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9.3
85445
9.3 |
AU Review
Parquet Courts have delivered yet another fantastic album that offers a smorgasbord of weird – any fan of punk will find at least one song they love here
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9.1
85632
9.1 |
A.V. Club
Feels less rigid (and abrasive) and more personal in how it deals with restlessness and dread
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9.0
85696
9.0 |
musicOMH
This record can feel single-minded, but this is ultimately to its credit as life’s vaguer off-kilter moments emerge with clarity from the palette of modern paranoia the band work with
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9.0
85726
9.0 |
Gig Soup
With some of their most memorable tunes to date, the group finally deliver on almost two years worth of abstruseness
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9.0
85447
9.0 |
No Ripcord
Cut for cut, this is a triumph of melody and intelligence, with hooks that aren't cute and noise that doesn't dampen introspection, cosmic and prosaic at the same time
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9.0
85765
9.0 |
The 405
Parquet Courts' brand of taut, nervy guitar music is the perfect vehicle for these stories, and they expertly build and release tension in their guitar interplay
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8.4
85605
8.4 |
Pitchfork
A bracing snapshot of a band on a roll. Their music is not explicitly political, but Parquet Courts are definitely a thinking band, and a critical one
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8.3
85612
8.3 |
Consequence Of Sound
Their most realized, independent, and articulate album yet
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8.3
85724
8.3 |
Earbuddy
Parquet Courts have made a stunner of a record. It shakes, throbs, screams and shouts all over the place
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8.3
85867
8.3 |
Pretty Much Amazing
They’re average guys with above-average observational skills in the mad maze that is modern day New York City
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8.1
85730
8.1 |
Paste Magazine
For all their obvious musical ability, the band’s real skill here is blending so many unexpected elements into a coherent whole that is at once adventurous and accessible
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8.0
85728
8.0 |
NME
It’s easy to simply pore over Savage’s frantic wordplay – which peaks when evaluating kebab-wrapping techniques on ‘Berlin Got Blurry’ – but the music is equally brilliant
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8.0
85921
8.0 |
Drowned In Sound
As the band walk through the storm of life, it finally feels like they’ve accepted their place at the centre of the hurricane
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8.0
85960
8.0 |
The Guardian
If guitar music is condemned to skulk in the margins for the time being, it might as well do so sounding as spiky and agitated as this
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8.0
86042
8.0 |
Rolling Stone
Parquet Courts always sound so nimble and spontaneous that there's no predicting where they might end up next
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8.0
85712
8.0 |
Spin
It’s not their most sensitive record or politically astute or least dissonant but all of these things — their most convincing performance as humans to date
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8.0
85714
8.0 |
State
Parquet Courts have excelled with Human Performance, there are so many highlights in the 46 minutes
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8.0
85619
8.0 |
Under The Radar
There are no radical departures from past albums, but this is the most crisply recorded and varied Parquet Courts record yet
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8.0
85631
8.0 |
All Music
Shows that the band is just as vital and alive when it dials the intensity (way) down, cleans up some of the messy parts, and generally grows up in all the right ways
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8.0
85559
8.0 |
Exclaim
Sceptics might see Human Performance's well-rounded, poppier sensibilities as the band softening themselves — on the contrary, they're just coming into their own
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8.0
85597
8.0 |
Crack
A richer, broader sonic palette and – on occasion – deeper lyrical subject matter. It’ll be interesting to see how things unfold from here
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8.0
85453
8.0 |
DIY
A tightrope walk between impulse and laser-point precision
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8.0
85479
8.0 |
Loud And Quiet
By stepping back, Parquet Courts have taken a leap forward
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8.0
85448
8.0 |
The Music
Intelligent introspection of deceptive depth and considerable charm
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8.0
85449
8.0 |
Slant Magazine
Represents a significant step forward in terms of the band's emotional range and melodic richness
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8.0
85446
8.0 |
The Skinny
Human Performance might have sacrificed the band's rickety immediacy, but they compensate with wise, grass-stalk chewing authority and grubby, plentiful hooks
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8.0
85451
8.0 |
Q
NYC alt-rockers’ great leap forward. Print edition only
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7.5
86079
7.5 |
Beardfood
Parquet Courts achieve more in a throwaway line than most, and in the pursuit of wisdom you’d be unwise to turn a blind eye to their unique method of unpacking the world
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7.0
85501
7.0 |
PopMatters
Incredibly broad in its sonic palette and focused in its approach
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7.0
85614
7.0 |
Tiny Mix Tapes
A new kind of Parquet Courts album
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7.0
85807
7.0 |
Spectrum Culture
It’s weird. It’s fun
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6.5
85547
6.5 |
The Line Of Best Fit
What the other releases do so well is that they either hit the spot hard or deliberately miss for effect, but this time round the result seems to be somewhere in between
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6.0
85452
6.0 |
Mojo
An album that couldn’t be much more Rough Trade if it tried, Which, incidentally, is a largely a complement. Print edition only
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6.0
85450
6.0 |
Uncut
There are some great, clanging pop songs here. Print edition only
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6.0
85664
6.0 |
The FT
It doesn’t quite reach the heights of their earlier albums, Light Up Gold and Sunbathing Animals, but it has a cleverness and feel for style that few other bands can match
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6.0
85699
6.0 |
The Observer
There are enough highs to make this worthy of a listen
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