible and had no character. i thought it was an odd criticism tbh. i like the guys vocals fwiw - the bug-eyed and breathless vocals on "sunbathing animal" and malkmus-ian slacker drawl on "dear ramona".

There are two vocalists actually, but I can't always tell them apart.

"Uncast Shadow of a Southern Myth"?

not gonna point out the obvious pavement reference

Ok don't

couldn't help it

a Teenage Cool Kids cover

This has grown on me quite a bit. I still skip the first track, but otherwise I play this straight through.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve5SV0Ufxu4

Hey this new one is great! I even like the 'These Boots' cover. It's all nicely textured

Yeah, Content Nausea at first listen is more immediately appealing than Sunbathing Animal was.

wow, i'm happy about this new one...i loved the first stuff then sunbathing animal made me doubt the whole thing like "why did i like this band again" but content nausea is awesome

saw them last weekend. blown off the stage by Horse Lords, but most bands are no match. went in not knowing PC very well (my brother is a massive fan), but now I've listened to "Borrowed Time" probably ten times in a row. phenomenal song, cant wait to get my copy of LIGHT UP GOLD in the mail

ok i didn't know horse lords, this band fucking rules wow

Indeed, that Horse Lords record is great. Hope I get to see them live soon, all reports suggest that they are supremely cool in the live context.

ok i didn't know horse lords, this band fucking rules wow

― Wu-Tang Clannad (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, January 27, 2015 12:26 PM (15 minutes ago)

+!!!

this is like an evolution of sweep the leg johnny

I'm confused, how does this band relate to PC?

played a show w/, do keep up.

i mean track 1 just busted into bongo beat breakdown and i am not only still on board, i am more on board than ever. the fuck you say.

that one time

I'm 4 minutes into the first song and it's amazing. I'm going out tomorrow and buying this album.

this reminds me of Nomo a bit too

Horse Lords are insanely cool

yes, amazing

Horse Lords

get the mixtapes first

wow the new ep fucking sucks

the new ep is awesome, but no one gets it

is it a joke?

i like the cover art

Wow... I like this band even more than I thought.

Noodley instrumentals for the most part - easily their least essential release.

I enjoyed the live album

the new ep is awesome, but no one gets it

*best read in the disaffected voice of a clerk behind a record store counter in 1997*

i bought it blind because Content Nausea was so good, what a waste of fifteen bucks

it sounds like an experiment in being really boring, either that or they now have opted Blur's 'A Spell (For Money)' b-side as a career template

Annoying and boring, absolutely. Garbage noise jams. What a waste of a cool cover & title.

Never buy anything blind! Seems perhaps significant that it's their first release on Rough Trade. Kind of like a "Look we can release whatever we want to, the label has no control over us" move maybe.

I bought some of my favorite records ever blind - I can't remember ever feeling this gipped! And if that's the idea (I think you're right), they really are fucking daft. Who is the gesture meant for? It's not like Metal Machine Music, it's just irritating and tuneless practice jams that should've never been put to vinyl. They're not even bad in an interesting way, they're just loud and boring. Eager to hear whatever meta-commentary they had in mind though, cuz now im just peeved.

How very punk of them.

Hi, I likes the new e.p.

What do you like about it? I want to like it. I want to justify my fifteen bucks.

It has "Sweet Sister Ray", krautrock, oh what does it have? All sorts.

Saw them tonight. Haven't been keeping up with their releases - loved Light Up Gold and was kind of unimpressed with the Tally EP (tho a pre-show relisten proved it a lot better & more fun than I'd remembered). At first I was like, "what's the deal with these guys? Isn't there a band or 2 in every town that's just this good?" but as the set wore on I found myself really impressed with how much they do with a pretty limited palette and bag of tricks. They kept me engaged for an hour, which at my age & when bed is calling is pretty impressive in my books. I don't think the drummer played one real fill the whole night (YEAH) and the Dave Grohl-looking bass player was really really good - solid and nimble, just like I like 'em. Will def be back on the bandwagon now.

^^^saw them last night, a great time, new stuff sounded pretty good.

Was just reading about the explanation of "Uncast Shadow": “That’s a totally true story about having a gun pulled out on us, and the guy who used that gun in Mississippi ended up killing a guy,” he reveals. “That was the reason I was able to finish it – this guy Paul MacLeod had this 24-hour psychotic Elvis worship museum in his house in Mississippi called Graceland Too, and the third time we went to visit him he pulled a gun out on us because Austin asked him if he had one; I’d already been writing that song about him, but when he killed that guy and I realised that he would have killed the guy with that same gun, that’s what made me finish the song.”

http://www.npr.org/2014/08/17/340792495/with-its-eccentric-owner-gone-what-to-do-with-graceland-too

New songs are great. This is going to be their best record

where can I hear it?

it's certainly better than that shit EP

Two songs with official videos up on Youtube. I like the Berlin one.

still not as good as Light Up Gold. Austin Brown's are still way better

*Austin Brown's songs

I'm definitely an Andrew Savage partisan, but it's nice they have two songwriters with distinct styles. The "Content Nausea EP" has slowly supplanted "Light up Gold" as my favorite of their releases.

I agree, they're stronger for it. My favorite song besides "Borrowed Time" is "Everyday It Starts," killer song.

"Borrowed Time" is definitely one of their best. That's a Savage song, isn't it? Sometimes I have trouble telling their voices apart. I like how "Everyday It Starts" begins so minimalist and then builds and gets more interesting. Brown does write interesting song structures, whereas Savage's tend to be more verse-chorus-verse, though Savage's voice and lyrics are more memorable for me, and they tend to rock a bit harder.

The new album is out today. Anyone else listening yet? Feeling the opener. And Velvet Underground vibe on One Man No City. Especially during the extended solo. Total VU drone going on too.

so this album is pretty good

"Berlin Got Blurry" sounds a great deal like The Saints' "A Minor Aversion," so is this their Eternally Yours? I'd be excited to hear their Prehistoric Sounds next.

yeah this is good

This is dece but is still a runner-up to & lacks the hooks of Light Up Gold.

Yeah I feel the same. I think Sunbathing Animal is better as well actually.

yeah. only track i keep coming back to is "Steady on My Mind." light up gold is the most consistent but with all their records there are only a couple songs that stick for me.

good on them for being so prolific, though.

so this album is pretty good

feel that this level of enthusiasm is pegging red where the quarts are concerned

and i like them alright

it's weird that a band can have so many albums and yet not one riff

they have a couple great ones: drop D riff that comes in halfway thru "Everyday It Starts" and the chorus lick in "Borrowed Time."

There's loads of great riffs on Light Up Gold - Stoned & Starving, Tears O Plenty for starters - I can't really recall a single one on the new album after 3 listens, that's my problem with it.

Um,the 'dust' one for a kickoff?

I would like to like this band more. In some ways they remind me of Butterglory (who I also thought were pretty good, fwiw) in that they're doing moderately catchy tricks with the basic elements of the indie rock playbook, but not really bringing anything hugely exciting to the table. I sort of hope that they stay popular-ish, keep churning out releases, and eventually stumble across something that makes them a great band.

This might be my favorite of their releases yet. Feel like they're working a really rich vein right now.

This is the first of their releases I keep coming back to. Have only ever streamed any of the records, to be fair, but I've possibly already felt compelled to listen to this more times than any of the others. Unfortunate though that 'Already Dead', which currently comes up as the (quite appealing) opener on Spotify, is seemingly absent from physical copies.

Is it not the last track?

Not on my CD it's not, digital bonus track according to Wikipedia.

oh.

It's marked as 'digital only' and as track 1 in Spotify in my part of the world. Someone will likely correct that any instant but it's a pleasingly 'WTF?' way to start the album while it lasts.

There's loads of great riffs on Light Up Gold - Stoned & Starving, Tears O Plenty for starters - I can't really recall a single one on the new album after 3 listens, that's my problem with it.

How bout that Spanish surf of "Berlin Got Blurry"?

Not sure the new album is really about riffs, but the songs seem to hold together well. "Steady on My Mind" seems almost a reprise of "No Idea" from Light Up Gold. That picked guitar figure is very similar.

http://www.avclub.com/article/parquet-courts-sean-yeaton-hates-don-mcleans-arrog-234698

This feature is usually terrible and it's insanely long but I loled pretty heartily at this:

The backward example of it is Chumbawamba. They’re famous for that “Tubthumping” song, but their roots are in anarcho-punk and Crass Records and shit. They have a 7-inch EP that’s fucking phenomenal anarcho-crust-punk. It’s a great record of truly political fucked-up awesome punk rock music. I use it as a party trick. I love busting it out and being like, “Guess who this is.” And they’re like, “I don’t know! Who is it? I’m hammered drunk!” I’m like, “It’s Chumbawamba!” And they’re like, “Who cares?!” But I care. It’s awesome.

Which record does he mean though?

this is great. they have either moved away from or haven't got the kind of individual stand outs from light up gold anymore but the overall level of the songs is so high. i think with content nausea they achieved consistency at the expense of the variety of light up gold and the latest has managed both.

performance with Bun B!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXbbiuhVzYA

wow

is there a Judgment Night remake coming out?

i realized i listened to this when it came out, liked it, and completely forgot about it

nothing really stands out on this one to me, but it's very nice throughout

I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I only really like the Savage songs, but there's a lot of good ones on this album.

The other guy did write Master Of My Craft tho

I like this album; it's about the only album recorded by white guys playing guitars that might make my ballot.

If you like this album you should check out the new Tyvek. A little noisier but in the same vein and very good

The other guy did write Master Of My Craft tho

He's written a lot of good ones, but on this album, I'm not feeling them as much.

tyvek sounds nice too! def more noisy

borrowed time is a perfect song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLa5n3frfR4

sounds good!

often feel Danger Mouse softens the edges too much, but here it's fitting

did we already talk about A. Savage's solo album in here? thread bump reminded me of it. got a promo email about it maybe a month ago, it's called Thawing Dawn, out October 13th.

https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/595ffe9a850f7f5d01b52db7/master/pass/DT020web.jpg

Didn't know about that Savage solo album. Will be looking forward to it. Not immediately sold on the teaser track, but the concept is interesting.

Love that single and Wild Wild horses.
Looks like a very interesting solo album.

Can we talk about how good is the new A Savage solo album is?

Sort of like Bill Callahan meets John Cale. Great producrion too..

Thanks for reminding me it's out now. Will give it a listen.

given the constant pavement comparisons it's funny how much the first song on this sounds like range life

that record does indeed sound great

Yes, i'm surprised it doesn't get much publication.

enthusiasm for them peaked with Light Up Gold, I think. I like em decently, they're good for 3-4 great songs per record, I but I find them frustratingly mediocre and, especially in Savage's case, totally lacking in self-awareness & a sense of humor. Still haven't listened to his solo record, will tonight. Encouraged by posts here.

I loved them live. Also I thought Monastic Living was grebt but admittedly I only listened to it once. Loud.

First take on this new one is that there's a thin line between good A. Savage and bad A. Savage, and he doesn't always know where it is, but the good stuff is pretty good.

buried review at p4k today, still have to listen to this https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/a-savage-thawing-dawn/

the linked track in that review is great

AllMusic review of Milano by Daniele Luppi/Parquet Courts

sounds p good to me, they sure have a recognizable style

i love the record with luppi. just 9 songs over half an hour but all of them great.

Great new song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-Bka7yNyKA

Wide Awake! - May 18, 2018

01 Total Football
02 Violence
03 Before the Water Gets Too High
04 Mardi Gras Beads
05 Almost Had to Start a Fight/In and Out of Patience
06 Freebird II
07 Normalization
08 Back to Earth
09 Wide Awake
10 NYC Observation
11 Extinction
12 Death Will Bring Change
13 Tenderness

https://pitchfork.com/news/parquet-courts-announce-new-album-produced-by-danger-mouse-share-new-song-listen/?mbid=homepage-more-latest-and-video

love the cover too

http://cdn.pastemagazine.com/www/articles/Parquet%20Courts%20Wide%20Awake%20Art.jpg

feeling optimistic about this one. my favorite PC songs are the rockers. they've had a pretty weak batting average per album but the songs I love but them I really love ("Borrowed Time" and "Everyday It Starts"). an album full of songs like that first single could make their best work yet.

that's a great double single but announce-new-album-produced-by-danger-mouse is one of my least favorite url's to feature the name of an artist I like - his productions are so lifeless and rounded... I guess maybe he's nice to work with

v strong roxy music vibes on "pretty prizes" and i'm v here for it

i saw his wallet
out on the table
grab on the way out
if i am able
he fancies new things
for his collection
but they inspire in time
like his erection

expire, not inspire

haha u right

that's from the daniele luppi/parquet courts btw fyi

Oooh love this. The production sounds like...every other Parquet Courts song.

saw them the other night and dug the addition of electric 12-string on several of the new songs. Also re: Roxy Music vibes A Savage was wearing a jacket with CPL593H on the back. Fun show, Austin chatted to the crowd for a while about The Crown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZXS8Jpkiac

new video is really something

Awful song

I think vid makes it seem more awful than it is, harmless Talking Heads parody or whatever, with that dull dull Dangermouse production

but the video is some OK Go shit

maybe it'll get them some new fans

Max Savage looks quite a lot like Nigel from Half Man Half Biscuit

Didn't watch the video, song is great tho imo. great bass playing. i'm just glad they're doing a totally uptempo record, human performance was zzzzzzz for the most part.

That video... These guys feel so uncool all of a sudden. And that's relevant/notable only because A. Savage seemed obsessed w/retaining "cred" in the wake of LUG.... It felt like they were constantly psyching themselves out. And now here they are.

they were always painfully uncool imo, serious tryhards that never succeeded. they're a really awkward band. but they have some great songs.

“LUG” is one of my favorite albums of the decade... it felt almost visionary, like a perfectly realized thing. They’ve had some other songs I’ve really liked, but I’ve accepted the fact that that album was some kind of special deal.

I think they’ve always been pretty inconsistent. I loved LUG but tbh there were always songs I felt like skipping. The hit to miss ratio has its ups and downs but I don’t think they’ve ever made the album that fully realizes the potential of their best songs.

“Pretty Machines: The Very Best of Parquet Courts” (Rhino, 2025)

I think they’ve always been pretty inconsistent. I loved LUG but tbh there were always songs I felt like skipping. The hit to miss ratio has its ups and downs but I don’t think they’ve ever made the album that fully realizes the potential of their best songs.

Donuts is the one song on LUG that’s maaayyybe skippable for me

Side 2 of “LUG” is for the true headz (lol)

Another later song I love is “Pathos Prairie.” Savage is such a gifted songwriter. Some of those Teenage Cool Kids tracks also knock me out. It’s like he has the ability to write & record these perfect indie-rock songs, but is afraid of turning into the Strokes or something, so he “roughs things up” a lot, with varying degrees of success.

agree that it seems they're not going to top LUG anytime soon, but there's been good songs on all their records (side projects included) and they def have an instantly recognizable sound (that, in a way, probably comes down to the songwriting)

After spending a short while with LUG when it was new, I remember thinking that in the future people would be saying it was their best or only good one. Just knew they wouldn't make another album in that style and fair enough really

man I love Human Performance

human performance is my favourite, LUG not far behind. sunbathing animal is a step down from both but still has a bunch of great songs

Loved stoned and starving and everyday it starts but this new vibe is like some indie band synthesized in the adult swim laboratory or something

Yes, that’s a perfect description...

And the fact that AS’s lyrics tend to be so stridently-yet-vaguely “oppositional” (or whatever) sort of increases the dissonance.

Yeah, that new video and song are pretty atrocious.

Oof...

https://youtu.be/yLzs8SWLRoA

"I can't believe I used to like these guys."

http://www.the80smovieclub.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/repo-man-circle-jerks.jpg

such a weird direction to go

wish them all the best ofc

but can we just enjoy this once more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACj-F63GK_M

I thought this was a “shreds” video for a minute

Wow, they have kind of turned into that joke band from the tv show Love. (the one that plays theme songs to movies that never had theme songs).

i'm into the Ellen performance. why not you know? song is OK

not sure why they are promoting this song so hard but ppl on this thread need to clam down. the first song they released off the new record is outstanding so i'm not going to join ppl jumping off a bridge just yet

clam or calm, both ok

This song/video/performance etc. feels to me like they suddenly wanted/needed to "make it big"; wracked their brains to figure out how to achieve that goal; suddenly remembered a style that worked for some bands in 2003; and are now trying... so... hard... to make it work for them.

And I have zero problem about bands I like "making it big" (heck - the bigger, the better)... but I watch/listen to this and I am embarrassed for them.

I definitely cringed and am thinking that this is no way to make a case for the mediocre white men.

I'm not sure their aspirations for this song are anything grander than being able to do things like play on Ellen, which they seem to have accomplished.

yeah

horrible song and performance

Damn that's literally the worst music I ever heard and def the dumbest bassline of all time jeeze Louise p.u.

The shots of Ellen crowd white ppl dancing is icing

I'm not sure their aspirations for this song are anything grander than being able to do things like play on Ellen, which they seem to have accomplished.

I suspect their goal is to have the song placed in one or more national advertising campaigns. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Bands gotta eat.)

this is a much better showcase (they do of course also play old songs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF1WRB9zRAM

The first song reminds me of that (half-)tongue-in-cheek old D.C. band No Trend -- except PC are "serious," I guess.

Dude reminds me of a Fred Armisen character.

Nice groove at the end.

Thanks for posting this! The first song sounds like a classic Minutemen-riff/cover - really good.

I can understand the criticism up to a point about a more "$$$" approach. I remember reading an interview after the release of the Monastic Living EP where they said something along the lines of "we are touring all the time without making any money".

have to admit my heart kinda sank when the curtain went up and I saw that back line of extra players. The song itself is pretty meh, but it does seem like a weirdly clumsy careerist move, like it isn't as terrible as, say, the last Yeah Yeah Yeahs album but why do this now.

dude doesn't look like Armisen, he looks like a McPoyle fwiw

A. Savage is one of the strangest frontmen i've ever seen live. at once so awkward and vicious. they are very good live, i wonder if they're bringing any extra players on tour.

LOL

i know this board is not big fans of Tame Impala but they are doing, do something completely different with much better results. not a fan of that clip/song.

Hope the record will be more like the 1st single and (much) less like the 2nd one

yeah Almost Had To Start a Fight is good

new song & video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iir8HyAKqQM

Sounds a little like an R.E.M. song

(specifically, one w/Mike Mills vox - like "Texarkana")

Boring

Always liked the Savage songs better

Sounds a little like an R.E.M. song

Yes, I can definately hear Peter Buck´s signature strumming style. But why are they teasing so many songs? I prefer to have the album release now.

Boring

― nostormo

yup. i'm pretty evenly split on Savage & Brown, i think they both have a lot of duds.

First half of the record is good. 2nd half is sometime boring sometime just plain bad.

Sounds like a Parquet Courts album

Mmm..i think HP was better. More homogenic.
Though Total Football and Had To Start A Fight are some of their best records

The Austin Brown songs are the weakest link i think.

They try new sounds and genres here but they should stick with what they know best if they asked me which of course they won't lol

what they know best = that well is pretty dry

Yes they are not the greatest/most original band but i like them enough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqZTK_NneOA

there's a lot to like about the new record but it is pretty weird, and i'd say willfully incoherent. the title track certainly isn't the only thing they try that doesn't quite land. it's early still but i suspect this won't be an album of theirs that i put on start to finish too often in the long term.

the idea of playing white funk by injecting slap bass bores me, but, yes, ,I hear enough weirdness on this album to keep me listening. I like the mid tempo and ballads best ("Mardi Gras Beads").

i like mardi gras beads a lot, his other couple tracks i am less sure about so far. one thing with austin is that when he has an idea for a song he never writes it just once.

How are these guys live?

they've been great every time i've seen them, altho the last time now was the tour for sunbathing animal. but i am seeing them tomorrow nite at a slightly larger venue so i can report back after that.

please do!

decent review here https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/parquet-courts-wide-awake/

I'm not a huge Parquet Courts fan, but this new album is a step in a good direction, especially some of the more keyboard-heavy tracks.

Yeah that last song with the piano is my favourite so far (only after 2 listens though)

I found that Pfork review totally baffling

i thought it was great but mike powell's one of my fav music writers

I'm finding Savage's vocals sort of unbearable at this point.

I listened to half of that p4k concert yesterday afternoon, all new songs I think, sounded good.

show last night was great. the best i have seen them, afaicr. they were very on, lots of energy, seemed to be enjoying themselves. the new songs sounded very good, total football was an explosive opener. even inspired the always-embarrassing indie mosh. fuck tom brady was unexpectedly well received (in boston). interesting setlist overall, mostly stayed away from the singles from previous records but they are still playing master of my craft>borrowed time and light up gold ii, god bless them. we got a very loud, extended jam, audience participation version of wide awake which even to me sounds horrible as i type it but was honestly incredible, like they were leaning in to the ridiculousness of it. minor quibble would be that they biased the sound towards the loud songs so those really popped but the more midtempo stuff lost something. even so, i think austin's songs are always a bit more convincing live, and mardi gras beads was a highlight.

anyway, highly recommended. so glad i went, as i had been on the fence and in the end only really decided to go because of the support (goat girl - also terrific)

that's good to hear about borrowed time & show overall, would def see them again

Can't believe all the hate upthread for Wide Awake -- I think it's their best album since LUG.

At least each of the other intervening LPs had one or two great songs that I would put on a playlist or something. They’ve completely lost me here.

Even the all-offending title track isn't that bad

Unofficial anthem of World Cup '18

FUCK TOM BRADY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP9l9HBJ1o0

panini design in the video is a delight

so, how awesome are they?

That is one of the best lyrics video I’ve seen in my life.

SUAC!

(That's "Stands up and claps" which probably doesn't exist but hey)

So I cooled hugely on this band when I heard Sunbathing Animal... BUT this album is really really really good fun.

Do people hate the title track? It's a highlight for me

Mardi Gras Beads = Range Life. Not my favourite on the record. But as a whole, the record has this cut-up chocolate box selection vibe that kind of reminds me of Check Your Head for some reason

the Wide Awake song grew on me, still find the Dangermouse production useless and off-putting - just adds low end, rounds the bass, softens everything, a slightly weaker version

no doubt this will be fun live

wide awake (the song) has grown on me too

I like all their albums bar "human performance" which was kinda dreary - "Berlin got blurry" is a good track from it though

It was the song that stood out when I first heard it, but then I'm very susceptible to tracks where bands deviate wildly from their usual style, and also lightweight whiteboy new wave funk, so

Wide Awake the song is pretty inoffensive, was never getting the 'worst song ever' vibes as mentioned upthread. The video seemed to be the most annoying element (didn't bother me)

i mean, it's hilarious and tongue-in-cheek and self-deprecating and manages to self-consciously out-do LCD Soundsystem at their own game in just a couple of minutes, so for me it's win/win

i can see how people would hate it for those exact reasons but if i wanted to hear more Pavement nostalgia I'd reach for Sparkle Hard

That's the thing -- LCD needs to go away, not get outdone.

i'm not even a big fan of LCD - can take or leave them, but it's a jam and it would fit right into a mix between the Rapture and Lescop

Specifically:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HP04nfUi4g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njpw2PVb1c0

also makes for light relief about 3/4s into the album

new album is A+

i think i missed one but this is their best album

their name probably put me off back when it came out, but man, this debut LP is incredible

Are you speaking of Light Up Gold, or American Specialties (their actual debut, but hard to imagine it considered incredible)?

oh, hmmm (checks spotify) — “light up gold/tally”

👍

debut LP indeed a little wonder

"caster of worthless spells" is an amazing alien lanes-era GBV song

listen to the new one

counterpoint: stop at “Light Up Gold”

2ounterpoint: listen to Light Up Gold, Sunbathing Animal, Content Nausea

New one is so much better than Human Performance.

The new album is great and all of their albums are worth listening to.

Light Up/Tally

One disc is all great, one is halfhalf. Trouble being, the 'wrong' one would get random play in the car and would get ej.

The new one, still getting the "Wow who is this? Oh yeah, of course"

I drank right from your tears of plenty and
I exchanged all the gifts you sent me
Dreary beats over fast rapped verses
Leaked through windows in hatchback hearses

The new one is my favorite record of the year, by a pretty wide margin.

its perfect

yeah ok I need to listen to it

The one that finally brought me around to them after several false starts.

#2 ou #3 for me, beaten only by Camp Cope and maybe Graveyard

saw their show recently & it was really fun

Just went back to revisit to Light Up Gold, and I was thinking that I actually like their new album better... that maybe my tastes have matured along with the band.
Then "Stoned and Starving" came on, and I had that "oh, yeah" moment.

Anyway, glad to see Wide Awake getting some love on this thread after a rocky start.

Wow! What are you guys hearing in this record?

I like it but don't love it... yet

Praising its topicality is the easy line, but it's still gnomic in places if that's how you want'em. To my ears it's no better or worse than the others, which means it's damn good except when they mimic DFA bands circa 2002.

yeah otm... but that's part of what bums me out about these guys. I like all of their records but love none of them. They have moments of brilliance spread out over their ... 6 or 7? albums/EPs, but there isn't one that's great all the way through imo. I'd rather have a band that alternates between great/classic records and shit/failed experiments than a consistent lukewarm streak.

See I feel like they've been "bad" before (the failed experiments), but they've never boring like this. This sounds like some band I'd hear and forget. But I also love "LUG," so I'm coming at them differently than you guys, I guess.

the lyrics are good but the topicality isn’t a draw for me

What are you guys hearing in this record?

― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Monday, July 9, 2018 1:52 PM (eleven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

every song has great hooks and the production makes them pop. imo good “punk” production often makes the band sound small, mechanical, cartooney. the basslines! tight econo songwriting. also like their voices a lot especially the more talky guy, tho the shouty guy is p great too

The use of piano is terrific too.

new one is strong the whole way flappy

They are pretty good in what they do, but bring nothing new to the table that you haven't heard before

that’s a boring way to think about music though. the most important new thing to bring to the table, is new good hooks/tunes... universe will never have too many. also this album is p innovative so idg that accusation here ?

I'm not hearing the hooks or tunes! I'll shut up now though

nostormo otm, though I don't mind when it results in songs like Borrowed Time, Everyday It Starts, Vienna II, Ducking & Dodging... but flopson yeah I need to spend more time with it, I've only listened to it while traveling.

morrisp - now I remember Monastic Living, which was definitely a failed experiment but one I admired

freebird II is the shit

maybe this won't sit with most people but when I think of other bands accused of "not bringing much new to the table" (the strokes, interpol, pretty much all of those early 00s rock revival bands), they either had singers or players that stood out, also their influences were so multitudinous that it effectively did create something new. I just don't think AS or AB are strong enough frontmen or songwriters to have outgrown their very obvious influences, often feels like cosplay. Good cosplay, but cosplay nonetheless.

interpol suck ass lol

yeah I'm really into the new one -- haven't heard anything between this and "light up gold" but there's a tenderness to a song like "free bird II" and elsewhere that I didn't think this band had in it. that song in particular is, despite the irony and acid, a really touching take on how you can appreciate and love someone (in this case his mom!) despite your relationship being full of regrets

I know I'm alone in this but Paul Banks is my favorite singer & lyricist ever. but just Bright Lights and Antics. take that as you will

One of them is quite distinctive, vocally

yeah the main vocalist is great

riyl the more taut punk stuff (‘almost had to start a fight’) on here -> ‘fast metabolism’ by tyvek, one of my fav albums of the 00s

Savage? he has brilliant moments but most of the time I find him really tiresome, also my man is flat as fuck a lot of the time, not in a good way.

"maybe this won't sit with most people but when I think of other bands accused of "not bringing much new to the table" (the strokes, interpol, pretty much all of those early 00s rock revival bands), they either had singers or players that stood out, also their influences were so multitudinous that it effectively did create something new. I just don't think AS or AB are strong enough frontmen or songwriters to have outgrown their very obvious influences, often feels like cosplay. Good cosplay, but cosplay nonetheless."

Yeah Thats what i meant with extension

human performance is my favourite, light up gold only slightly behind. i am still listening to the new one and it's still growing on me, i'd say it is catching up to a similar level. some of the tracks on the second half that seemed a little anonymous on earlier listens are grabbing my attention more now.

yeah second half isn’t as immediate

oh man he’s totally flat in a good way imo

sometimes

actually... maybe not? he's not flat in Borrowed Time, that's a song that rocks on the edge of a cliff

I have no problem with guitars or indie rock or wherever these guys fall, but whenever I play them it sounds fine and I think, man, I am so sick of guitars and indie rock. Which baffles me, because I have no problem with guitars or indie rock or wherever these guys fall.

(resists getting into an ‘indie rock’ discussion)

I have pretty much all these guys albums except the real debut and the noisy instrumental one so I’ll probably get this eventually but so far none of the songs have really grabbed me.

i like that all the objections to this album boil down to “a rock album..... in 2018??” yep

it's a rockin' vibe

Event the goofy-gnomic stuff like "NY Observation" and "Normalization" and "Back to Earth" sound like they could've fit on earlier albums but they bloom around the spacier material like "Death Will Bring Change" and "Mardi Gras Beads," the latter my favorite song this week.

This album has made me realise just how tired I'm getting of '80s revivalism and synthpop - I'm ready for a new wave of guitar music now, preferably stuff that doesn't fall into the shoegaze or metal categories.

“a rock album..... in 2018??” yep

― flopson, Monday, July 9, 2018 12:29 PM (thirty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

my two faves are the title track (yeah what Alfred?) and In and Out of Patience.

There's one song that is exactly like Range Life by Pavement

^(one of Pavement's worst songs! LOL)

The song Normalization could be on Double Nickels on the Dime.

The Minutemen are the album's biggest influence.

Freebird II is actually the Mountain Goats' Letter From Belgium II

I like Range Life

range life slays fuiud

this band rules man

^(one of Pavement's worst songs! LOL)

lol indeed

I vastly prefer Parquet Courts to Pavement in every way.

i did play this album today because of this thread, it's OK and will probably grow on me. the vocals are really, really hard to like. i did like the last one quite a bit especially "Already Dead". but to say they are better than Pavement is laughable, sorry Turrican.

this is just diametrically opposite of anything i like, though i appreciate its a well made version of, idk, all the cool 80s shit i discovered in college ... gang of four and shit

The intro of that song sounds like Range Life, the rest doesn't

I don't get the Pavement comparisons at all, Range Life pastiche not withstanding; even at their slackest, this band is much nervier and angrier than Pavement ever were. Parquet Courts are all about tension and discomfort, whereas Pavement are downright cozy. The aesthetic is just so different. About the only thing they have in common is that they're both indie rock groups composed of white dudes. Alfred's Minutemen comparison upthread is much more OTM.

I also agree that the vox are the toughest thing to like about this band. Signed, a guy who has always loved Malkmus' voice.

Light Up Gold’s front & rear cover art has sort of a Pavement-y aesthetic (appropriated images; cryptic, handwritten scrawls; etc.); but it’s largely misdirection.

Even the Teenage Cool Kids album, which deals more heavily in established “indie” styles, doesn’t really have a Pavement-y song IIRC.

they have more tension & angst than the Minutemen, tho not nearly as much as Husker Du. somewhere in the middle? closer to the Minutemen

the Pavement similarities are all in the artwork and the song titles (Uncast Shadow of a Southern Myth, all the II songs, Instant Disassembly, N Dakota, Total Football, Disney P.T.)

The new album definitely gets away from the Pavement sounds, but I don't get how you can't hear their influence on the previous albums.

yeah it's pretty obvious

Re: “Uncast Shadow...” — isn’t there a song on that album that’s basically a straight-up Silver Jews homage?

xpost – where do you guys hear it specifically? Which songs?

yeah it's there but it's Sonic Youth too, I don't know why that comparison doesn't get brought up more often

certainly the song N Dakota sounds like a Pavement ballad, Donuts Only sounds like a Spiral song, but when they really rock, it's more tense and on edge than Pavement ever really were

“Donuts Only” = Sprial maybe only in the sense that it’s the least good song on that album, LOL(!)

the album sounds just like Roisin Murphy imo

xp lol yes otm

there must be a thread for albums that have a band's best song followed by one of their worst (Borrowed Time -> Donuts Only)

whereas Pavement are downright cozy...

it's more tense and on edge than Pavement ever really were

really feelin the coziness on this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CbCTtVvOU8

weird opinions on Pavement in this thread

Haha, “Recorder Grot” is a pretty atypical Pavement song...

I agree there was a certain tension in their early stuff, tho (including S&E)

I changed my mind: this reminds me of Color Me Badd

Also (xpost to myself), I think even Pavement's "abrasive, punky stuff" is somehow on an entirely different tip than PC's "abrasive, punky stuff"

entirely possible, I haven't heard enough PC to say, I just think it's a mischaracterization to act like all Pavement made was their last two records of cozy mid-tempo guitar rock

I would be very surprised if the members of Parquet Courts don't each own a copy of Slanted and Enchanted

they all have the vinyl and only use it to roll j's on.

+1

Parquet Courts sound like Shannon imo

It's almost like Parquet Courts is embarrassed of the "weedy guy in a cardigan" side of Pavement and deliberately het up their sound to void that stigma. I'm not sure they'll ever make as tuneful and shameless a Pavement-inspired album as for instance The Stevens "Good", which is a pity.

I’m thinking some itt have not heard any of malk/pave’s music. “steady on my mind” for example (the song I happen to be listening now) is basically a song from “mirror traffic”

Solo Malk doesn’t sound much like Pavement!

For reference, here are a few random songs that “sound like Pavement”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvNnu3NYKuU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR1xCjL0mXE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR1xCjL0mXE (start at 1:05)

Whoops, this was supposed to be #2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9yeYGbugwc

I think I hear a lot of different malk eras in their records. I’ll give more examples later

I maintain that "Evergladed" by Sammy is the best Pavement ripoff ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJOwsOfQgFs

That’s the Sammy from Long Island, the biz kids? I didn’t know they had a release on Smells Like... thought they went straight to the majors, LOL

I'm pretty sure they're from Florida, I heard the song at the end of a Kelly Reichardt movie called River of Grass from 1994.

oh lol nvm, yeah New York: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_(band)

I wanna make fun of this guy, but being a junior label exec by day and playing in a Pavement soundalike band by night would have been my dream early-20s lifestyle, too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Wood

Wow, I had no idea about his subsequent career. I got a *lot* of mileage out of that Smells Like... Sammy LP as a youngster.

I, too, learned not that long ago that one of the guys from the all-time greatest Pavement rip-off band, Sammy, is now a millionaire music industry executive. smh, as the kids say.

this sent me to YouTube to revisit some of their stuff. another one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnZ7PxuyqbU

This is some serious hair splitting going on here. Does that happen any time someone incants the name Pavement?

Of course you can find songs that sound *more* like pavement, from the mid-90's, when everyone had similar production and guitar effects, but still, if you're not hearing *any* similarity than you're probably standing too close.
Some of the DNA from "Conduit For Sale"/"Hit the Plane Down" surely made its way into "Donuts Only" (or from "Two States" -> "Dust", or from "Here"/"Zurich is Stained" -> "Human Performance")
That said, I do agree with zchyrs that i hear more minutemen in there.

Also, for the folks who think Turrican is crazy for saying PC are better than pavement, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you were probably aged between 15 and 25 when you discovered pavement, but you're over 35 now, and it's a hell of a lot harder for new bands to get admitted to the canon.

Bands can share DNA (such as “postpunk” DNA, for the first batch of songs you mentioned) without particularly sounding like each other. I understand that sounds like splitting hairs... anyway, it’s just something fun to talk about / debate.

over 35...and it's a hell of a lot harder for new bands to get admitted to the canon.

OTM. Yet Parquet Courts have made my personal canon. I'd even go as far as saying A. Savage is the best millennial rocker.

I don't listen to much rock these days but I make exceptions for these:

Parquet Courts
Sacred Paws
Ought
Big Thief
Future Islands
Lescop
Algiers

And the thing is I like these acts LOADS compared to a lot of everything else I listen to, but I just don't involve myself much in the style as I might once have

like they're part of my canon and very high on there

doggie needs to get down w the bradnelsonwave

rock is good now

does that mean rockism is the new poptimism?

rockism != rock is good

bradnelsonwave is definitely rockpoptimism par excellence

I was actually wondering whether brad would like this band

i don't! i see what they're doing and i appreciate it and can see the craft but it's not for me

that was pretty much what I figured lol

respect

Theres a good interview with A.Savage in this months Tape Op magazine, all about their recording process etc

good indeed, but he doesn't come off as the most easy-going guy in the world does he?
https://tapeop.com/interviews/126/andrew-savage/

haha did he ever?

great interview, thanks for the tip - i let my tapeop subscription lapse.

punk songs
i thought that they were different
and i thought that they could end it
no, no it was a deception

Of course it was a deception... but was his takeaway from that realization: “Maybe Danger Mouse production will do the trick?”

To elaborate (rather than snark & run): “Pretty Machines” is a great, catchy song about (I think) realizing you can’t escape being a subject of consumer culture and mass media, and a complicated relationship to rock ‘n roll as part of that.

And yet this band seems to have de-evolved to ever-clumsier “political” moves — to the point that it’s now yelling “I’M WIDE AWAKE!” over a bed of moar cowbell.

The lyrics on their most recent album are their best, IMO.

huh, I never took 'Wide Awake' as meant to be literal