HYLI Vol. XLIX - Chimaira and Parquet Courts

Andy sends Patrick some Midwestern metalcore and Patrick sends Andy some Brooklyn indie-rock

I’ve had the Cold That Will Never End the last few weeks. It isn’t COVID, it isn’t even particularly painful, it’s just Constant. This shit sucks. Before this? How did my holidays go? Well, reader, I consider a lot of our little audience here to be Friends even though I don’t know who most of you people are, but I will share with you that I Got Worms (Andy: extremely on brand for you). I went to Mexico for my youngest sister’s wedding (lovely! congrats!). I had always heard “well, don’t drink the water” and kind of assumed it was not so subtle racism but maybe a hint of truth to it? Turns out it is actually just a Factual Statement. I didn’t even really drink tap water or anything. I just, like, showered. And ate resort food. But my stomach was absolutely fucked for all of Christmas and New Years and now I have this cough. Whatever. At least it gave me an excuse so I didn’t have to tell the same group of people on New Year’s Eve that I wasn’t drinking because my wife is pregnant that I’ve already told that to like a dozen times in the last six months. Shaking it up a bit! Why the fuck am I still complaining. Do you guys like music? I do. I Hope You Like These Albums.

Chimaira - The Infection

Andy: Chimaira and I have a weird relationship. They opened for like every single band I saw from 2006-2008 (Patrick: this is Kevin Devine for me). They were fine. Tight live show, a couple of good songs, you’re totally okay if they’re on your favorite band’s bill. Then, in 2009, they had the nerve to drop an absolute 10/10 heater of an album with The Infection and then immediately go back to being average. The Infection is just so many tiers above anything they’ve ever done. It’s crazy. Does anyone else have an album from a band that they love where the rest of their discography is middling at best (Patrick: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, by the band Phoenix, as we have already addressed in this very newsletter)? Whatever, they nailed it with The Infection. They deserve credit.

I’m honestly not sure if there is a bad track here. There are so many of those special fun moments on this album, be it a riff, lyric, drum fill, or a tempo change. It feels like each track has one. Chimaira was just on one while writing this compared to everything else. Andols Herrick on drums here absolutely has my number. He shines. He has such fun with the double bass. Arnold and DeVries put their best riffs down on this album, hands down. Mark Hunter does Mark Hunter things (Patrick: ah, yes, a reference that I and our readers will definitely understand).

This is just good ole’ fashion metal. I will stan this until I’m no longer here. I love this. I Hope You Like It.

Patrick: I texted Andy after my last listen to this on my run today (Monday) because, typically, I either a) love the albums he sends me or b) absolutely fucking loathe them with the power of a million suns. This week was the rare exception where I thought the album was Decent! That’s totally fine! A few songs I really like (basically “Secrets of the Dead” through “On Broken Glass”) and a few that just washed over me and that I probably don’t need to hear ever again (basically, the rest of them, except “Try to Survive,” which was cool but maybe less cool than the others I mentioned). We love a solid B/B- album around these parts.

I agree with Andy that the drumming here is the standout part. So many cool little fills and tempo changes that seemingly occur without the rest of the band playing along. The guitars are fine and the vocals range from being okay to sucking at various points but not really in a way that is distractingly bad. Just, like, the type of bad where it’s okay and we can move on. But the drums fucking go. There’s a part in the last minute or so of “The Disappearing Sun” where the drums go from almost painfully slow to some rad double-kick fills in the span of like a second (Andy: they let him just go off and have a blast on the second half of “Impending Doom” also). It’s my vibe totally (Andy: same). While some of the tracks didn’t do a ton for me, I’m definitely adding the songs that did to my sort of “keepers” list of stuff Andy sends me. I Liked It But Didn’t Love It and That’s Totally Okay!

Parquet Courts - Sympathy for Life

Patrick: One of the hosts of one of my favorite music podcasts, Miranda from Endless Scroll, created a bit where she described Parquet Courts as “boyfriend music.” Ya know, the kinda band where this meme basically becomes real life at a concert. Humbly, as a former boyfriend/current husband, I would like to state that this is okay and even a good thing and that Parquet Courts, to state it plainly, is fucking sick, bro.

I have liked the band since I got my grubby little paws on the band’s fifth LP, Human Performance, in 2016 and (perhaps this is a spicy take) still kinda think that album is the band’s best. The earlier stuff is a little too “hey guys have you heard of this album Slanted & Enchanted???” and the more recent stuff, including the album we are discussing this week, is a bit too “hey guys have you heard of this album Remain in Light???” Perhaps there is an album that Human Performance is cribbing from a ton, but I am too blissfully unaware to care.

I have a little notepad where I jot down bands/albums I want to cover with Andy on the newsletter and I believe I added this album to the list when Andy really got won over by Talking Heads (Andy: oh wow they nailed it good for me) and The Strokes in previous volumes of this newsletter, because Parquet is kinda like if you took the two of those bands in a blender together but also made them moderately worse. I really like this band. I really like this album. I’m not trying to be negative. “Black Widow Spider” is such an earworm of a tune. I love the little minor-key sounding bit they fall into where they namedrop the title of the song. What is that? The end of the chorus? The bridge? Anyways, that tune, it rocks. I also really like the experimentation of “Plant Life,” even though it’s the most obvious pastiche of Talking Heads on here. The title track is great and “Pulcinella” is maybe my favorite closing track to an album by this band and they’re a band that’s pretty good at opening and closing albums. I hope Andy likes this one. I think he will. If he doesn’t, I’m seeing him this weekend and I’ll simply have to kill him with my bare hands.

Andy:

YEEESSSSSSSSS. This stuff is great, man (Patrick: oh wow). Just musicians being wacky and making noises. Give me More. More people not giving a shit. 2023: The year we don’t give a shit and just have fun. This reminds me a bit of a not-as-good-but-still-fun Talking Heads band. Is my ignorance showing? Maybe? I was shocked that this came out in 2021. I assumed it was from like 1978 or something.

Some really interesting sounds and experimentation on this album. I love it. It is all ‘well done’ and they seem like they’re just having a blast doing whatever they’re trying to do on each song (Patrick: this is a major selling point on this band that most of the haters seem to ignore, they’re just Brooklyn Bros having Fun). I love/hate “Marathon of Anger.” I love the deadpan delivery of the vocals for most of this album. I hate dancing but this wants me to wear giant pants and do weird little goofy dad dances (Patrick: like this?). Who gives a shit.

It is not quite as good as the bit of Talking Heads I’ve encountered but it absolutely does a good enough job to scratch that itch. People online seem to be peeved that this is less punk and more Talking Heads but who cares. It is a fun album. I Liked It.