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If it wasn’t obvious, Parkay Quarts is the slightly twisted version of Parquet Courts, the contrarily art-punk band that put out Sunbathing Animal earlier this year and has been bringing their flair to the genre for the past few years. With this altered moniker, two of the members of this band are on their second venture for this year in Content Nausea which ventures further down the trail and upon a bit of a pedestal.
The opening track of this record is “Everyday it Starts,” and it has the band beginning with their adventure into the land of pathos. From the beginning, the band’s central focus seems to be a balance between eclectic instrumentation and the rambling lyrics that ascribes what it means to be living in the present day. The instrumentation on this number is steady—the drums patter in the background while the guitars and bass both alternate to create a rhythm akin to a clock ticking. While this goes on and is interrupted by random electronic sounds, the vocals chime in, deadpan, telling you “every day it starts: anxiety.” The song is a mimetic of the anxiety itself, with us embodying the soloing electric guitar meandering through the ticking waves of anxiety. Second number, title track, changes the pacing from constant to constantly shifting as the deadpan vocals ramble in a sort shot at spoken word set to the intentionally out of control instrumentation.
But it’s not all philosophical ramblings that should pull you into Content Nausea. I’ve found myself intrigued with some of the later tracks on a purely base level; there are some straight up jams on this record that are worth your time. Take “Pretty Machines” as an example—the song has this killer guitar riff that weaves its way in and out of the tune, and the song itself builds to its end with what sounds like lo-fi horns to end the number. This song, of course, doesn’t stray far from those relevant lyrics from before: “These days it’s harder to feel, it’s harder to suffer.” There’s also a lovely cover of “These Boots,” which makes it apparent as to the attractiveness of Parkay Quarts sound on this record. This track meshes perfectly with the campy, pulled together style of the band.
Content Nausea is certainly something different than you usually run into in the sphere of the music world, but it seems an apt statement piece in which form compliments content, which is reflective of the world we’re living in. While it gets a little preachy at points, have a listen and see if it aligns with where you’re at.
After a short day of rest from festivaling, the ATH crew was back at it again on Tuesday night, braving the cold weather for an evening of Scottish indie rock music outside at The Mohawk. The bill was stacked for a great night–The Twilight Sad‘s heavy indie rock and the more poppy sound of We Were Promised Jetpacks offered a mixing of genres for the evening, but kept it rock and roll. It was a special evening for all, but an even more special evening for B.Gray and Nathan, who were celebrating their Manniversary. Read on for a double perspective of the show from Nathan and Nicole, as well as pretty pictures from B.Gray.
