A selection of Parquet Courts favourite records
While they might be hailed as one of the great art-punk acts of the 21st century, Parquet Courts have always had more about them than the capacity to write nervous and angular guitar-led music. Their knowledge of other areas has been deftly slipped into their influences over the years, especially later on in their career, where they began experimenting further with sampling, dub and folk, to name but a few of their diversions.
The core songwriting duo of Andrew Savage and Austin Brown are nothing but consistent in quality but are far from it in terms of style. Imaginative, witty, and philosophical lyrics have always bolstered the eclectic sounds they’ve produced throughout their career. They have also benefited from the steadfast but versatile rhythm section of bassist Sean Yeaton and drummer Max Savage.
Some of the music the band created or has been instrumental in the production outside of Parquet Courts has been equally diverse and demonstrative of their multifaceted talents. The drumming Savage brother fronts indie rock group Maxband in his spare time, switching sticks for a six-string, while Yeaton released an avant-garde record in collaboration with Mark Kozelek in 2017. Andrew Savage runs the DIY label Dull Tools as well as releasing alt-country records as A Savage, while Brown has produced and remixed music for the likes of Bodega and Shame. They’re a talented bunch; there’s no denying it.
When discussing some of the underground gems found on Bandcamp that influenced their most recent album, 2021’s Sympathy For Life, their selections reflected this more expansive side of the group. They covered everything from synth-punk to ambient and made time for a few stopping-off points in between. The most warming thing about their selections, however, was not how varied they were but how close to the heart some of them were.
To begin with, Andrew Savage decided to opt for two selections from his record label that stood out to him, namely Mike Etten’s Love Wash and Nana Yamato’s Before Sunrise. The former pick comes from a member of fellow NYC punks PC Worship, who Parquet Courts collaborated with under the name PCPC for a one-off noise rock record, Ramsgate. This material from Etten is a lot more in the vein of Elliot Smith, opting for an acoustic sound that highlights the strength of his songwriting ability rather than drenching it in distortion.
The Nana Yamato record is akin to a Japanese-language Cate Le Bon, an artist that Savage has regularly identified as a favourite of his. Somewhat quirky but still steeped in classic indie rock, this album marked a significant moment for the label and was one of its best-received records at the time of its release.
Yeaton’s picks were also personal – one coming from his best friend and one being a recording he made with another associate. Sean McGuinness of Philadelphia hardcore group Pissed Jeans delivers lo-fi synth-punk as Sean on the Drums on the mini-album Ready To Be Rich. At the same time, Yeaton himself takes a somewhat tongue-in-cheek stab at the genre on the singular self-titled single from Tight Ferrari, listing sports cars and taking cocaine over a repetitive beat from producer Joel Ford.
Max Savage opted for the lightest selection of all, giving props to Annie Hart (of Au Revoir Simone) and her ambient collection Everything Pale Blue while also acknowledging former tour mates Salad Boys for their scrappy indie record Metalmania.
With Brown’s choices, he slipped Gentle Grip from no-wave group Public Practice—a band fronted by his wife—which bears the most similarity to the sound Parquet Courts opted for on Sympathy For Life. In addition to this, he made room to celebrate an extended dub remix of Numyn’s ‘Overcome’, a record he worked on as producer and also seemingly borrowed some stylistic elements from on tracks such as ‘Plant Life’.
