Parquet Courts

Sunbathing Animal (What’s Your Rupture/Mom + Pop)

Even heard through the inflated expectations wrought by 2013 jolt Light Up Gold, Parquet Courts’ sophomore follow-up rates an unqualified success. Building on its penchant for whimsical wordplay, the NYC art-punk quartet taps the fresh-cut immediacy of Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell to richen their urban narrative on Sunbathing Animal. “Black and White” summons the post-punk faithful with a rooftop spiel of self-excoriation, caffeinated hand-claps, and a televisual guitar crackup, while “Dear Ramona” glides on tongue-in-cheek tenderness until the composite turns acerbic with a backhand endorsement of Moleskine notebooks. From skittish garage-blues (“Duckin and Dodgin”) to pale blue-eyed elongations (“Instant Disassembly”), it all hits like a blast of warm subway air on a cold day. (Thu., May 29, Red 7)

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This article appears in May 23 • 2014.

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Greg Beets was born in Lubbock on the day Richard Nixon was elected president. He has covered music for the Chronicle since 1992, writing about everyone from Roky Erickson to Yanni. Beets has also written for Billboard,Uncut, Blurt, Elmore, and Pop Culture Press. Before his digestive tract cried uncle, he co-published Hey! Hey! Buffet!, an award-winning fanzine about all-you-can-eat buffets.