Rene: Welcome to Earshifter. 

Sean: He's Rene Rouleau. 

Rene: And he's Sean Capstick. And Sean, why are we here? 

Sean: We started this podcast 'cause we wanted to talk about music that we like, and maybe introduce people who haven't heard those bands, and they could learn something about the band, or maybe if they like the band they'll learn something more.

But it really, I think, at this point, Rene, it's just about talking about bands we like, don't you think? 

Rene: Yeah, and getting together and more often than usual and chatting. 

Sean: Yeah. So I'm excited about this band. 

Rene: Me too. 

Sean: Who introduced whom? 

Rene: I do not know, man. Do you? 

Sean: I can't remember. I can remember listening to one song that I'm sure you're going to talk about and maybe play while I was doing the Rideau Lakes Bicycle Tour, because it has a driving beat and I was tired.

But I don't know if I found them myself or if you introduced or what. I don't know. But they just appeared. 

Rene: Yeah. Let's call it that. Okay. That we discovered them together but separate. 

And that band is Parquet Courts. Ooh, I wonder if we're pronouncing it right. 

Sean: I don't know. Do you think they're, do you think they're French?

Rene: Yeah. Um, okay, so Parquet Courts is a band that we both love. I've seen them three times. I think you've seen them twice. 

Sean: Yeah. Well, you saw them one more time than me. Yeah, yeah. You're holding that over me- Oh, I am ... right at the beginning of the show. 100%. 

Rene: Okay, yep. And, uh, they're made up of four members.

One of the members is named Andrew Savage. He's kinda like, to me he seems like the main head honcho sort of thing. Mm-hmm. But, but he would probably argue that. And then we have Austin Brown and Sean Yeaton, and then Andrew's brother plays drums, and that's Max Savage. Mm-hmm. So I thought it'd be fun, 'cause we've done this before, uh, let's just kinda rapid fire bands that have siblings.

Sean: Okay, so sisters, The [00:02:00] Breeders, Kim and Kelley Deal. 

Rene: Yep. 

Sean: Tegan and Sara. 

Rene: Oh, yeah. 

Sean: From Toronto here. Yeah. Uh, then Kate and Anna McGarrigle. No 

Rene: idea. 

Sean: Oh, they were so good. They were, they're, they're more older. They're, they're like '70s, '80s '70s and '80s. They, they were in, they were Bad Seeds. Oh, okay. I think one, one of the, Kate or Anna married into the, Loudon Wainwright family Yeah And uh, but yeah, I think their claim to fame was, uh, they had an album The Dancer With Bruised Knees, I think.

I can remember playing that at the radio station. I thought it was a great album. 

Rene: Okay. 

Sean: And yeah, they were Bad Seeds on, uh- 

Rene: Okay ... 

Sean: No More Showering part. With Nick Cave. Yeah. 

Rene: With Nick Cave. Okay, and I got I got Doves, which one day we will do an episode on. Okay. Uh, two brothers in there. I didn't know this, but Japan, the band Japan, David Sylvian and his brother, they actually just created new names for themselves, but they were actually brothers.

Hmm. In [00:03:00] fact, I know. 

Sean: I didn't know that. 

Rene: Okay. I know. I did a little find Google and, and discovered that. Of course, one of your favorite bands, Oasis and Radiohead, both have brothers in them, and that's probably why you love them so much. 

Sean: Yeah, okay. I didn't know there's another Radiohead tick. Okay. Yeah.

Okay. Okay. Yep. Yep. 

Rene: One, one day I'll turn you. One day I'll turn you. 

Sean: I am sure you will. 

Rene: You got any more? 

Sean: The Bangles. Oh, yeah, yeah, 

Rene: yeah. Yeah. And of course, we've covered the Meat- or Meat Puppets, sorry, there is no article. Meat Puppets, and and of course Snow Caps. 

Sean: Snow Caps, yes. Yeah. This season, Snow Caps is a great episode.

I'm really pleased with that 

Rene: one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also, sorry, The Hives. I talked about The Carpenters at one time. There, there are a bunch of bands that have siblings in them, which is kinda cool, and this is one of them. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: Okay. So Max and Andrew, the brothers, they grew up in Denton, Texas.

And then, uh, when it came to going to college or university Andrew went to the University of North Texas, and there he met Austin. [00:04:00] And Austin- 

Sean: Austin the city? 

Rene: No, Austin the, uh, Austin the vocals and guitar player. Okay. Thank you very much. But yeah, we are in the right state, so fair enough. But they formed a club, and that club was called Knights of the Round Turntable.

And I thought that was pretty cool because we kinda had our own club, Sean. That's how this whole goddamn thing started, 'cause since grade nine we would share albums- Yes ... and that's what they were doing in their little club. Oh. The only difference is we were earlier- Mm-hmm ... so we beat them, and we are-

musically talentless. 

Sean: Yes. Yes. And we didn't have a cool name for our club. 

Rene: Yeah, no, we didn't. We had no name. 

Sean: What could we name something about Silver Shadow? I don't know. Yeah, 

Rene: we'll have to think about it. We're gonna workshop that. We're gonna workshop that. Okay, yeah. Okay, so that's how... So now we got Austin, we got Max, and we got Andrew.

And Andrew actually did some early music projects. So it's kinda weird, right? So Andrew, with his two other band mates, and then a third joined later started Parquet Courts, but at the same [00:05:00] time he had, like, side projects, right? So one of those side projects was called Teenage Cool Kids. Teenage Cool Kids has 6,000 monthly listeners and of course I gave a listen.

I don- I don't know if you had a chance to do that. I 

Sean: listened to them, yeah. Yeah. They, you, you can definitely see Andrew's voice for sure. 

Rene: Yeah, although it gets a little... I felt a, myself, I felt like it got a little lost in the mix there. Mm. And and it was very noodly, like very noodly. 

Sean: Yeah and, you know, not, not super well-produced, so that's maybe his voice was lost.

Yeah, yeah. 

Rene: That's probably part of the problem. And then the other band, which I liked a lot more, is called Fergus and Geronimo, and so both of these are, like, 2011. And Parquet Courts started 2010, so you can see there's, like, there's a bit of an overlap, and later when they do move to Brooklyn, he actually travels back to Denton and does some stuff with these two bands- 

Sean: Oh, okay

as well. Okay. 

Rene: So he's 

Sean: kinda like- So it is, they, they were contemporary. They weren't sequential. Okay. 

Rene: Yeah, they weren't sequential. Okay. They were kinda happening all at once. Maybe not. There was some [00:06:00] overlap at some point for sure. I quite liked Fergus and Geronimo. They had 7,000 monthly listeners, and it was more of, like, a '80s feel with synth.

It starts to feel a bit more like Parquet Courts. 

Sean: Uh, yeah, okay. Yeah, I thought that later Parquet Courts. Yeah, later, later. Not the- That's the irony ... Parquet Courts that, uh- No ... they were doing at the time. 

Rene: No. But later you're kinda like, "Oh, I see." His voice is actually more prominent with Fergus and Geronimo as well, and I think that really helped too 'cause his voice and his cadence is so unique.

Mm-hmm. And I think that actually is a signature point of the band. There are many signature points of this band but that is one of them I think. 

Sean: Yeah. So before you move on, are you ready to move on from Denton? 

Rene: Not yet 'cause I just wanna say- Okay. '

Sean: Cause I have a Denton question. 

Rene: Okay. I just wanna say that No Parties by Fergus and Geronimo, that was kind of a banger, and I quite liked it actually.

So folks, if you wanna check 'em out, I would listen to No Parties. That is quite, quite the song. All right, go. Denton. Let's go. 

Sean: Okay. So [00:07:00] I don't think we can leave Denton without the question, do you think the Savage brothers were better than the best-ever death metal band out of Denton? 

Rene: Which is? 

Sean: The Song by The Mountain Goats.

That's the only thing I can think of when I hear Denton, so, and we cover that song in season one episode on The Mountain Goats- yeah ... where we talk about uh, it's Cyrus, and who was the other? They weren't brothers. They were good friends. And they were the best-ever death metal band out of Denton.

That's what the song is called. Okay. So the fact that there are actually bands out of Denton I find kind of ironic. 

Rene: That is kinda shocking to say the least. 

Sean: Yeah, and they never settled on a name. 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, we'll get to it, but Parquet Courts didn't either apparently. Uh, okay so now we're gonna move to Brooklyn.

Okay. So the guys move to Brooklyn the two brothers in Austin, they relocate after college. And they [00:08:00] release their debut album called American Specialties, and I'm like, "What the fu- I have never heard of this in my life." So I checked it out. I think you did, too. Mm-hmm. Uh, the only place I could find it was on YouTube, and it was, like, a 30-minute vid-long video with no separation of songs.

And it was pretty dirty, the recording. I th- I think, in my opinion, I felt like Andrew's voice was a little bit lost in there. At this point, honestly, Sean, I'm... At this point, I'm picking Ferguson Geronimo over Parquet Courts' first album. 

Sean: I think... So again, I found it on YouTube. I did find one that actually did break it into songs, so I- Oh, nice

could look for a specific song. 

Rene: Okay. 

Sean: I think the genesis of Parquet Courts was there. And I would pick American Specialties over Ferguson Geronimo. Okay. Interesting. But, you know, that's just me. And the one the one, uh, I did look at the... Because they were all listed as individual songs. [00:09:00] The song Nunavut Nation of Islam- Whoa

I thought was a very interesting song title. 

Rene: Yeah. 

Sean: That one doesn't have lyrics, though. 

Rene: Yeah. And I, I... There was one funny... I don't know why this lyric is funny to me, but, but someone else mentioned it in the comments, and the line itself was, "She had eyes like a Taco Bell drive-thru." 

I don't even know what that means, but I just, I like it.

It's just kinda funny. Oh, do you wanna talk about him lyrically? 'Cause I feel like if I was to guess, Sean, I think you would say, "Look, lyrically, they're not the strongest band in the world, but they're fun." Is that what you would say? This is my guess. 

Sean: I think their lyrics have evolved and changed.

Andrew Savage, I think he is the primary lyricist, if I understand that. I think his lyrics have evolved, and I actually think he's a pretty good lyricist. Okay. I like hi- his... The songs really became much [00:10:00] more stories, as opposed to the album- Starving Starving ... that you're gonna talk about next-

where the lyrics are complementary to the 

Rene: songs. Yeah. Yeah. And again, super fun, but maybe not the same early days, maybe not the same depth as, say, a Waxahatchee or something like that. No. Right? Okay. So yeah, let's go to that f- second album, it turns out. I thought it was their debut album, go figure.

But that second album, Light Up Gold, I think that's where we both discovered- 

Sean: Yes ... 

Rene: Parquet Courts. And that album is, for me, absolutely incredible. It is my favorite album of their six full albums- Mm-hmm ... to this day. I don't know about you. 

Sean: Mm, yeah, it, it has a soft spot in my heart, for sure. 

Rene: Yeah. 

Sean: Yes. 

Rene: But I remember you loved the next album, too, Sunbathing Animal.

So we'll talk about that- Okay ... a little bit later. But, uh, so Light Up Gold was 2013 got critical acclaim Metacritic 84 out of 100, Pitchfork 8 out of 10. Rolling Stone, so Rolling [00:11:00] Stone did a the 250 greatest albums of the 21st century so far. They did that about a year ago. And that album hit number 85, which is- Hm

pretty good. Yeah. Uh, fun fact in the upper 200s was Swearing- Hm ... and Hop Along- Wow ... which we've talked about in previous- Yeah ... episodes, so I thought that was kinda cute. Oh, and by the way this album is 15 songs, 33 minutes. 

Sean: Yep, they are pretty fast. 

Rene: They are pretty fast songs. I mean, some of them are a minute and just powerful.

Now I wanted to talk a little bit about the genre, 'cause genre-wise, look, we've talked about them being punk rock, but we actually mean, when we say punk rock, we often mean attitude-wise, do it yourself-wise and do whatever the fuck you want-wise. Yes. Um, okay, so my question to you is, like, how would you define them?

Because I know that you and I talk about punk rock, but we talk more about [00:12:00] attitude and kind of do it yourself and kind of like a, "I'll do whatever I want," that's punk rock. But- In terms of the act- It's totally punk rock ... that's totally punk rock- Yeah ... and that is what they are. But Light Up Gold and Somebody the Animal, is it actually musically punk rock as well, or is it more garage rock, or is it more post-punk, or is it all of those things?

What do you think? 

Sean: So they are a straight-ahead rock and roll band in Light Up Gold with a bit of a deviant side that doesn't really play the melody straight, that doesn't follow conventional song structures that uses feedback very well, often, and to great effect. It actually reminds me a lot about the Dream Syndicate's albums- Hmm

in the way that they use feedback. Hmm. Uh, and they're a rock and roll band. But unlike the Dream Syndicate, maybe we'll talk about it sometime they are much more atonal and use Savage's voice much more [00:13:00] like an instrument- Yes ... in terms of, you know, just repeating the same thing over a drone.

Yeah. 

Rene: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, like, we both agree this album is the shit. I honestly, for me, the song selection is tough. I had Li- Light Up Gold, Stoned and Starving, which is the second most played- Mm-hmm ... song on the album Borrowed Time, which is the most played song on the album. Okay. 

Sean: Yep. 

Rene: But is it weird that I wanna play Donuts Only?

Because I really love Donuts Only too, but I'm willing to play whatever we wanna play 'cause I love everything. 

Sean: Donuts Only is one of my favorite 

Rene: tracks. 

Sean: No way! And the lyrics in Donuts Only I think our only second to, um, the song about North Dakota, where he's uh, talking about North Dakota and that it's a surf population and that they are uh, bored about Canada.

Uh- Mm ... but the Donuts Only is such a great song. Let's hear that. 

Rene: All right, awesome. I [00:14:00] love that. 

Sean: Okay, here we go. 

Clip: Look, a restless Baptist fervor. Like a small town's unsolved murder. Some secrets aren't just left for signatures of grainy photo albums. As the Texas Donuts Only, you cannot find bagels here.

And I'll reserve my hostile jabs for the communists on your southern flank. Here, and of course, there's lots of squalor in my misty views.

There's a hole you shit fall into. See the church choir's young male leads. And at home Gene Kuskin wrote some of our sisters, moms, and nieces. 'Cause he gave us all the worthless. Spent five decades doing hustle. End result, his life was rubbish. Celebrated, yes, but rubbish.[00:15:00] 

Sean: Okay, so there's no typical song on the album, so that is a typical song by being very different and than the other songs. But again, when he says, "You cannot get bagels here," he doesn't have to say too much. He's, he is describing an, a non-urban environment where, you know, he... The title is called Donuts Only.

He doesn't have to say, "You can only get donuts here." All he has to say is, "You can't get bagels." So- ... you know, I picture them on a long tour through the Midwest. They're tired. They would like some comfort food, a little bit of starch, not sugar, and that's how they wrote that song. 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah. Pretty s- simple, straight ahead, fun song.

Another one I love, and I'm sure you do, too, is Stoned and Starving. Now, my daughter Chloe was 13, and I w- this was in heavy, heavy rotation in the car when I was picking her up and stuff. And I question my parental responsibility, [00:16:00] but I think, you know, the power of the song Stoned and Starving just kinda won.

And I actually did ask her, "Do you remember me playing Parquet Courts to you when you were young?" And she doesn't, so maybe that's a good thing. Okay. 

Sean: But does she like Swedish Fish? 

Rene: She doesn't like Swedish Fish, so maybe that's a good thing, too. Okay, 

Sean: so she prefers licorice? 

Rene: I'm not sure, but- '

Sean: Cause that's a great rhyming couplet.

Rene: Yeah, that's a very good rhyming couplet, right? But Stone and Starving, honestly, what a, what a great song. And again, simple, straightforward, and honest. 

Sean: And that was a song that I was singing in my head when I was writing- Yeah ... 'cause it's just a driving beat- Yeah ... and a great feedback solo at the end. 

Rene: Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Okay, shall we move on to the next one? 

Sean: Sure. 

Rene: Sunbathing Animal. So Shawn, like, for me, I seem to remember you actually, I actually thought that this was your favorite album, so I'm a little surprised to hear that Light Up Gold is your favorite like it is mine. I, 

Sean: I, see, I kinda like them all- 

Rene: Yeah

but 

Sean: in a different way. 

Rene: Okay, yeah. 

Sean: Uh, so [00:17:00] when Sunbathing Animal came out, I was pleased that they had evolved, that it wasn't just- More of the same ... Light Up Gold 3. You can s- the, he's actually got more of a song structure. He sings about stuff. I don't know what song you're going to wanna play on that, but, like, that Instant Disassembly song is- That is the one, my friend

A really nice song. It is incredible. But then, the title cut, Sunbathing Animal, is an angry song. It's very aggressive. He shouts and screams much like, uh,

Rene: Light Up Gold ... 

Sean: Light Up Gold. Yeah. And, but, his personification of the animal, looking at the animal sunbathing going that, "You have so much better going on in your head or your lack of awareness than my acute awareness and paranoia," and it's a great it's a great song.

Oh, it's a great, great observation. It's a great, this is where he comes into his, his own in terms of songs and getting feelings across in the songs. 

Rene: Agreed, and, and it's funny 'cause Instant Disassembly is the one we're gonna play, and I think what's [00:18:00] interesting about it is first off, it's not a minute long.

It's actually seven minutes long. And I just love that it's so dr- 

Sean: Stone and Starving's seven minutes long. 

Rene: I think it's five. Okay. 

Sean: But, yeah. But 

Rene: it's, yeah. But it's there. Yeah, it's there. It's getting there. Yeah, yeah. I get you. I get you. Yeah. It's getting there. But it's, but this song, I mean, we're gonna play it, but it's so draggy, too.

A- and also it is the most played song on the album- Okay ... with 6 million plays, which I, I thought also, you know, is kinda poignant because they are stretching, right? They're stretching, and they're, they're doing something different. It's, this is not Light Up Gold at all. Although you see, you see, like, little hints of Light Up Gold in, say, A Black And White.

With that crunchy kinda s- staccato sort of guitar work. I asked Joe about that at about the 21st second There's this really cool crunchy guitar, and I'm like, "How do they create that sound, Joe?" 'Cause our sound engineer is also a musician versus us w- who are not. So he actually said it's possibly muted power chords [00:19:00] with overdrive or distortion.

That's the way they possibly made it. I mean, he's taking his best guess, but that's a better guess than you or I. Yes. 

Sean: It just sounds good. 

Rene: Yeah, it sounds good, Joe. Okay. And then Ducking and Dodging too, I love that song. Mm-hmm. Anthemic, powerful. But let's hear Instant Disassembly. 

Clip: Mamacita, hear me now, I insist.

Oh, you've gotta trust me when I say long for something better than this.

Kept repeating, kept repeating myself.

There's nothing left to dismantle. [00:20:00] The house, it just collapsed on itself. Instant, instant disassembly.

Rene: Yeah, so that song is so different from the song we just played. And, and you can tell they're literally starting to evolve and you won't believe where they go on album four and album five. They just keep progressing and stretching. But on that note, just five months later, after Sunbathing Animal was released, they actually release an album called Content- Nausea 

But they do it under a pseudo name, homonym-

Parque Quartz. 

Sean: Is that one of your favorite literary devices for today? 

Rene: You know what's so funny, Sean, is you are an engineer, I majored in English, and you know more literary [00:21:00] devices than I do. So I have no idea. 

Sean: I hate the homonyms. 

Rene: Are you a homonym hater? 

Sean: They confuse me 'cause I'm a bad speller to begin with.

Oh, 

Rene: right, right, 

Sean: right. So- Right, right, right ... you know, like, uh, you know, I have to keep the vowels straight, and then when they're the exact same thing, there's difference. So I s- I do like this album. 

Rene: Okay, yeah. 

Sean: Homonym aside- Yes ... I do like this album. 

Rene: Yes. So, so the reason, so why did they do that, right?

I mean, other than being punk rock, on their third goddamn album, they go, "Well, we're gonna just do something different." They did that because actually only two of the members, Andrew and Austin, were a part of this album. They recorded the whole album in two weeks on a four-track. Yep. That's it. Super fast.

And so this is on the label What's Your Rapture, but I was like, "Why?" I don't know. Like, as a record label manager, I'd be like, "What are you doing? You're, you're actually building brand, band equity and you're, like, [00:22:00] switching on the third album to a different name. It's gonna confuse people." Like, that would, that would actually upset me.

But again- But they're 

Sean: punk rock ... 

Rene: but they're punk rock and they don't give a shit. Most played song on the album was the single, which is called Uncast Shadow of a Southern Myth. 

Sean: But I think the opening Every Day It Starts is such a great opener to the album, and again, builds off of what the other songs were start- now it's getting to be a bit, the repetition is now vocal repetition as opposed to the looping guitar, the feedback, and I think that's a good song to play.

Rene: Okay. Well, we can play that one. That's not my favorite but actually, that single is my favorite and the most played, but let's play that opening track. Let's go.

Speaker 5: Every day it starts. Every day it starts. Every day it starts. Anxiety. [00:23:00] 

Rene: Okay. So look, I like that song, but I think we only need 10 seconds of that 'cause it's pretty much the rest of the song. Why don't we just play a- But that's 

Sean: so good, the way he's using the repetition in the start of the album. But okay, you- your point's well taken.

Rene: All right. So we're gonna play a little bit of- 

Sean: The Uncast Shadow of the Southern Myth 

Rene: Excellent. Let's hear a little bit of 

Clip: that. Forgive those who trespass against us. Begins the dead intruder's plea. Into the very muzzle I'd once peered into. He gives the last words he will speak. That broken glass supports forced entry.

Reminds his lawyer through [00:24:00] the phone. What Southern judge do you know, comforting, gently. Jails white men who defend their home. Well, no souls were present for the moment. His burned out brick walls finally fell. Lying face down in the throes of atonement. Checked out of the Heartbreak Hotel 

Rene: Okay, that song, honestly, it's six and a half minutes long.

It's essentially, it's essentially a slow song. 

Sean: Yeah. 

Rene: Right? If you were in the coolest high school ever, that would be the last song they play at the school dance. Like- 

Sean: Back in Denton? 

Rene: Back, back in Denton, yeah. I mean, it does blow up a little bit at the end, but so does Stairway to Heaven, you know what I [00:25:00] mean?

So I think it'd be a great last song at a, at a school dance. 

Sean: Okay, yes. Yeah. And it's a nice song, but you can tell two of the band members are missing. You can tell it's not as full a sound as the two albums before it. 

Rene: Yeah, I agree. 

Sean: Yep. 

Rene: Yeah.

Sean: But it's a good song. 

Rene: Yeah, it's a great song. All right, so now we are going to the experimental EP, which I don't know why it's called an E- it's kind of more like an LP, but we'll call it an EP, 'cause they do.

Monastic Living. This is released in 2015, so this is again, you know, on the heels of everything else. Mm-hmm. Um, let's talk about this crazy album, because thank you, Sean, for bringing it up again, 'cause I'm like, "I forgot all about that," and I checked it out, and oh my God, is it experimental, instrumental crazy stretches.

Crazy stretches. 

Sean: Mm-hmm And it's their first album on Rough Trade. So they [00:26:00] went from- Yes ... the, you know, the independent record label to a bigger independent record label. But still, Rough Trade's got a lot of, of big artists- Yeah ... and they've got, you know- The 

Rene: Smiths ... 

Sean: press behind them, and yeah, they were a big UK band Smiths, The 

Rene: Fall.

Yeah. Yep. Yeah, so pretty wild. Like, honestly, guys, like, I, I don't know what to say. The EP is wild. We're not gonna play any of the tracks. No. But, but- 

Sean: Not even 10 seconds? 

Rene: But pe- not even 10 seconds. But people, it's a complete departure. And e- he- the only thing that all the songs have in common is that they are complete departures from each other, because every song is so different and wild, and they're...

If you want singing, this is not your album. 

Sean: No. So this is not, Rene, you would not suggest for our dear listeners who want to dive into the Parquet Courts canon, that this is not the jumping-off point? 

Rene: This would not be the jumping-off point at all. Okay. But, uh, but God love them for just doing something different and [00:27:00] being, again- Being punk rock

very, very, very, very punk rock. Okay, so that takes us to Human Performance, 2016. So this is released through the new label, Rough Trade. And this actually got a Grammy nom. Yeah, but not for what you think. It got a Grammy nom for the album cover, because Andrew Savage actually did the album cover, because, fun fact, he studied art at that University of Southern Texas or wherever the heck he went.

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: So yeah, 

Sean: so- And I like the album art. Like, I think they, he has a very distinctive style. The albums all are different but have some visual consistency. 

Rene: Yeah, yeah. 

Sean: More than the songs. 

Rene: Well, yeah, I mean, Light Up Gold is pretty consistent song-wise, but yeah, I know what you mean. But from album to album.

From album to album. Yeah, I agree. So song highlights. Now, Sean, I do remember this, but you tell me if I'm wrong, but I think you loved Dust. Didn't you love Dust? 

Sean: Dust is everywhere. 

Rene: [00:28:00] Sweep. Sweep. Yeah, so that song's great. But Human Performance, the title track, is the most played. And I love this one.

It's quiet, it's melodic. Mm-hmm. It's, it's almost earnest and regretful and mournful. Like, I'm feeling like I'm, I'm seeing a even deeper Andrew Savage, the way he sings it. And then the chorus breaks out nice and loud, and it's echoey, and it's just very different from Light Up Gold and even Sunbathing Animal with- 

Sean: Oh, very much so.

Yeah. Yeah, very much so. Yeah, I like the, it's- It's not a ballad, but it is a slower song and a song about relationships. Now it's, you know, he's, it's clearly or, about a relationship. It's not about anxiety, uh- Or donuts ... or donuts or- Or stone and starving. Yeah, or, or l- looking at a cat in the, uh, or whatever animal is sunbathing.

Yeah. And Berlin Got Blurry. It's about relationships. It's a great [00:29:00] little, uh, tune. 

Rene: And well, it's so interesting that you say that 'cause Berlin Got Blurry, it, I felt like it gives, uh, Lou Reed. 

Sean: Yeah? 

Rene: Definitely has a Lou Reed feel to it. 

Sean: Okay, what are we gonna hear? 

Rene: Um- 

Sean: You pick. 

Rene: Ugh. I think I do wanna hear a human performance.

Sean: Okay. 

Clip: Ashtray is crowded, bottle is empty. No music plays and nothing moves without drifting into a memory. Busy apartment, no room for grieving. Sink full of dishes and no trouble believing that you are leaving. Mid-sentence tremors, mind at its weakest. One way of shaking off the thoughts that it sleeps with.

Witness to know doesn't shouldn't hurt. [00:30:00] Reason to find think under hurt. Shakes like a house closing its doors. Curled up in the 

Rene: dark, answers in yours.

So love that song. But I also wanna say this, that preparing for this episode, forces us to rediscover- Mm-hmm ... these albums. Yeah, go 

Sean: back. And- Which is so great ... 

Rene: oh my God like I forgot, like, just so many rediscovered gems. Like, I forgot about Paraphrase. I love that song Paraphrase. I think it's so power- and like completely forgot about it, but it's amazing too.

I'd play quite a few songs if we could, but I guess they can just listen to the songs playlist if they want to, uh- Mm-hmm ... listen to them themselves. Okay, so now we're going to 2017. So 2017, Andrew Savage comes out with his first solo album under the stage name A. Savage, which, you know, is cute and [00:31:00] playful.

It's called Thawing Dawn, but for me, like, I actually really fell in love with several songs about The Fire, which is his other main LP that he's done solo. And that album for me is very special. Like, I, I listened to it for quite some time, like, over and over again. Got some faves on there, but I know this isn't about A.

Savage. This is about Parquet Courts, but just a shout-out to him and his own, his solo work, which is- Yeah ... also very strong and powerful. So that brings us to 2017 as well, which is Milano. Now, this album, dude, this album, when it came out, I was stuck on it for, like, two weeks. And- 

Sean: You didn't find it too difficult listening and how different it was from- 

Rene: I 

Sean: loved it

everything else? 

Rene: I loved it for all of that. Oh, good. Like, and every song is so different, and then you got Karen O from- Mm-hmm ... Yeah Yeah Yeahs, uh, on it. I'm not... Are you a fan of Yeah Yeah Yeahs? No. I'm not a big fan of Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Like, I like Map, but that's about it. 

Sean: Yeah, I t- I think they're just fine.

Yeah. 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah. But I... Do you, do you... I never... I don't listen to [00:32:00] them on my own. 

Sean: No. 

Rene: No. 

Sean: If they come on, I like it- 

Rene: Yeah ... 

Sean: just fine, yeah. 

Rene: Yeah. But Karen O does a great job- Yep ... on this album. I absolutely love this album. And, uh, but I didn't know who this Daniele Luppi guy was. I had no idea. Do 

Sean: you? Uh, no.

Rene: Yeah, and I'm like, "Well, who is this guy?" So it turns out he's actually a composer. He's Italian, and he did one album that he's collabed with Gnarls Barkley- ... and Jack White on an album called Rome which is obviously about Rome. But Milano is obviously about Milan. So what he wanted to do was capture the crazy Milan times in the '80s kinda hedonistic heyday of Milan in the '80s.

So he reached out to, according to the internet, he reached out to Parquet Courts and Karen O to pay tribute to Milan. And as a result, you've got this album that is just so, uh, like you said, every song is so [00:33:00] different. I love Mount Napoleon. The chorus on that one is so fun. I love Talisa, uh- Mm-hmm

which is, fast, but then has these draggy verses. So fast chorus and draggy verses. Pretty Prizes is the most played with three million streams on that album. But we're gonna play Flush. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: Because it actually doesn't have Savage singing at all, and actually, that's the case on a few of the songs on this album.

It's just Karen O by herself. Sometimes they sing together. Sometimes it's just Savage. But this song is so weird It's almost unnatural. Like- ... like it, it shouldn't work. But it's so godda- for me anyway, so infectious, so jammy and just gets inside you. So let's hear Flush.

Clip: Oh, copulation's such a pain. But here we are. Here we are. On the [00:34:00] loose again. Loose again. Oh, eeldivina ciao. Un punto rosso, wow. I'm so chamay. So chamay-ay-ay-ay. Above my brain goes flush down the drain. I cannot abstain. Abstain. And I yas again. Flush. Flush, flush, flush. Flush. Flush, flush, flush. Sewer eels go by.

Slipping salt into my veins. Crustaceans picking at my eyes. They dance and fuck in the 

Rene: waters of my brain. Go flush. Okay, so that's Flush. But, uh ... And I, yeah, I really do love that song. So now we're g- in 2018 Parquet Courts releases their sixth album called [00:35:00] Wide Awake! Exclamation mark. And this album actually gets recognition as Album of the Year by Australian radio station Double J.

It actually has some video game placements including one in EA Sports NHL 19, and Wide Awake, the title track in Football Pro Evolution Soccer 2020. So, you know, they're getting into video games. Video games, yeah. Yeah. Pretty wild. So look, this one's on me. This was a me problem, because I could not get into this album.

I just, it just does- not a track on this album do I like. But the plays on Spotify say I'm an idiot because it honestly has, like, 16 million plays. It's very popular. Tenderness has 29 million plays, probably one of the most played out of all their albums. And it's described, and this is why I think I don't like it, it's described as punk funk.

[00:36:00] Very catchy, nice rhyming mechanism and all that, but I don't, I'm not a big fan of funk. So for me, it felt- ... it felt standard. It felt familiar. It felt predictable. It's just not- Parquet Courts to me 

Sean: See, we s- this was the album that we saw them touring at the Phoenix or the Diamond, I guess it was the Phoenix at that point, right?

So, uh, I thought the tour was great. I enjoyed them playing these songs. They were new and they were fresh, and it made, uh... I thought it was a great concert, and the songs, I think, are well-crafted and polished, right? So they've gone from, in 10 years the noisy feedbacky to- Yeah, punk funk ... songs that punk funk songs that get played on video games, which are not by accident.

They take them because they're going to [00:37:00] appeal to a broad selection of people. So I think this is just so typical Rene for not wanting to play the number one song of an 

Rene: artist. I see what you did there. Turn it around. I will say this, there is a caveat, 'cause I do love Prince, and Prince is definitely on the funky side.

But other than that- 

Sean: George Clinton 

Rene: Nope 

Absolutely not What 

Sean: about the P-Funk All-Stars? 

Rene: Nope. 

Sean: What about- 

Rene: Uh, let's just not go in that direction. Funkadelic. Let's just move on. Okay. Let's just move 

Sean: on. Okay. Well, maybe we need to go into the funk- No ... because you gotta move your ass- 

Rene: We're, we're nope ... 

Sean: and your brain will follow.

Rene: Nope. Nope. Okay, so, so that's that album. That's a me problem. Well, hold 

Sean: on. Oh. I think- 

Rene: Okay ... 

Sean: like, that there's so many good songs. The Total Football is I think one of the, uh, the other songs that, uh, gets played a lot because it's about- Yes ... soccer. 

Rene: Yeah, yeah. 

Sean: Uh, but what I recall from that concert is the song Violence, so I think that's on this album, right?

Um, uh, it, um, [00:38:00] is almost a rap. 

Rene: Okay. 

Sean: And it's like, "Violence is everywhere." Do you wanna play a little 

Rene: bit of it- It's like ... or do you 

Sean: wanna sing it? "Violence is everywhere." I think you wanna sing it. And- Okay ... um, he, uh, Savage raps over top of this and says, "My name's Savage" and I thought it was so cute when he did that in concert.

Okay maybe we should play it for- Just a little clip ... our dear listeners. Just for Sean. Yeah. 

Clip: Expected gunman. My name is a warning for the acts you are about to witness, which contain images some viewers may find disturbing. My name belongs to a song, so if they ask for yours, give them mine. My name is a threat.

Riot is an unfinished grave that was dug to deposit undepleted anger, like barrels of uranium leaking into something sacred. It is a word used to delegitimize your unrest and to make your resistance into an overreaction. The big boom of paint called flesh used in thoughts as a jam in affords, and men who clean up streets they nailed to those [00:39:00] who fought for a race and the lives they now claim to protect.

What is an up-and-coming neighborhood and where is it coming from? A cause and effect that rejoices in regret. Violence is daily life. A promise, a pact that the world never kept. Violence is daily life. Our cause and effect that rejoices in regret. Violence is daily life. Yeah, a promise, a pact that the world never kept.

Violence is daily life. Violence is daily life.

Sean: So that's a total departure from all of their other songs. Again, another punk rock song because, They do what they want ... he's just doing whatever he wants. Yeah. And you know what? I, I, I like this album, right? It was more commercial than I'd hoped, right? It was more accessible, right? I give you that, right?

But I think they're, they are mastering their craft at this point. 

Rene: I see what you did there. Yeah, [00:40:00] and I will give them cred for that. Like, they're, they're again just going in different directions, and they're just saying, "This is what we wanna do. This is where we're going. Come along for the ride or don't."

Yep. "We don't care." 

Sean: Yep. 

Rene: Um- 

Sean: They don't care if you don't. Yeah. 

Rene: Yeah, they don't which is part of the reason we love them. All right, and then so we- that brings us to 2021, and, uh, the album is called Sympathy for Life. It's their seventh album. Uh, and I just gotta say, like, for me, the standout song is Walking at a Downtown Pace.

Sean: Totally. 

Rene: I frigging love this song so much. It's f- for me, it's the most hooky, radio-friendly hit they've ever done. Like, it should've been a hit 'cause it felt so radio ready. In a good way, bad way, listeners, however you wanna take that. Mm-hmm. But I Sean and I had this song on repeat for at least one hour once.

And yes, I was walking through Toronto subways, and I was dodging, and I was weaving 'cause it just gets you in this mood of I'm walking, I'm [00:41:00] dodging, I'm moving, I'm going. Ah, so great. 

Sean: At a downtown pace. 

Rene: At a downtown pace. Yeah. Shall we listen to a little bit of that? 

Sean: Let's.

Clip: How many times now have I walked into that room with the day shining through purple film, combining sound from the corners there to use yourself in tune like a piano? Well tuned to walking slowly, socks on the carpet while some kid watches my shoes. Feeling the sand like a boat to London town. Some dreams you will once mine.

Feel for New York City blues. Is this goodbye then? Will you be on the other side, waiting there for me? Nothing left 

Sean: [00:42:00] to burn. Gasoline on brain. Screw the world. Nothing but spring. Okay, so there the lyrics are, n- you know, he's not making a song there. It, it's more of a dance, uh, song. It's got a dance feel. I remember reading, like, they were into techno music, and they were going to raves.

They were- Hmm ... not interested in rock and roll anymore, and it's, it is got a really dancey funky feel. So yeah, I g- you know, like, again, I appreciate the journey that they are taking us on, and I'm happy that they continue to explore different genres, different sounds on this album. 

Rene: So you said the word funky.

Does that mean I do like funk?'Cause I love this song. 

Sean: Everybody loves funk. 

Rene: Oh, 

Sean: okay. It's just you, some people- I just don't know it ... have difficulty admitting it because of their [00:43:00] perceptions about funk- Right ... and bad funk. 

Rene: Right. 

Sean: But... 

Rene: Fair enough. But yeah, I do love that song. That kind of takes us to their, their most recent album.

But let's talk about, you know, why is Parquet Courts, why do we think they're an ear shifter band? 

Sean: I can give you my thoughts, but you go first. 

Rene: Oh, I go first. Okay, so couple of things. One honestly, they have w- even within songs, they have some wild change-ups that almost feel wrong, but they work. So that, in my book, is, like, ground ba- breaking, kind of pushing those edges.

And again, speaking of pushing edges, they are in a constant evolution. We've just talked about that. Mm-hmm. Yep. They've gone from, like, this raw sound to more polished seven-minute songs from one-minute songs and, and of course, Monastic Living, which honestly, folks, don't start with that album.

But, but if you do like this band, you need to check it out- Mm ... 'cause it is just so goddamn weird and wild. And they have that punk rock [00:44:00] ethos, right, that- They totally do, yep ... that we're, that we're talking about. I, I actually feel, Sean, so monthly listener-wise, they have 300,000 monthly listeners. I actually feel like out of all the bands we've done, and we've done about 20 they are one of the most overlooked out of all 20.

'Cause there are some sh- bands, Sean, that w- that, you know, we recognize have got some recognition, maybe even like Wet Leg Grammy nods. Yeah. But the, our argument is they deserve more, e.g., maybe they deserve more in North America versus Britain. But this band just deserves more of everything. They should have way more than 300,000 monthly listeners.

Sean: I wholeheartedly agree, but I think why they are so appealing to me, to both of us, is because they just do whatever they want, right? Like, we've seen them in concert a few times. You've seen them one more time- ... than I have. Yeah. And you have seen them play Stoned and Starving- Yeah ... which I think is, I wanna see them play Stoned and Starving.

At this point, I think that wish [00:45:00] will go unrequited in my life. I, I want them to come back. I want them to make a new album. I wanna see where they wanna go musically, and if they don't, then hey, th- they're a great band and, and, you know, record collection That you can look into and get what you want from it, but that's why I think that they just do whatever they want.

And when we saw them the first time, like, they- you could just tell the way they were playing that they weren't doing it for us. They were doing it for themselves . Yeah, yeah, you're right. In the Horseshoe, and they were like, "Yeah, you know, we're just gonna play, and, you know, like, I hope some of you come along, but if you don't you know," 

Rene: We'll just leave you behind.

Sean: "We're gonna, uh, we're, we're gonna change." You know, who knew? Who... Did they know they were gonna change in five minutes in the future? Maybe not, but I'm glad they do. 

Rene: Yeah, and I remember that specifically 'cause they said they almost didn't make it across the border from the US. You remember 

Sean: that? Mm-hmm, and that was a long time ago.

That was when the border was better, so- 

Rene: Yeah, true. Yeah, I don't know. [00:46:00] Yeah, and that might explain why some bands aren't making it up here right now. 

Sean: I think that explains a lot, which is too bad. 

Rene: Yeah. Really, really bad. It really is. But anyway, let's not end on a sour note, shall we? No, no. 

Sean: Let's end on a- Let's, let's end on, uh- An upbeat 

Rene: note- Upbeat note

and talk about what are we gonna hear next time? 

Sean: So I wanna talk about Rene, a Canadian band that would tour from the left coast as a punk rock jazz and maybe a little funky trio, and then they would tour back as a Ramones tribute act, as a four-piece to Canada's greatest pastime. The reason I think it's so important is their catalog was just released on streaming services.

So I've taken it as a little personal Earshifter mission to get this band more attention 'cause they were unobtainable for so long. 

Rene: Oh, well, that's really good for you. And, and then question, you did say left coast, right? 

Sean: Yes. Okay. The as left as you can get in Canada. Oh, I see, I 

Rene: see, I see. [00:47:00] Yes. And then national pastime would be curling?

Sean: I do not think they sing songs about curling. They sing songs about hockey. 

Rene: Oh, I've heard of it. Yep. Yeah. All right. Uh, okay, so that's it then. 

Sean: Okay, until next time. 

Clip: Until next time. 

Rene: We hope you enjoyed this episode of Earshifter. Tune in next time where we'll cover another band that deserves more. You can find Earshifter on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

Friend us or listen to our playlist on Spotify, and visit earshifter.com for more information. Special thanks go to our logo designer, Stuart Thursby, and our intro/outro music by Joe Novak. You can find him as byebyebadman, one word, on SoundCloud, and a big shout-out to Joe for being our awesome sound engineer/editor.

Until next time.