Andrew Jackson Jihad

The post-punk revival of the last decade was good for a great many things. Having guitar music as a regular fixture of the charts was pretty godamn wonderful; I think we can all agree. However, if there’s one good thing to come from its retreat back into relative obscurity, it’s the fact that guitar music can once again be thrillingly, defiantly weird. Wasn’t that awesome? When music played on a Fender Stratocaster copy didn’t have to be “relatable” in some way shape or form or overly accessible? Now that we’ve got the number one singles out of our collective system, we can have Parquet Courts go on the Jimmy Fallon show and spend the final minute of their performance having a good old fashioned unplanned feedback soaked guitar jam. Because the music itself is counter culture again, and Parquet Courts make it sound so much more thrilling than it has any right to be. That’s their style in the live arena, on edge, at the risk of collapsing at any moment but always with buckets of energy and passion. No two shows of theirs are identical but they are always completely riveting, not just for the possibility of it all falling apart but for the raucous chemistry that the New York City quartet have in spades. There is no one way that guitar music should be but to see Parquet Courts is to see a very strong argument that it should be loose, raw and utterly unique, just like the band themselves. At this point we all know that indie rock is alive and well, to celebrate that fact and see it at its most uncompromising and untamed, one need look no further than a Parquet Courts show.