Can we talk about how awesome Parquet Courts are?

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