Brooklyn indie-rock band Parquet Courts will wrap up its string of winter dates with a performance at the 9:30 Club, supporting its critically acclaimed 2016 effort “Human Performance.”
Frontman Adam Savage’s self-proclaimed “New York heritage” style of music combines elements of early-90s punk and indie rock, garage rock and experimental rock with self-aware, cerebral and thoughtful lyrics. The album features sharp songs that cover topics from relationships and self acceptance to murder in the city. The wide-ranging nature of the lyrics nearly matches the variety of musical styles in number, while still remaining a cohesive and enjoyable body of work that few contemporaries in the genre could pull off.
“Human Performance” incorporates instrumental nuance and experimentation more so than Parquet Courts’ previous albums, while still paying clear homage to bands such as the Velvet Underground, Wire and Sonic Youth. They proudly wear their influences on their sleeves, while still carving out their own lane in 21st Century, NYC-based rock.
Grooves on songs like the title track “Human Performance” are warm and textured, reminiscent of a time in rock where noise and distortion were still largely new tricks to be played with, and Lou Reed was changing the shape of things to come.
On one of the standout tracks from the album, “Berlin got Blurry,” Savage sings “you can't crop yourself out of a picture, / you're out of focus but still framed inside,” cleverly commenting on both an estranged lover and his own place in society.
“Human Performance” stood out as one of the most eclectic and varied albums of 2016, and while it was not an explicitly political album, the critical nature of the lyrics and the litany of styles inadvertently seemed to echo what was a hectic and frightening year.
Despite not taking a gigantic leap, stylistically speaking, from its fantastic LP “Sunbathing Animals,” the band continued to innovate and refine their vintage style and lyrical output in 2016. The band’s love for combining different instrumental and thematic elements-- including, quite literally, “Dust” -- provides a little something for everyone looking to escape the bombardment of political coverage.
Parquet Courts will take the stage at the 9:30 Club at 7:00 p.m. on Feb. 13th. Tickets are still available here http://bit.ly/Parquet930AUE
