Monastic Living is the new 12” EP from Parquet Courts, their first new music since last year’s Content Nausea 12” EP
Our take: When I first took a look at this new Parquet Courts record I kind of wondered why it's only an EP... it spins at 33RPM, has 9 songs, and a running time of over 30 minutes. Then I listened to it, and it became clear why they might not want this in the canon of official Parquet Courts full-lengths. Basically, this is not really anything like the other PC records, visually or musically. The first track sounds like it could have come from Tally All the Things that You Broke (i.e. it's one of their quirkier songs), but it's only a bit over a minute long and after that drums rarely make an appearance. I must admit that this is a little disappointing as the powerful motorik-inspired drumming is clearly one of PC's main selling points, but honestly I really like the more abstract, quasi-soundscapes on this record. I've been playing it a bit in the store and a lot of other people seem to hate it though... I mean, like really passionately. So, basically if you're coming to this looking for the snappy yet drawn-out pop songs of PC's earlier material you are liable to be disappointed, but I really like bands that continually confound (I mean, the Fall are my favorite band!), and Parquet Courts certainly do that with this release. So, while it's not for everyone if you get down with Brian Eno's Another Green World just as much as Blitz's Voice of a Generation I think this is well worth checking out.
