Parquet Courts: Live At Third Man Records [xrr rating=3.5/5]Leave it to Jack White to make a live album more than just a live album. His Live at Third Man series has captured everyone from Mudhoney to Conan O’Brien at his Nashville headquarters, directly transmitting shows from amp to acetate. What would ordinarily just be a souvenir for those in attendance gains added significance under White’s oversight. Whether … Read More
Parkay Quarts: Content Nausea [xrr rating=3.5/5]“Everyday it starts/ Anxiety,” Andrew Savage talk-sings on Content Nausea’s leadoff track, a three-minute ode to a panic attack that builds slowly to a guitar freak-out before proclaiming “And I never sleep/ But I go to bed/And I never sleep.” The paranoia increases on the revved-up title track about our overexposure —our phones, and therefore brains—to a never-ending stream … Read More
Parquet Courts: Sunbathing Animal [xrr rating=3.75/5]Last summer, I, like many, regularly thrashed around to the raw rock of Brooklyn’s Parquet Courts. The big city transplants battled against their own modest wall of punk rock testosterone and made witty odes about the city that never sleeps and never forgives. Andrew Savage and company buzzed so enticingly on tracks like “Borrowed Time” and “Light Up Gold … Read More
Concert Review: Parquet Courts (Photo: Rachel Lipsitz) Garnering placement on both our “Top 25 Songs” and “Top 20 Albums” list of 2013, it’s clear that we dig the punk-exploits of Brooklyn’s Parquet Courts. Having personally worn out the four-piece’s Light Up Gold over the last year during hazy car rides, my own anticipation was nearly unprecedented while anxiously bobbing to the post-punk of Cleveland’s … Read More
Top 20 Albums of 2013 20. Julianna Barwick Nepenthe [Dead Oceans] Julianna Barwick’s Nepenthe leaves me feeling like I’ve opened a secret door, the light behind it thick and golden and twining around me. With ethereal loops and choir-strong harmonies and swells and flows that float you through her honeyed haze, Barwick does more than conjure an ambient space from oceans of sound. Her songs … Read More
Top 25 Songs of 2013 25. Janelle Monáe – “Dance Apocalyptic” [Bad Boy/Wondaland] On her stellar sophomore album, The Electric Lady, Janelle Monáe calls in the musical royalty. The likes of Prince, Miguel, Solange, Esperanza Spalding and Erykah Badu lend their talents to an album that’s a start to finish listen and a triumphant breakthrough for Monáe—nowadays it’s difficult to buy a cup of coffee … Read More
Monthly Mixtape: September 2013 1. Janelle Monáe – “Dance Apocalyptic” (Bad Boy/Wondaland) “Dance Apocalyptic,” the second single from Janelle Monáe’s The Electric Lady, has been kicking around for a couple months now, but hearing it in the context of the full-length release makes its soaring pop and beautifully repurposed future-funk sound even better. That’s in part because it’s one of the first tracks that … Read More
