Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold

The Tune for Today is:

Parquet Courts - Master of My Craft 

I got a gold medal record time, gold record, diamond mine,
Name in print, tongue, t-shirts and minds.
Thread count - high
Commissions - high
Hourly rates - high
A minute of your time?
Forget about it.

I didn't come here to dream or teach the world things,
Define paradigms, or curate no livin' days,
With high thread counts and staircases high.
Hourly rates - high
A minute of your time?
Forget about it.

Thread count - high
Commissions - high
Hourly rates - high
A minute of your time?
Forget about it.

People die I don't care, you should see the wall of ambivalence I'm building
I got no love for the living.
Thread count - high
Commissions - high
Hourly rates - high
A minute of your time?
Forget about it.

Death to all false profits around here we praise a dollar you f*ckin' hippie
Wanna walk around in my shoes and then tell me how it feels
Thread count - high
Commissions - high
Hourly rates - high
A minute of your time?
Forget about it.

From the hands of my mother, said I'm master of my craft

Thread count - high
Commissions - high
Hourly rates - high
A minute of your time?
Ya know Socrates died in the f*ckin' gutter!

Review by Fred Thomas (allmusic)

Passionate slackers Parquet Courts are from the same crew of Texas-to-Brooklyn transplants responsible for the Zappa-esque genre-bending conceptual weirdness of Fergus & Geronimo as well as the more straightforward basement pop-punk of Teenage Cool Kids. Songwriter Andrew Savage is clearly a prolific and multifaceted character, but with Parquet Courts, he taps into a focus and sense of mood cultivation missing in some of his other projects. Savage and fellow songwriter Austin Brown present a series of observational freeze-frames on debut album Light Up Gold, zeroing in on banal scenes, everyday events, and listless pondering during drifting times. Musically, Parquet Courts draw on some influences not commonly paired, but to great effect. Motoric indie rockers like "Borrowed Thyme" and "Stoned & Starving" call to mind the wandering rock of the Feelies or the inward-looking side of the first phase ofthe Modern Lovers. Contemporaries like Tyvek can be heard on the shouty poetry of tracks like "Donuts Only" and "Yonder Is Closer to the Heart," while the shadow of '90s staple artists like Pavement andSonic Youth colors the entire album. All these disparate influences don't show up in a way that feels jarring or derivative, which is perhaps the great strength of Light Up Gold. The album manages to sound like it's learning from its influences rather than stealing directly. Much like Pavement's "Two States" managed to blatantly ape the Fall and somehow still get a pass on its own merits, "Careers in Combat" apes Pavement aping the Fall in the most original way possible, and sounds great in the process. The patchwork of reference points becomes more about the way the band wears them than anything, andParquet Courts' approach to both melody and always-mutating guitar tones silently elevates them from being mere reflections of their record collections. While still early into the group's existence, the bandmembers dubbed their sound "Americana punk," possibly referring to the open landscapes of their Texan beginnings clashing with their present urban surroundings and the unique sonic results of that juxtaposition. Much more on the mark is a line from an early bio comparing the feel of the band to elements of Sonic Youth, Bob Dylan, and other acts not originally from the big city, but ultimately just as important a part of its musical landscape. Light Up Gold captures some of the excitement and perspective on city life that only transplants could feel, and filters it through a haze of laid-back '90s alt-rock influence. The album is sometimes languid, often jittery and beaming, but mostly an almost subconsciously storytelling collection of moments that would be boring and forgettable if they weren't captured in songs so accidentally perfect.

Tune The Album:

The Chosen Tune Week
Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Atoms for Peace - Amok	Morphine - Super Sex	The Joy Formidable - Maw Maw Song	Parquet Courts - Master of My Craft	Beck - Novacane