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Aug 17, 2018 Parquet Courts By Christopher Roberts

Parquet Courts released a new Danger Mouse-produced album, Wide Awake!, back May via Rough Trade. A few weeks back the band released a video for “Freebird II” but it was an Apple Music exclusive. This week the Claes Nordwall-directed video was finally posted to YouTube for all to see. Watch it below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Parquet Courts’ A. Savage had this to say about the video in a press release: “I wanted to work with Claes Nordwall again, who shot the video for ‘Berlin Got Blurry,’ not just because he’s got a talent for shooting on 16mm, but because he has a great eye and is good at helping me articulate visual ideas for the screen. It was a lot of fun to film. Originally there was a shot of us ripping up a confederate flag in the video, but we decided it wasn’t obvious enough that the flag was getting destroyed, so we cut it. But just in case you were wondering, we are not fans of it. It was fun dressing up for this; everybody was assigned a character that fit their personality. Thanks to everybody who worked really hard on this video… Claes, our choreographer Juri, and Brittney who made sure all the moving parts, well, moved. It was the biggest crew we’ve ever worked with and we’re all very thankful to them because it came out great!”

Nordwall had this to say: “After collaborating with Andrew on the ‘Berlin Got Blurry’ video I knew that I wanted to work with them again, we really strike the same chord with how we envision these videos playing out and I was thrilled when I was asked to direct a performance video on 16mm. They all have such great dry/deadpan live personas, some innate ability to carry a non-self conscious bravado attitude that bands like Talking Heads managed to pull off way back when. It’s rare nowadays.”

Previously Parquet Courts shared Wide Awake!‘s first single, “Almost Had to Start a Fight/In and Out of Patience” (which was one of our Songs of the Week), as well as a video for “Wide Awake” (which was our #1 Song of the Week). They also stopped by Ellen to perform “Wide Awake” (note: unlike the album title, the song doesn’t feature an explanation point), which is a song Ellen DeGeneres “loves very much,” so said the host when introducing the band. And they shared a video for “Mardi Gras Beads” (which was also one of our Songs of the Week). They also stopped by BBC Radio 6 where they did a cover of Ramones’ “Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World,” a song from the iconic punk band’s self-titled debut from 1976. The band are also releasing the Wide Awake Remixes EP on September 28 via Rough Trade.

Wide Awake! is the band’s fifth album and the follow-up to 2016’s excellent Human Performance. Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) is a fan of Parquet Courts and approached the band about working with them.

Read our recent interview with Parquet Courts on Wide Awake!

Read our 2016 interview with Parquet Courts.

Parquet Courts Tour Dates:

Mon. Sept. 17 - Sat. Sept. 22 - Lincoln, NE @ Lincoln Calling Festival
Sun. Sept. 23 - Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
Mon. Sept. 24 - Vancouver, BC @ Imperial
Tue. Sept. 25 - Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
Thu. Sept. 27 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
Fri. Sept. 28 - San Jose, CA @ The Ritz
Wed. Oct. 10 - Mexico City, MX @ SALA
Sat. Nov. 3 - Dublin, IRL @ Academy 2
Sun. Nov. 4 - Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz
Mon. Nov. 5 - Newcastle, UK @ Boiler Shop
Tue. Nov. 6 - Galsgow, UK @ SWG3
Wed. Nov. 7 - Leeds, UK @ The Church
Sat. Nov. 10 - Bristol, UK @ SWX
Mon. Nov. 12 - London, UK @ Roundhouse
Wed. Nov. 14 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Fri. Nov. 16 - Paris, FR @ Elysee Montmarte
Sun. Nov. 18 - Cologne, DE @ Gebaude 9
Mon. Nov. 19 - Munich, DE @ Ampere
Tue. Nov. 20 - Frankfurt, DE @ Brotfabrik
Fri. Nov. 30 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit
Sat. Dec. 1 - Columbus, OH @ Skully’s Music Diner
Sun. Dec. 2 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
Mon. Dec. 3 - Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre
Wed. Dec. 5 - Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
Thu. Dec. 6 - Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre
Sat. Dec. 8 - New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom w/ Sun Ra Arkestra

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