New Artist: Parquet Courts

Garage. Punk. Rock. Nostalgia. I mean, come on! and in an age where so much of our music is handcrafted to be "perfect," it's the very opposite that shines through for the New York by way of Texas garage-punk-don'tgiveafuck outing Parquet Courts.

On their first full length, Light Up Gold, by about :30 seconds into the second track "Borrowing Time," you'll know what I'm talking about. The presence of Artie "the strongest man in the world," Petunia, and that deviously free-spirited red-headed kid singing, "Nobody Knows," all start swirling around my head, and I cant help but find myself in any other place than standing in front of a garage watching Pete Wrigley and the Blowholes play the song Pete could only remember one note to.

While this sure is way tougher than Pete Wrigley's cover of the Ganglians' "Hair" (yup, those are all Pete & Pete references right there!), maybe it's that very sense of nostalgia that kept me entertained and continues to bring me back to press play.

Did i mention the very first lyrics of 'Borrowed Time' are "I was feeling nostalgic..."

I mean it's just raw, and in your face, while being politely subtle at the same time. The release is actually quite diverse and there is a certain sarcastic vindictiveness about the lyrical delivery that just screams "fuck you this is the truth!" They really don't care at all what you have to say about them, they just tell it the way they know how to tell it best.

"Stoned and Starving" has an impressively intelligent, classic driving-garage-Americana melody that is at times so sure of itself and at others so recklessly unsure of itself, that one may be able to understand the cohesion between the song title and the actual song itself.