PARQUET COURTS - Light Up Gold (Reissue) - CD [NOV 28]

CD (2025 Repress)

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.

“From start to finish this is a full throttle experience which you have no choice but to dive into headfirst, with ridiculously infectious melodies and propulsive guitars that grab you, as Messrs Brown and Savage spin their short, sharp tales of quarterlife ennui (‘Borrowed Time’), weed-induced inertia (‘Stoned And Starving’) and job anxiety (‘Careers In Combat’) with concise, laser-like precision.

“Parquet Courts have produced a debut that’s both instantly addictive and lastingly rewarding” – The Guardian (*****)

“Goddamn great… a powerful, personality-heavy record” – NME (9/10)

VICE and Stereogum Best Albums Of The Decade

Tracklist: 

1. Master Of My Craft (3:10)
2. Borrowed Time (2:32)
3. Donuts Only (1:21)
4. Yr No Stoner (1:50)
5. Yonder Is Closer To The Heart (2:59)
6. Careers In Combat (1:07)
7. Light Up Gold Pt.1 (0:18)
8. Light Up Gold Pt.2 (1:13)
9. N. Dakota (2:19)
10. Stoned & Starving (5:11)
11. No Ideas (2:37)
12. Caster Of Worthless Spells (1:18)
13. Disney PT (Vocals – Sean Yeaton) (1:12)
14. Tears O’Plenty (3:15)
15. Picture Of Health (2:44)