Wednesday, May 28, 2014

ThisSmallPlanet Review: Parquet Courts live at The Independent, San Francisco, May 27, 2014, with videos and setlist



The boys put on a great show last night, with a nice mix of older songs and songs featured on the new album Sunbathing Animal, to be released next Tuesday, June 3, 2014.

I shot a bunch of videos last night. The first video (video 1: "Ducking & Dodging") is kind of dark (low light that is, not dark in spirit, although Parquet Courts is quite capable of that too...), but video and audio quality on the others is pretty good, and if I must say so, offer an excellent primer on who and what Parquet Courts are all about.

If I had to chose, I'd direct first-timers toward video 5 ("Master of My Craft" featuring Austin on lead vocals, and "Borrowed Time, featuring Andrew on lead vocals), and perhaps the heavy-hitting powerhouse of video 9 ("Yonder is Closer to the Heart", "Light Up Gold II"  - both from their 2013 debut LP Light Up Gold - and the new album's title song, "Sunbathing Animal"). In fact, the guys seemed to have decided they hit us so hard with that last blast of three heavy-hitters that, to the disappointment of many, they didn't have to play an encore...


Click here to read a good article from NPR Music and stream the new album too....

"You've Got Me Wonderin' Now" from the 2013 EP Tally All The Things That You Broke was a stand-out track, and I have to hand it to Austin - I think that's the first time I ever saw a guitar solo played with a wine bottle.

Parquet Courts is a relatively new band, based in Brooklyn, featuring guitar wizz Andrew on lead guitar/vocals, his brother Max on drums, Sean on bass, and Austin on guitar (with occasional lead vocals).

They have been compared to Pavement (by no less an expert than Stephen Malkmus himself) and have jammed with Spiral Stairs. Instead of backing away from the comparison, they embrace it, seeing themselves as part of legacy, part of the same musical family of weirdos, if you will.

The fact that they have not one but two great guitarists, who are no means afraid to do long extended psychedelic guitar solos - and even put them on the record, which few do - makes it a slam/dunk for me personally. I was destined to like this band. Maybe you were too.

Click here for my videos from their Portland show in June 2013...

The rest of the 2014 tour (Catch Them If You Can!):

MAY 28th @ The Roxy
Los Angeles, CA

MAY 29th @ Red 7 
Austin,TX
w/ Radioactivity, Beth Israel

JUN 2nd @ Fitzgerald's
Houston, TX
w/ Radioactivity, Beth Israel

JUN 3rd @ Club Dada
Dallas, TX
w/ Swearin’, Radioactivity

JUN 4th @ The Hi-Tone
Memphis, TN
w/ Protomartyr, True Sons of Thunder

JUN 6th @ Double Happiness
Columbus, OH
w/ Protomartyr

JUN 7th @ PJ’s Lager House
Detroit, MI
w/ Protomartyr, Tyvek

JUN 8th @ Horseshoe Tavern
Toronto, ON
w/ Protomartyr, Tyvek

JUN 9th @ Il Motore
Montreal, QC
w/ Protomartyr, Tyvek

JUN 10th @ TT the Bears
Boston, MA
w/ Protomartyr

JUN 11th @ Sugar Hill Supper Club
Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, NY
w/ Xerox, Future Punx, Protomartyr

JUN 21st @ SWG3
Glasgow, UK

JUN 22nd @ Kazimier
Liverpool, UK

JUN 23rd @ Birmingham Institute
Birmingham, UK

JUN 25th @ ULU
London, UK

JUN 26th @ Oxford Academy 2
Oxford, UK

JUN 27th @ Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury, UK

JUN 28th @ Down The Rabbit Hole
Ewjik, NE

JUN 29th @ Garorock Festival
Marmonde, FR

JUL 6th @ Rock Werchter
Rotselaar, BE

JUL 7th @ Vera Project
Groningen, NE

JUL 8th @ Le Divan Du Monde
Paris, FR

JUL 9th @ La Sirene Club
La Rochelle, FR

JUL 10th @ Bilbao BBK
Bilbao, ES

JUL 11th @ Optimus Alive! Festival
Lisbon, PT

JUL 12th @ Phono Pop
Russelheim, DE

JUL 15th @ Museum Ludwig
Koln, DE

JUL 16th @ Cassiopaia
Berlin, DE

JUL 17th @ Melt Festival
Grafenhainichen, DE

JUL 18th @ Longitude Festival
Dublin, IE

JUL 20th @ Latitude Festival
Suffolk, UK

JUL 25th @ Naeba Ski Resort / Fuji Rock Festival
Niigata, Japan

JUL 27th @ Splendor in the Grass
Byron Bay, NSW

AUG 2nd @ Lollapolooza Festival
Chicago, IL

AUG 3rd @ Pickathon Festival
Happy Valley Oregon


No comments:

Post a Comment