Can we talk about how awesome Parquet Courts are?

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.