Albums to watch

Wide Awake!

Parquet Courts

Wide Awake!

Sixth full-length album from the Brooklyn-based garage rock / post-punk produced by Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse)

ADM rating[?]

8.3

Label
Rough Trade
UK Release date
18/05/2018
US Release date
18/05/2018
  1. 10.0 |   The Independent

    In range, energy and freshness, this may be their best album yet
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  2. 10.0 |   The FT

    The music is rooted in underground rock, with “Extinction” sounding like The Strokes on hot coals. But different styles are incorporated without fuss (Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton is the producer)
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  3. 10.0 |   DIY

    A gut-punch of an immediate classic
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  4. 10.0 |   The Skinny

    There is rather a lot to be angry about right now, but with Wide Awake! Parquet Courts remind us to dance and have a good time, despite the impending apocalypse
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  5. 9.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    There’s no band on the planet doing what they’re doing, and that’s might be the highest compliment you can pay a rock band these days
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  6. 9.0 |   No Ripcord

    There’s a disagreement about whether this should be classed as their fourth, fifth or sixth album, but there’s little doubt that Wide Awake! is up there with their very best
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  7. 9.0 |   Earbuddy

    On the surface, what looks like an attempt to move into a more mainstream territory is actually the exact opposite. This is Parquet Courts at their weirdest
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  8. 9.0 |   Exclaim

    The kind of conscious protest music that Parquet Courts have crafted for Wide Awake! is certainly punk-infused in spirit, and it's also refreshingly anchorless rock'n'roll
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  9. 9.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    This is the most diverse record put out under the Parquet Courts banner – not least because it contains a selection-box of lyrical interests and musical pursuits that include the revolutionary Dutch football method on “Total Football”, to the G-Funk-via-The Stranglers vamp of “Violence”
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  10. 9.0 |   The Music

    All hip-shaking bass lines and slightly unorthodox rhythms
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  11. 8.7 |   Gig Soup

    'Wide Awake!' is a bold step for Parquet Courts - it's acerbic, acidic, utterly powerful and stands as a genuinely important album in the otherwise paradoxically timid world of modern rock
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  12. 8.5 |   The 405

    A valuable and vital call to arms
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  13. 8.5 |   Under The Radar

    The proclamation that this is currently the world's most exciting rock band was suggested a couple years ago, now Parquet Courts have claimed the throne
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  14. 8.3 |   A.V. Club

    Wide Awake! is a full arc of an album, one that captures both Parquet Courts’ usual keyed-up exasperation and their new, hard-earned optimism
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  15. 8.0 |   Crack

    It’s their angriest work, and yet it’s their most polished. It’s quite possibly their best
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  16. 8.0 |   NME

    Parquet Courts are a magical band that make you feel everything all at once: youth, nostalgia, happiness, desolation, flying high, running low
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  17. 8.0 |   The Observer

    Musically, it’s easily their most expansive set to date, with squally punk (Total Football) rubbing up against 60s bubblegum pop (Mardi Gras Beads), woozy psychedelia (Back to Earth) and the clattering early-00s punk-funk of Wide Awake
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  18. 8.0 |   Slant Magazine

    With Wide Awake!, Parquet Courts treats both figurative and literal forward motion as a cathartic act
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  19. 8.0 |   Uncut

    They sound truly alive, impassioned and buoyant on their finest LP to date. Print edition only

  20. 8.0 |   Q

    Chaotic, visionary and righteously pissed off, Wide Awake! feels like the perfect rock record for the times. Print edition only

  21. 8.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    Parquet Courts have always been adept at transcending their slacker forebearers, and ‘Wide Awake’ is yet more proof of their burgeoning legacy
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  22. 8.0 |   Tiny Mix Tapes

    The album in which America’s most consistent punk band once again distill their myriad influences
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  23. 8.0 |   Rolling Stone

    The funkiest and sweetest Parquet Courts set yet, trading off some of their trademark guitar fireworks for danceable jams
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  24. 8.0 |   Pitchfork

    An album of joyfully absurd, danceable rock music. It is straightforward but alien, simple but endlessly referential
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  25. 8.0 |   Clash

    A brutally funny, scuzzy and lacking-in-seriousness affair, it truly is one of the most entertaining New York guitar albums of modern times
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  26. 8.0 |   The Quietus

    Still sounds like Parquet Courts, but it’s a far more colourful, warmer and bolder version
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  27. 7.0 |   All Music

    Those who are open to hearing the band take on a variety of styles and bend them to their will should be very happy with Wide Awake! Those who want the band to crank out an album of just bitter, bopping punk may have to wait until next time.
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  28. 7.0 |   musicOMH

    Wide Awake is certainly not their best, but it is their most wide ranging and as such, it could just be one that splits the hardcore fanbase right down the middle
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  29. 6.0 |   Mojo

    It flies the Wire and Minutemen flags high. More surprising are the occasional nods to funk and '60s bubblegum. Print edition only

  30. 5.5 |   Spectrum Culture

    A noble experiment gone slightly wrong
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