This subtly subdued stripped down version of MC5 rock ‘n’ roll is way more relevant to the first wave of punk than the bombastic stoner sludge of Kick Out the Jams. Both are great records, but only one you can play at a wild party and also in the morning while having a cup of coffee.
I really like this underrated Parquet Courts album. It has their classic sound but is drenched in Lou Reed New York drippy laziness, which works so well. This band epitomizes what I thought in the early aughts reading reviews of The Strokes should have sounded like but very much didn’t live up to their hype.
It took me a while to get into this band, there was always something cheesy to their hipster indie folk shtick that kept me away and Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You is chalk full of that, but also comes off like a greatest hits album, mixing genres and styles that they seem to have perfected, from hippie country to weirdo new wave. I’m still probably not going out and buying all their records, but I love this one. Question is why are the animals at the campfire jam joined by a dinosaur and not a dragon?
