An energetic, contemptuous, and quick-witted indie collective hailing from New York, armed with a debut album that has delighted so many: now where have we heard that before? Strokesian comparisons aside, Parquet Courts’ first effort is as sonically effervescent as its title suggests.
Kicking off with the sublime double-header of ‘Master Of My Craft’ (which includes Austin Brown’s soon-to-be-immortal “Socrates died in the fucking gutter” line) and ‘Borrowed Time’, it sets the agenda for a band intent on crafting numbers packed with rapid-fire drums and hurtling guitar riffs yet enforced with a thoroughly sceptical and cynical lyrical outlook.
'N Dakota’, for instance, whilst slowing the tempo down somewhat, dreamily lampoons the humdrum life of this rather anonymous state by imagining its peculiar fondness to “hum to Canada's snoring”. Light Up Gold’s centrepiece meanwhile, the irrepressible ‘Stoned and Starving’, is a five-minute ode to slackerdom, a topic that’s at odds with its clanging, erratic guitars and driving punk beat.
It’s a compelling structure that’s emblematic of the shot in the arm that Parquet Courts administered to the flailing reputation of the East Coast indie scene with this truly magnificent record.
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8Sam Moore's Score