Quote Of The Day – PARQUET COURTS Frontman ANDREW SAVAGE About His Financial Status
After 7 studio LPs and 12 years of touring.
Parquet Courts
LIVE KICK OF THE DAY – Funky & Groovy PARQUET COURTS Plant A Life At Pitchfork Festival 2022
One live track a day keeps the doctor away
Band: PARQUET COURTS
Who: Texan/NYC post-punk
jingle jangle rockers
Song: PLANT LIFE
From their 2021 album Sympathy For Life
Where/when: Pitchfork Festival 2022
Funky
Groovy
PC: All Albums
PARQUET COURTS Released Their Punktastic Breaktrough Album ‘LIGHT UP GOLD’ 10 Years Ago Today
Back in time
18 August 2022
Band: PARQUET COURTS
Who: Wayward post-punks from
Austin, Texas living 24/7 in NYC
Active: Since 2012 – 7 studio LPs so far
Anniversary album: LIGHT UP GOLD
Released: 18 August 2012 – 10 years ago today
Pitchfork said: “Parquet Courts are slackers in an almost classical sense, conjuring up just about every post-collegiate, pre-responsibility tendency you can think of. Their music ably mixes skittish post-punk and bedhead-riddled indie rock, a knot of Silkworm-inspired guitar tangles and insistent Wire tempos… Their tangent-prone music flits, not always smoothly, between skittish post-punk and bedhead-riddled indie rock, a knot of Silkworm-inspired guitar tangles and insistent Wire tempos. It’s wound tight but fraying at the edges. They’re smart but they don’t always act it. They could probably play these songs a little better if they wanted to. They’re very funny, but not the kind of funny that makes you laugh much. They contradict themselves constantly. They probably wait until the afternoon to shower.” Full review here. Score: 8/10.
Turn Up The Volume: This is the album that made me an instant PQ fan. Not only their breakthrough LP but also their pure DIY no-nonsense post-punk masterpiece (so far). It’s raw, riff-roaring and rollin’ all over Beethoven. A 10/10 score in my 10/10 albums book.
.
No social media for these cowboys.
Last Sunday in Belgium at HEAR HEAR festival (photos by TUTV)
Waking Up… To Go To A Festival On The Hottest Day Of The Year
Works better than caffeine
14 August 2022
Today, Sunday 14 August, I’m about to leave for HEAR HEAR,
a brand new one-day festival in Hasselt, Belgium.
No real news for my beloved followers who know I’m a live/concert/gig/show/festival freak. But (there’s always a ‘but’) today will be the hottest day of the current heatwave in Belgium (and the rest of Europe). I’m crazy, right? I know, can’t help it, I was born that way.
Whatever, this is the top 3 on my watch list.
– LIAM GALLAGHER –
– WOLF ALICE-
– PARQUET COURTS –
Turn Up The Volume’s 20 KNOCKOUT TRACKS Of The Month – OCTOBER 2021
Turn Up The Volume‘s 20 Knockout Tracks for October 2021!
A stream of rattling rippers, jagged jams and romantic reveries.
All together on Spotify…
.
All knockouts, one by one…
‘Magic Medicine’ by DEAP VALLY (California)
After 10 years the sisters in arms want to inject their bond with new musical challenges
to keep their marriage alive and kicking (they’ll be always alive and kicking anyway).
Their new LP called, yes, Marriage and lands on 12 November.
The first taster is a slo-mo synth-vaccinated groove with Lindsey Troy‘s fully charged
guitars all over it and Julie Edwards, as usual taking care of the solid backbone drum
beat. Troy‘s vocals and Edwards echoing voice in the back give the song an extra thrill.
Takeyour medicine here…
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‘Black Widow Spider’ by PARQUET COURTS (Texas / New York)
Last week the wayward Parquet Courts unleashed their 7th album, titled
Sympathy For Life. One of the many highlights is Black Widow Spider.
A sticky head-spinning rocker.
Turn it up, folks…
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‘Faze Out’ by JAMES DOMESTIC (UK)
Expect a slash and trash jackhammer, an angry
spit and sneer storm, a Sturm und Drang uppercut.
143 seconds of furious frustration is what you get. Retro organs
clatter like if a nightmare is just around the corner, but Domestic
thunders like he’s a determined survivor who will not go down
just like that.
Join the wild ride…
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‘Better Than Life’ by GLASS SANDS (London, UK)
I listened to the title track of this London-based singer/songwriter’s new album
about 50 times, so far. It’s a guitar-driven riff-hook-and-lick standout that cuts like
a new Swiss knife with feverish and heartfelt vocals amplifying the dumbfounded
chorus. Holy smoke.
Press play, it’s better than life…
.
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‘Pennsylvania by JESSE STONE (Montreal, CA)
The rock ‘n roll swagger of Eddie Cochran, the surf guitar electricity
of Link Wray, and the fervent fire of Bo Diddley. Get the punchy
picture? This rollin’ razzle-dazzle riffage will boost your mood.
Get up and twirl yourself dizzy
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‘Staying Here’ by ACTING STRANGE (Scotland)
Stadium rockers The Killers will nod their heads in praise
when they hear this Scottish duo new excellent album
Staying Here.
The title track is a sassy stonker, a glam-synth-bam
banger with a relentless beat and vivacious vocals.
Top cut!
Feel the vibe…
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‘Wild Flowers’ by WARMDUSCHER (London, UK)
London’s funk-punk gang is gearing up
for their big breakthrough album.
This first taster is a trippy bass-driven disco groove you can sway
your hips to in the morning while waking up, in the evening while
getting drunk, and during the day when you’re getting bored.
Fucktastic…
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‘Dad Vibes’ by LIMP BIZKIT (Florida)
I never really liked Limp Bizkit. They wanted
to be the white Rage Against The Machine
and jumped on every crossover bandwagon.
But hey, this new single made my ears flap like crazy.
After all these years I clap for Fred Durst & co.
Rap it up, Fred…
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‘Butterfly Room’ by SHATTERCONES (London)
This fulminating sucker-punch tackles the Brexit Apocalypse with
a raging force and poignant frustration. Watch your back, Bojo!
It comes from their staggering 4-track EP This Septic Isle.
Release the bats…
.
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‘Blacked Out‘ by THE MANIC BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB (Toronto, CA)
When surreality becomes reality cry outs like these pop up to translate
alienated feelings that dominate your daily life. This club of two decided
to embed their frustration into a swirling dance stunner for our doomed
generation.
Pithy, peppery, and a blacked-out chorus that sticks as primo glue.
Add glamorous vocals and a glittering full-on wall-of-sound and the
final result is a supersonic stunner.
Here’s why…
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‘It’s Critical’ by SAVING JACKIE (San Antonio, Texas)
The heated rap-rock gang from San Antonio launched
a video for the title track of their debut album.
The clip is a clear-cut message regarding life-threatening diseases.
Flamboyant frontwoman Jenny 4C Ramirez emphasizes the fight
for your life bravery while making your blood stream faster through
your veins.
Bang your head here…
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‘Chaos Space Marine’ by BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD (London)
These young gunslingers rushed to indie stardom with their ace
jazz and prog-rock influenced debut LP For The First Time.
Isaac Wood (frontman) about this brand new song: “it’s the best song we’ve ever
written. We threw in every idea anyone had with that song. So the making of it was
a really fast, whimsical approach – like throwing all the shit at the wall and just
letting everything stick.”
I smell great shit…
.
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‘Medicine’ by SLEEPSHAKE (Canada)
A blazing rock slam about the desperate need for stable emotional stimulation.
Blustering guitars, flurried synths, hot-blooded vocals, a discharging chorus, and somewhere in the middle a thunder and lighting guitar solo to electrocute all your
mind-destroying demons. Every time you take this medicine, you’ll get a kick out of it.
If you like British turbo Royal Blood
you’ll go berserk to this cracker too.
Yeahhhhh…
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‘The Met’ by COLATURA (Brooklyn, NY)
Instantly effective pop tunes like these make me smile
from left to right and back. Shiny guitars with shoegazy
sparks, a dizzy-making rhythm, happy-go-lucky sentiments,
and seducing vocals. A song that would turn Taylor Swift
into an indie star.
Check it out…
.
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‘Count The Death’ by THE CHRONICLES OF MANIMAL AND SAMARA: (London)
A crystal-clear structured protest against greedy political sharks and
megalomaniac charlatans oppressing people for their own devastating
agendas. Again Manimal and Samara show how to fuse poignant poetry
and versatile metal genres.
Manimal and Samara are sonic architects.
Follow their path here…
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‘Blood Moon’ by CONVERGE and CHELSEA WOLFE (USA)
The fab goth-metal gang made an album with goth heroine Chelsea Wolfe
and Cave In‘s Stephen Brodsky. The LP, titled Bloodmoon: I will soundtrack
our nightmares from November 19 on.
Here comes the first piece Blood Moon. A classic mix of deafening bombast,
theatrical doom and gloom, barking voices (except for Chelsea of course), and
hardcore torment. A perfect Halloween monster.
Your Halloween starts here…
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‘Wanna See’ by HANNYA WHITE (London, UK)
White continues her sound-exploring search. Here she fuses
symphonic instrumentation with deep-bass-resonating synth
turbulence. Trippy, dissonant, and even claustrophobic when
short fragments of White‘s restless breathing emerge somewhere
in there.
The ongoing pizzicato violin play adds both an airy and eerie timbre.
I have no idea what the totally silent outro with some echoes of (what
seems to be) firecrackers in the very end, is about. What I do know is
that the first thought that crossed my mind when hearing this, was:
Aphex Twin is back, in disguise.
Stream/buy ‘Wanna See’ here…
.
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‘Nightmare Pills’ by EX-HYENA
Pretty quick into the song the early days of electronic
British legends Human League and Baxter Dury‘s synth
pop sensuality (especially the female voices) popped up
on my stereo in my head.
It sounds as if this Boston tandem warns us of Big Brother’s ambition to brainwash humankind with mind-altering chemicals with this darksome, yet instantly striking
electro jam. Haunting, feverish, and gloomy are the keywords here. Best played at
night while being dazed and confused by the surreal times we experience the past
18 months.
.
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‘The Beachland Ballroom’ by IDLES (Bristol, UK)
A new album is canned and sees
the day of light on 12 November.
The lead single is “an honest-to-goodness
soul song named after the iconic Ohio venue.”
Expect the slower side of Idles with hefty eruptions now
and then and frontman Joe Talbot‘s blood cooking.
Feel the heat…
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‘Slow Down’ by MOONWOOD (Sydney)
It’s been a while since I heard an epic belter that evokes
an image on the screen in my head of a massive stadium
filled with a sea of people holding their phones up with
shining lights and scream at the top of their lungs.
This powerful love ballad will
trigger your romantic side…
.
See/hear you next month, music junkies…
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN – 7 New Firecrackers Week 42
Every week Turn Up The Volume picks 7 new
firecrackers that burned his ears the past 7 days
‘Black Widow Spider’ by PARQUET COURTS (NYC)
The Texan quartet that lives and works in the Big Apple released their new, seventh LP Sympathy For Life yesterday. Another solid work of indie masterclass with a mix of straightforward rockers and Talking Heads inspired chants. Here’s one of the highlights…
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‘Antisocial’ by FAIYAZ AND THE WASTED CHANCES (Toronto)
Who? A Toronto punk group that has been described as a raw garage-pop band
with virtuosic protopunk influences. Their sound falls somewhere between Warhol
pre-punk and the Toronto DIY indie that they flowered in.
New single Antisocial speaks to the mental health issues born from industry pressure
and self-destructive tendencies as one tries to make ends meet while still having fun.
Expect red-hot-blooded and untamed-explosive aggression. A walloping sucker punch,
left and right. All record label idiots should run for cover before this Canadian fury blow their money greedy egos to pieces. Bullseye shot! Holy smoke!
Press play here…
.
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‘The People I Know (Don’t Like Me) by KULICK (Pennsylvania)
Who? An artistic visionary, singer-songwriter, producer, audio engineer, and lover of life, continues to mesmerize music fans with an ever-growing catalog of deeply personal, yet relatable songs that combine his roots in heavy rock music with ultra-catchy pop melodies, resulting in a sound all his own.
The new single is “about not fitting in with who you’re around and being very aware of it.”
After an edgy vocal intro, this fervent firestarter explodes into a supersonic stunner
with the iron cast punk intenseness of riff rollercoasters Green Day and Blink-182.
Blimey!
Start the storm here…
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‘Taking Me Back’ by JACK WHITE (Detroit, US)
With this new song, White ignites the promo rollout of a new Call Of Duty game.
Feels like he wants to make some big money in between his cool work with his
record label.
I’ll be honest. It’s a notable brain-breaker. Schizophrenic synths, deranged guitars,
and the former White Stripe‘s howling voice. Sounds like a video game crashing down
like an airplane. Bingo!
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‘When We Fall‘ by KOALRA (From Chicago to Portland)
Who: Dynamic gunslingers fusing the fuzz-fueled guitars and loose rhythms
of acts like Dinosaur Jr. to the experimental soundscapes of artists such as
Sonic Youth and The Cure.
When We Fall is a single from the band’s brand new, excellent longplayer
Love Songs To Remind Us That We Can’t Stand Each Other (genial title!).
A melancholic musing floating sonically somewhere between Band Of Horses
and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Spellbinding flow, magnetizing catchiness and
perfervid vocals. A total triumph.
Enjoy here…
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‘Where Will We Go’ by JANIS Berlin, Germany)
The urge to find passion and freedom were the main reasons for this
trio to leave their homes (in Israel, Spain, Germany, and the UK) and
resulted in creating songs together as urban and pulsing as the city
which Janis’ music is inspired by Berlin.
The new cut “is an exploration of loneliness at the point where it reaches its peak.
The point where an inner lack of love creates a vacuum. A black hole which devours
everything that happens to come too close, while pushing away those who are still
dear and important at the same time.”
This is how frustration, alienation, and lonesomeness sounds like when translated
to a nervous and fucked-up electric eruption. Biting, irascible and anxious. This jagged jackhammer is driven by dogged drum hits, anxious guitars, and strained vocals. The nervous breakdown finale doesn’t bode well. Post lockdown blues.
Check the heat here…
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‘Love Love Love’ by MY MORNING JACKET
The longtime celebrated Louisville rockers released
their new, praised self-titled album yesterday.
One of the premium highlights is Love Love Love. A circling cracker
that moves and grooves towards a slashing guitar solo.
Enjoy here…
See/hear you next week, music junkies
PARQUET COURTS – New Album ‘SYMPATHY FOR LIFE (and for Talking Heads)’ Out
22 October 2021
Band: PARQUET COURTS
Who: Texan rockers living/working in New York City
Active: Since 2010 / 7 studio LPs including the new one
New album: SYMPATHY FOR LIFE
Release: 22 October 2021 – Order info here
Stereogum says: “It always feels weird to say about a band as consistently acclaimed
as Parquet Courts, but for a moment there I was on the brink of taking this group for
granted. It’s the Spoon Conundrum: Here is a band so freakishly sharp and consistent and reliable that, in lacking a new story, people eventually start to underrate. For over a decade now, Parquet Courts have been operating at a very high level. They’ve already become an
indie-rock institution. And now, with Sympathy For Life, they have another strong entry in
a nearly bulletproof catalog. But more importantly, they are showing they can transform without losing their incisiveness. Parquet Courts are evolving, and the sound is
as exhilarating as ever.
Turn Up The Volume: All arrogance when they’re on stage (I know, I saw them
several times), but all solid electricity on record. Do not expect that the Courts will
make a jaw-dropping Kid A record à la Radiohead ever, no they’re riff-rattling rockers
at heart (Walking At A Downtown Place / Black Widow Spider / Homo Sapien) and show
their avid sympathy for Talking Heads once again, even more than before (Marathon
Of Anger / Plant Life / Sympathy For Life / Zoom Out). No fear of music here.
Singles/clips: Homo Sapien / Black Widow Spider / Walking At A Downtown Place
– HOMO SAPIEN –
– BLACK WIDOW SPIDER –
– WALKING AT A DOWNTOWN PLACE –
Full album…
.
PARQUET COURTS: All Albums
PARQUET COURTS Rock Their Butts Off On New Single ‘HOMO SAPIEN’
New striking strokes…
20 October 2021
Band: PARQUET COURTS
Who: Jangly Texas rockers living/working in New York City
Active: Since 2010 / 7 studio albums including the new one.
New album: SYMPATHY FOR LIFE
Out this Friday, 22 October – Order info here
New single: HOMO SAPIEN
Third cut from the upcoming LP
From what we heard so far Parquet Courts are rockin’ their post-lockdown
butts off as if they want to shake off all pandemic shit. Just like with Black
Widow Spider and Walking At A Downtown Place, the 4-piece steams
and screams on Homo Sapien. Sweetass, hellers yeah.
Open the gates…
PARQUET COURTS: All Albums
Sympathy For Life out 22 October 2021
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN – 7 New Firecrackers Week 38
Every week Turn Up The Volume picks 7 new
firecrackers that burned his ears the past 7 days
1. Let’s Get The Party Started by TOM MORELLO feat. Bring Me The Horizon
From the RAGTM guitarist’s upcoming album titled The Atlas Underground Fire
with a series of big name guests. This is the clamorous belter featuring British noise
freaks Bring Me The Horizon
Deafening storm…
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2. ‘Black Widow Spider’ by PARQUET COURTS (New York City)
The jangly rockers drop album 7 Sympathy For Life on 21st October.
This is the third single. A rattling and rolling ripper.
Tune in…
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3. Hard Skool by GUNS N’ ROSES
The second new track of the year from the macho Roses. Old Skool would
be a more appropriate song title. As usual Slash has sex with his guitar and
Axl Rose‘s vocal cords are still alive and kicking.
Enter paradise city here…
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4. ‘A Toxic Life’ by IMPERIAL ASHES (Toronto, CA)
A metal uppercut serving as an urgent call-to-action to address injustices
and atrocities that have plagued Indigenous communities for centuries.
Anger, rage and fury is what you get when awfully greedy governments
do what so many political sharks did in the past, taking the freedom, hope,
and future away of whole populations. Horrible.
We are connected, we’re feeling infected (a toxic life)
The treaty’s neglected, your laws are rejected (give up your fight)
Our colonial apathy, making the rivers bleed (things aren’t alright)
Your violations, stealing from nations (eating us inside)
.
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5. ‘Living in the Heart of Love’ by THE ROLLING STONES
A few weeks ago the imperishable Stones announced a deluxe edition for
one of their last great albums Tattoo You celebrating its 40th-anniversary.
It will feature several previously unreleased tracks from those recording
sessions.
R.I.P. Charlie Watts…
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6. ‘Bonnie’ by CUFFED UP (Los Angeles)
The band says that this new crackerjack is “an anti-love anthem about the grief and
pitfalls of a serious relationship crumbling due to lies and deceit. This is explored through
the eyes of Bonnie (of Bonnie & Clyde fame), in an alternative universe where Clyde selfishly leaves Bonnie for dead.” Bonnie takes revenge because of the end of their romantic,
albeit toxic relationship.
Famous Bonnie (movie) quote (addressing Clyde): “What would you do if some miracle happened and we could walk out of here tomorrow morning and start all over again clean?
No record and nobody after us?”
Electrifying and fuming.
Here comes Bonnie (with mustache)…
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7. ‘Before You Gotta Go’ by COURTNEY BARNETT (Australia)
One of the catchiest tunes I’ve heard all year, proving that sticky simplicity works tremendously well when you can sing along, hum along, or whistle along.
I Love you, Courtney.
Can’t resist this…
See/hear you next week, music junkies…
PARQUET COURTS Are Back To Roll – Hear New Single ‘BLACK WIDOW SPIDER’
New sonic impulses…
23 September 2021
Band: PARQUET COURTS
Who: Jangly Texas rockers living/working in New York City
Active: Since 2010 / 7 studio albums including the new one.
New album: SYMPATHY FOR LIFE
Out 21 October
New single: BLACK WIDOW SPIDER
Second taster after Walking At A Downtown Place
Andrew Savage (vocalist/guitarist): “I told [producer] Rodaidh
McDonald that I wanted to find a sound that was equal parts Can,
Canned Heat and This Heat. He was really into that and probably
took some glee in having such a bizarre challenge.”
(Andrew Savage – photo by Turn Up The Volume)
The accompanying video was directed by Shayne Ehman: “We were
inspired by the claymation master Art Clokey. I wanted the video to feel
like it was shot in the 1950’s and so I used very old lenses. One was a
brass projection lens from the 1860’s and another was radioactive.”
The Courts never rocked this conventionally and it works terrifically…
PARQUET COURTS: All Albums – All Tour Dates
TURN UP THE VOLUME 