If you're looking for a leftfield recommendation to give friends at the upcoming Laneway festival, try Parquet Courts on for size.
The Brooklyn-based garage-rockers craft slacker anthems for the ages - and judging by their debut album Light Up Gold, they could be the unlikely festival hit of the day.
"I was reading ingredients, asking myself 'Should I eat this?'" mumbles front man Andrew Savage on their breakout hit Stoned and Starving, a stunner that rightly earned the band comparisons to Youth & Young Manhood-era Kings of Leon, or a rough and ready Strokes.
Savage delivers line after line of searing irony: "I was up to my neck in motivation neglect" he moans on straightforward shooter Borrowed Time, while the screaming riffage of Donuts Only contains the brilliant line: "As for Texas: donuts only - you cannot find bagels here."
Don't be put off by their seemingly laid back attitude and the rugged production - Savage's tales of stoner life are backed by intricate time signatures and some electrified riffage.
The trick now is to see Parquet Courts keep this up for an entire career. As the Strokes can attest, it's a difficult trick to pull off.
Stars:
4/5
Verdict:
New York-based slackers deliver the goods
- TimeOut