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Monday, January 14, 2013

Mark’s Pick of the Week: Light Up Gold by Parquet Courts



Music is a very real barometer to our true nature.  You can’t write music if you have never heard any.  More then that, great musicians take things from experiences, environment, and culture.  Every musician takes what they were given and disassembles it, reassembles it, and uses the parts to build something new.  The final product should resemble the musicians themselves, even if the musician might not recognize it.  Parquet Courts seem like cool guys.  I never met them, but from what I read they seem to share this idea of music with me. 
For a punk album it is surprisingly personal and sincere.  Topics like, getting drunk, being hungry, and living in New York are side by side with songs concerning writers block, living up to your own expectations, and mortality, a slightly heavier set of topics then your average post-punk song.  Take the song “Borrowed Time” which talks about the fleeting nature of…well a lot of things.  The lyrics itself would be just at home at a poetry reading because their emotional weight as they are in this song.

The music that surrounds these lyrics is fantastic as well.  A great mixture of different punk and post punk elements fill this album.  “Donuts Only” is only a minute and a half and feels almost like a punk prayer while “Stoned and Starving” plays a bit more like a Pavement song and clocks in at over 5 minutes.  They are especially great at catchy guitar hooks, which combined with these great lyrics is a deadly combination.  “Master of My Craft,” the opening track showcases their knack for the hook pretty well.
“Music scene is crazy, bands start up, each and every day.”  However, these guys certainly stick out from the other bands clearly influenced by, Pavement/Sonic Youth/other bands by adding a bunch of clearly new ingredients to the recipe.  I’m looking forward to seeing what these guys do next.  Until then I’ll just play this album again.  You can get the album here.  Also their website!!!

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