Gotta be more than just me and Head Gardener here who're fans of this bloody great bunch of lads.
For the uninitiated, Parquet Courts are a garage/post-(post-)punk band from New York, whose DIY punk ethics in an age of endless social media plugging is a refreshing reminder that it's still possible to do things on your own terms. They have no social media presence and they are entirely self-managed right down to gig bookings and album artwork. They're straight-talking, sharp and very smart. Andrew Savage's lyrics are superbly written no-bullshit social commentaries and the band's music is stripped back and uncomplicated, yet still managing to achieve that now-rare post-punk ethic of doing a great deal with very little. There's practically zero attention-seeking flashy antics here; the songs are repetitious and minimal, and you won't find much in the way of tricks like frenetic drum fills, or for Savage to ever raise his voice above a disgruntled half-shout, for example.
The one major foray into the wild that this band takes, however, (and boy do they do it with fucking aplomb) is their scratchy, unhinged guitar solos. Sunbathing Animal is the record where this is most prominent, with tracks like Black & White and What Colour is Blood? flying off into some mind-bending noise and then snapping abruptly back into the rigid structure that preceded it. It's these bits that makes it apparent how much they're as inspired by stuff like The Velvet Underground and no-wave music as they are by straighter bands like Gang of Four.
Sunbathing Animal was one of the best albums of 2014 and Human Performance looks to be one of 2016's high rollers, too. They're the absolute top of their game as far as that relatively minimal sound is concerned, and they're certainly one of the most consistently exciting bands I can think of right now. After my third listen, I think the back to back of One Man, No City (and its fantastic midsection and extremely bare-bones drums) and Berlin Got Blurry are my highlights.
Berlin Got BlurryA couple more bits here. First, this track from Content Nausea which is the most brilliantly astute critique of the death of punk values I think I've ever heard. The
lyrics to this track give me fucking chills:
Pretty MachinesLastly, I wanna share this because I think it's immensely cool. I was staying in Brooklyn a couple months ago and I clocked this amazing big mural promoting the new record. I guess it's pretty cheesy to say, but standing there in NYC and witnessing their art first hand and feeling like I was a part of it was awesome to me:

Everyone go listen to this band they're the fucking tits.