Parquet Courts - Sympathy for Life

It's nice to hear Parquet Courts go in some different directions on Sympathy for Life, but the successes are more or less in the spots that most resemble the previous Wide Awake.

Parquet Courts - Wide Awake!

Not only is Wide Awake! better performed and written than any Parquet Courts album thus far, but on it the band consistently manages to make interesting artistic statements on some very difficult topics.

Parquet Courts - "Human Performance"

The title track of the new Parquet Courts album that dropped today.

Parquet Courts - "Berlin Got Blurry" (Video)

The lead single from Parquet Court's new album Human Performance, out April 8 through Rough Trade. Watch the band perform it live on last night's episode of Conan here.

Parquet Courts - "Pretty Girls Is A Motherfucker" (Joey Pizza Slice Cover)

Parquet Courts cover Pretty Girls by Joey Pizza Slice (Son of Salami) on the split 7" currently up for pre-order at www.wharfcatrecords.com. Words: Wharf Cat Records is excited to announce this split release by two of our very favorite artists, Parquet Courts and Joey Pizza Slice. Each one has long admired the other's catalog through various incarnations and releases. Now they get a chance to cover one another’s songs. On the A Side Joey Pizza Slice (AKA Son of Salami) gives tribute to the angular guitar churn of the Parquet Courts' 'Picture of Health,' filling the vocals with helium and letting them loose like balloons into a hazy summer sky. On the flip the Parquet Courts turn Joey's synth pop masterpiece, 'Pretty Girls,' into the perfect summer jam that will get you stoked about cloudy days and being ignored all the time - it's just a matter of perspective after all! This is a balanced and involving 7" comprised of 2 tracks sure to help keep you cool well into the dog days.

Parquet Courts cover Joey Pizza Slice's "Pretty Girls is a Motherfucker." I know what you're thinking: "What the hell is a Joey Pizza Slice?" Well, this is Joey Pizza Slice. Maybe not the hidden musical gem you were hoping for, but Parquet Courts chose a great song to cover here. I mean, the song topic itself fits the band's usual sense of humor perfectly. The fit it so snug one might assume the Courts themselves had written it, but the band does right by Joey via a shoutout in the second half of the song. Those Parquet Courts are always a class act!

Parkay Quarts - "Content Nausea"

Seeing Parkay Quarts, a.k.a. Parquet Courts, live at the intimate and classic venue DC9 will forever inform the way vocalist Andrew Savage's singing reaches me. I'm not 100% certain, but I'm fairly sure that he alternated staring down members of the crowd while pummeling them with his trademark rapid fire stream of consciousness lyrics. On most of their records, it can become all too easy to overlook how fast the man sings, but watching him perform these songs in person while staring straight through me and other audiences members truly emphasized this talent. Well, "Content Nausea" captures that experience and even amplifies it. The song begins with a sauntering drum roll and polite yet punky guitar, before Savage's word urgent but nonsensical monologue spills out and overtakes the song. Like it's taken by a sudden bout of nausea, the instrumentation disintegrates from its previous structure to wailing noise. "Please stop!" it almost pleads, but thankfully Savage doesn't. He wouldn't be so savage if he did.

This track comes from Parquet Courts' latest album via What's Your Rupture?, which can be picked up here.

- Garrett Cottingham

Parquet Courts and PC Worship - "Fell into the Wrong Crowd"

https://soundcloud.com/parquet-courts/fell-into-the-wrong-crowd Can't say I was expecting this: an 11-minute collaborative live recording from PC Worship and the New York post-punks over at Parquet Courts. Isn't it "Parkay Quarts" now? Who knows? I certainly don't know if the song at all works, especially with its disgustingly distorted vocal, but I'll give it credit for being an interesting, left-field turn at the very least. Granted, it's not nearly as profound as anything off that other garage rock/post-punk surprise from earlier this year.

Parkay Quarts has a new album on the way called Content Nausea. It's out November 11 via What's Your Rupture? and doesn't feature this track. It'll be the band's second album this year, after Sunbathing Animal, whose review you'll find below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZkHxln2jQw

Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal

The latest effort from Parquet Courts record is art punk minimalism stretched out to nearly excruciating lengths.