Parquet Courts- Light Up Gold

There is something about Brooklyn, you can tell from looking from the other side of the bridge that there is something special about that borough. Walking amongst the old brownstones and down around dumbo, all the old factories and funky little bars you know there is something happening here. So much music and art is coming from this metropolis, the likes of The National helped to put the Brooklyn music scene front and centre. Parquet Courts are the new golden children of the Brooklyn scene. Their full length debut album Light Up Gold was originally released in 2012 but was re-issued on the larger What's Your Rupture label the following year. It's an album of melodic short fused post punk songs that have an interesting sonic disposition, each song has a different slant.

Master of my Craft harks back to the days of Johnathan Richman and the Modern lovers, it has this detached apathy, being caught up in the enduring quest for more and not having time to connect with anyone, "a minute of your time? Forget about it". The middle of the song breaks out into a cascade of melting guitars that sounds like early Seattle grunge. Borrowed Time continues this listlessness,

I was feeling nostalgic for the days when
My thoughts dripped on my head from the ceiling
I remember of the feeling of the museless existence
Of the drunk, bored and listless
Endless waiting for something that I knew wasn't coming

Donuts only is loud and distorted and sounds a little like the Beastie Boys, an insistent rhythm before an abrupt end and they launch into Yr No Stoner which sounds blissed out and confused. Yonder is Closer To The Heart starts with a pounding bass line and then draws back into the past, it's a song that captures a certain disillusionment,

Coffee breaks and lamb tail shakes aren't arbitrary marks
Paycheck stubs good sex and drugs can't fade away distractions of the
Mantra's of keep going that are lodged into my thoughts
They replay on days when yonder is closer to the heart

Careers in combat is a wicked look at a society this in the firm grip of the military industrial complex, there is always a career in combat as the mantra says. Stoned and starving is another one of those songs that has a sense of aimlessness in it's theme, it embraces a pounding sonic guitar driven sound. Light up Gold is an album that grows on you, it seems to speak of a disillusionment that is permeating our society, musically it's inventive and unpredictable it's never lazy or contrived.