Parquet Courts: Light Up Gold (Vinyl LP)

Though made up of Texan transplants, Parquet Courts are a New York band. Throw out the countless shallow Brooklyn bands of the blasé 2000's: Light Up Gold is a conscious effort to draw from the rich culture of the city - the bands like Sonic Youth, Bob Dylan, and the Velvet Underground that are not from New York, but of it.

A panoramic landscape of dilapidated corner-stores and crowded apartments is superimposed over bare-bones Americana, leaving little room for romance or sentiment. It's punk, it's American, it's New York... it's the color of something you were looking for.

Light Up Gold is a dynamic and diverse foray into the back alleys of the American DIY underground. Bright guitars swirl over looping, groovy post-punk bass lines and drums that border on robotic precision. While the initial rawness of the band’s early output remains, the songwriting has gracefully evolved.

Recorded over a few days in an ice-box practice space, Light Up Gold is equally indebted to The Modern Lovers, the Fall and The Feelies as well as a slew of contemporaries like Tyvek and Eddy Current Suppression Ring.

1. Master Of My Craft
2. Borrowed Time
3. Donuts Only
4. Yr No Stoner
5. Yonder Is Closer To The Heart
6. Careers In Combat
7. Light Up Gold I.
8. Light Up Gold II.
9. N. Dakota
10. Stoned And Starving
11. No Ideas
12. Caster Of Worthless Spells
13. Disney P.T.
14. Tears O' Plenty
15. Picture Of Health