Parquet Courts’ Light Up Gold was one of my favorite albums of 2012. I described their tunes as “old skool, Jim Carroll-esque NYC street odes.” It’s a smart, edgy album that evokes some of the post-Velvet Underground feel of bands (The Feelies, Television, Pere Ubu) that forged the American punk scene in the mid-1970s. As good as the album is, I wasn’t prepared for how superb the band was live when I saw them at this year’s SXSW. My mind was thoroughly blown. I wasn’t the only one. For the week that the band was in town, audiences grew as word spread that these cats are the real deal.

Check out this version “Stoned And Starving” performed at Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop in downtown Austin and you’ll see and hear what I mean. All played on some humble axes and amps. The bicycles watched in stunned silence.
 

 
See the full concert here.