Why is Parquet Courts’ Human Performance on my best 1,000 albums ever list?
The humans of Parquet Courts have banged out yet another remarkably consistent performance.
Some stats & info about Parquet Courts – Human Performance
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, New York Bands, Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Garage Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was Human Performance released? 2016
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #722 out of 1,000
Parquet Courts’ Human Performance on Spotify
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.
What does Parquet Courts’ Human Performance mean to me? What does it make me feel? Why is it exciting or compelling?
Okay, so this is the 279th full blown article or blog post or whatever you want to call it, which comprises the “entry” for the #722 slot of best 1,000 albums ever (trade mark symbol). Typically I’ll start things off with a little anecdote about the album, or something that I particularly associate with it, thoughts generally about the band or artist (especially if it’s the only album by that band or artist on the list), or some “hook” into why that album is on the list, why it’s meaningful to me in some way, and what about it is both “good” and best 1,000 albums ever-worthy.
Then I’ll select several songs and discuss them individually, followed perhaps by further anecdotes that are either pop culturally or personally related.
In this case I’m going to defer back to what I wrote about Parquet Courts’ Sunbathing Animals (#807 of best 1,000 albums ever):
Parquet Courts is… the very rare band or musical act where I pretty much at a baseline (at least) like everything they produce. I just really like their sound, and pretty much every song they produce is some combination of (at least) interesting, engaging, or exciting music.
That quote is especially relevant for Human Performance because the album is so consistent. I can pick any three songs as representative of the album’s quality. It’s a mellower album in some ways versus other Parquet Courts records, with a little more maturity and nuance showing in the song writing. But they remain a band where all of their music more or less works for me. They’re remarkably consistent in a way that so few bands are.
The self-titled “Human Performance” is a great example… but as I just noted, just about any song on Human Performance is a great example. It’s a great blend of garage rock, alt rock, indie rock, with just enough of a rocking beat to make it exciting and fun. It’s the kind of song that I listen to and wish I could experience hearing it performed live.
Any band that includes my last name (that, okay, is also the name of a major European capital) gets my attention, which makes it easy to call out “Berlin Got Blurry” as another example of the album’s qualities. It’s New York City rock with a little bit of an old timey Western twang and mysteriousness to it. I also dig the Velvet Underground-esque little organ flourishes.
“Dust” leans into the band’s art rock inclinations to good effect and helps to vary the album’s vibe a bit.