26 November 2014 - 0 Comments

“I’ve been really shocked at having to field questions that involve this ‘guitar music’ thing. I’m like, ‘You mean music?’”

PARQUET COURTS, or Parkay Quarts or whatever, are playing four New Zealand cities next March.

All the classic young-dude frustrations are present in a band like PARQUET COURTS, dealt with directly by way of American casualness. I mean casual, but not in the pretty way like the Beach Boys, and probably less self-absorbed than ol’ Bob Zimmerman -- but ah well, they’re up there with both. Here’s why: It’s hard to do populist GEETAR RIFFS without coming off as condescending to anyone, or worse, making it a novelty – yet amazingly (!), a band so full o’ riffs like this has pulled it off, and that’s a move that hasn’t really been heard by us New Zealanders since The Mint Chicks. 

Maybe enticed by their loose regard for convention, or just because we heard they’re fellow Gordons fans, we at the Melted Ice Cream Tribunal figured it best to bring PARQUET COURTS to New Zealand at once. (100% GOOD was 100% ON BOARD with the idea.) And being the record-crawling antipodean-enthusiasts that they are, the ‘Courts did jump at the opportunity to see some New Zealand bands: Salad Boys is one, a band hand-approved by their guitarist, Andrew Savage.

Content Nausea is the name of their latest LP, going by the Parkay Quarts name and upping the degree of rattled-off nonchalance to a point it’s clear they've withstood the inevitable Pavement comparisons that were earlier flung their way. It’s a working formula that results in cutting observations when you team up hapless, disillusioned youths like these (as if that doesn’t describe our entire generation (right?)). “Enduring the stinking, unearned arrogance of older people” is one thing we can all relate to, that’s for sure. With five records in three years, and a well-timed Laneway festival appearance in January 2014, this is not exactly a backward-looking bunch.

For all their hurry, you couldn’t say it’s without discernment: the way PARKAY QUARTS have simultaneously dumbed down their phonetics and broadened their horizons for the latest Content Nausea LP shows off what’s good about this band: making things painfully obvious, and inserting a wisecrack footnote wherever possible. That they do in sonic fashion, and it’s a compliment to them that they can show off such dumb ol’ riffs and insightful world-reflections at once. Really, if there’s one band that’ll outlast the “instrument as fashion” spirit of the moment, it’s John Key’s kid’s new band, Troskey. (Just kidding, it’s Parquet Courts.) 

I could ramble. Point is, make up your own minds: you have four chances to do so. 

Monday 9 March — Kings Arms, Auckland

 Tuesday 10 March — San Fran, Wellington

 Wednesday 11 March — Dux Live, Christchurch

 Thursday 12 March — Chick’s Hotel, Dunedin

tickets available 11am Thursday 27 November via Undertheradar.co.nz

first 15 tickets on sale day get a free cassette tape from Melted Ice Cream*

"I’ve never had a favorite band that made me feel like such a dolt.” — The Rolling Stone Corporation

“...Hard-charging, catchy songs...” — The New York Times Weddings section

"Sure. I like brunch.” — A. Savage, guitarist

Comments

Return to News Archive