Light Up Gold by Parquet Courts

Light Up Gold, the second album from New York's Parquet Courts, first slipped out on August 18, 2012, on Dull Tools, the label frontman Andrew Savage ran himself, and then got a proper second life on What's Your Rupture? on January 15, 2013. That backdoor route suits a record that sounds made fast and cheap on purpose: wiry, clattering guitars, deadpan talk-singing, and songs that make their point and bail out before anyone can get bored.

"Borrowed Time" is a tight, jittery scramble that sounds half-improvised and completely sure of itself, while "Stoned and Starving" stretches one hazy riff into a hypnotic, droning jam that refuses to quit. Sitting between American Specialties and Tally All the Things That You Broke, it's where the band's scrappy, wisecracking guitar rock first came into sharp focus.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.