Album Review: Parkay Quarts – “Content Nausea”

The band of a thousand guitar lines, Parquet Courts have been a major figure in the indie rock scene since early 2013, when a reissue of their 2012 album Light Up Gold began to get a lot of attention and praise. Since then, the band has released an EP called Tally All the Things That You Broke (where they are credited as Parkay Quarts) and a new album in 2014 called Sunbathing Animal.

With the band again credited as Parkay Quarts, Content Nausea is the band’s second release of 2014. Defined by the band as something in between an EP and an LP (in other words, a Skrillex EP), the 35 minute record seems to be a break for the band, allowing them to mess around before releasing their next album, where they will no doubt be credited as Parquet Courts again.

The band’s weirdness (seriously, what kind of an artist credits themselves under different homonyms?) is refreshing, and when it comes to their music, it often translates into looseness. But, while Sunbathing Animal has grown to be one of my favorite albums of 2014, I don’t see Content Nausea making it that far.

That’s not to say that the album is bad. It actually might be more enjoyable than the overrated Tally All the Things That You Broke. But it doesn’t do much that the band hasn’t already done. Sunbathing Animal was new. It showed them moving away from the Pavement comparisons their early releases received and coming into their own as songwriters. Content Nausea is a step backwards, albeit a fun and listenable one.

The album’s finest moments are when the band takes advantage of their biggest commodity: their groove. Indie music is not typically a rhythmically interesting genre, which makes Parquet Courts’ ability to groove fascinating. The track where this is most apparent is on their cover of “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” which is played straighter than you’d think and works better than expected, primarily because the song’s rhythmic style is already similar to that of many of the band’s original songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97bxzENAGHQ

Content Nausea isn’t at the level of Light Up Gold or Sunbathing Animal, but it is a nice little record to hold people over until their next LP is released (which, considering the pace at which they release music, probably isn’t too far away). If this is Parquet Courts at their worst, then they’re one of the best bands in America.

Rating: 7/10