Wide Awake!

Wide Awake! (stylized as Wide Awaaaaake!) is the sixth studio album by American indie rock band Parquet Courts, released on May 18, 2018 on Rough Trade Records.

Wide Awaaaaake!
Studio album by
Parquet Courts
ReleasedMay 18, 2018
RecordedSonic Ranch
(Tornillo, Texas)
Electric Lady Studios
(New York City)
Genre
Length38:37
LanguageEnglish
LabelRough Trade[5]
ProducerDanger Mouse
Parquet Courts chronology
Milano
(2017)		 Wide Awaaaaake!
(2018)
Singles from Wide Awake!
  1. "Almost Had to Start a Fight/In and Out of Patience"
    Released: February 22, 2018
  2. "Wide Awake"
    Released: March 8, 2018
  3. "Mardi Gras Beads"
    Released: April 30, 2018
  4. "Total Football"
    Released: June 8, 2018

The album was preceded by the singles "Almost Had to Start a Fight/In and Out of Patience", "Wide Awake", and "Mardi Gras Beads", and succeeded by the single "Total Football".

Background

The album was first announced in February 2018, while the album was recorded in December 2017 to January 2018. The band recruited Danger Mouse to produce the album, as the band claimed, as a way to push themselves outside of their comfort zone. On recruiting Danger Mouse for the album, Andrew Savage said, "I personally liked the fact that I was writing a record that indebted to punk and funk, and Brian’s a pop producer who’s made some very polished records. I liked that it didn’t make sense."[6]

In an interview with Billboard, Andrew Savage described the album having a funk influence saying, "there's this duality between joy and anger that I find to be really interesting, and that's something the record kind of deals with at large. I always thought it was really interesting how hardcore could be such an angry music form but could make you feel so positive. There's a lot of moments on the record when all of us are singing at the same time and I guess that's something I kind of associate with hardcore, or Funkadelic."[7]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.3/10[8]
Metacritic82/100[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
The A.V. ClubB+[11]
The Independent[12]
NME[13]
The Observer[14]
Pitchfork8.0/10[15]
Q[16]
Rolling Stone[17]
Uncut8/10[18]
ViceA[19]

Wide Awake! received critical acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 82, based on 28 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[9] In a five-star review, Emma Swan of DIY called the album, "a gut-punch of an immediate classic".[20] Writing for Exclaim! magazine, Vish Kanna said that Wide Awake! "is a letter-perfect musical contemplation of modern times, where social uprisings are actually affecting positive change. It's urgent and potent music that's thought-provoking and danceable, and whose rage is measured by a pointed optimism."[21] Roy Trakin, in a rave review for Variety, praised the album for its social conscience in its day and age, stating it "may be the most woke punk-rock record since the heyday of the Clash."[2]

In a more mixed review, Chris Nelson of Mojo wrote that "unsurprisingly, it flies the Wire and Minutemen flags high. More surprising are the occasional nods to funk and '60s bubblegum."[22]

Wide Awake! was named 'album of the year' in an end-of-year list by Australian radio station Double J[23] and the second-best album of 2018 by Paste.[24]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Parquet Courts.

No.TitleLead vocalsLength
1."Total Football"A. Savage4:01
2."Violence"A. Savage4:05
3."Before the Water Gets Too High"A. Savage4:05
4."Mardi Gras Beads"Brown2:43
5."Almost Had to Start a Fight/In and Out of Patience"A. Savage3:14
6."Freebird II"A. Savage2:55
7."Normalization"A. Savage2:11
8."Back to Earth"Brown3:54
9."Wide Awake!"Brown, M. Savage, A. Savage, Yeaton2:38
10."NYC Observation"A. Savage1:22
11."Extinction"A. Savage1:41
12."Death Will Bring Change"Brown2:42
13."Tenderness"A. Savage3:06
Total length:38:37

Personnel[25]

Parquet Courts
  • Austin Brown – guitar, vocals, keyboards on "Death Will Bring Change," "Back to Earth," and "Mardi Gras Beads"
  • A. Savage – guitar, vocals, keyboards on "Violence," "Freebird II," "Before the Water Gets Too High"
  • Max Savage – percussion, vocals, synthesizer on "Total Football" and "Normalization"
  • Sean Yeaton – bass, vocals

Additional personnel

Charts
Chart (2018) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[26] 93
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[27] 42
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[28] 117
New Zealand Heatseeker Albums (RMNZ)[29] 9
Scottish Albums (OCC)[30] 19
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[31] 64
UK Albums (OCC)[32] 27
US Billboard 200[33] 122

Accolades
Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Paste US The 50 Best Albums of 2018[24] 2018 2
Double J AUS The 50 Best Albums of 2018[23] 2018 1

References
  1. Breihan, Tom (January 4, 2019). "Parquet Courts & Daniele Luppi – "Talisa" (Feat. Karen O) Video". Stereogum. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  2. Trakin, Roy (May 18, 2018). "Album Review: Parquet Courts' 'Wide Awake'". Variety. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  3. Harrison, Andrew (May 21, 2018). "Album Review: Parquet Courts - Wide Awake!". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  4. Cimarusti, Luca (November 21, 2018). "Parquet Courts enter their woke funk-punk phase, and it's great". Chicago Reader. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  5. "Parquet Courts Wide Awake!". Rough Trade. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
  6. Kaye, Ben (February 22, 2018). "Parquet Courts announce new album, Wide Awake!, produced by Danger Mouse". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  7. Enis, Eli (May 16, 2018). "Parquet Courts on Resisting Nihilism & Why Working With Kids Was 'Pretty Scary'". Billboard. Lynne Segall. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  8. "Wide Awake! by Parquet Courts reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  9. "Wide Awake! by Parquet Courts Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
  10. Sendra, Tim. "Wide Awake! – Parquet Courts". AllMusic. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
  11. Adamczyk, Laura (May 18, 2018). "Parquet Courts, Wide Awake!". The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
  12. Robertson, Derek; Rentoul, John; Kaplan, Ilana (May 16, 2018). "Album reviews: Courtney Barnett, Parquet Courts, Charles Watson, Ray LaMontagne". The Independent. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  13. Homewood, Ben (May 17, 2018). "Parquet Courts – 'Wide Awake!' album review". NME. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
  14. Mongredien, Phil (May 20, 2018). "Parquet Courts: Wide Awake review – indie heroes bring in Danger Mouse". The Observer. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  15. Powell, Mike (May 21, 2018). "Parquet Courts: Wide Awake!". Pitchfork. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  16. Monroe, Jazz (July 2018). "Call to Arms". Q (386): 113.
  17. Hermes, Will (May 17, 2018). "Review: Parquet Courts' 'Wide Awake!' Is a Fun Punk-Funk Protest Record". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  18. Wray, Daniel Dylan (June 2018). "Parquet Courts: Wide Awake!". Uncut (253): 33.
  19. Christgau, Robert (June 9, 2018). "Robert Christgau on Parquet Courts' Sharp, Sinewy New Album". Vice. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  20. Swann, Emma (May 18, 2018). "Parquet Courts – Wide Awake!". DIY. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  21. Kanna, Vish (May 17, 2018). "Parquet Courts: Wide Awake!". Exclaim!. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  22. Nelson, Chris (June 2018). "Parquet Courts: Wide Awake!". Mojo (295): 95.
  23. "The 50 best albums of 2018". Double J. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. December 11, 2018. Retrieved December 16, 2018.
  24. "The 50 Best Albums of 2018". Paste. November 26, 2018. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
  25. "Wide Awake! - Parquet Courts Credits". Allmusic.com. All Media. May 18, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  26. "ARIA Chart Watch #474". auspOp. May 26, 2018. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  27. "Ultratop.be – Parquet Courts – Wide Awake!" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  28. "Ultratop.be – Parquet Courts – Wide Awake!" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  29. "NZ Heatseeker Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. May 28, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  30. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  31. "Swisscharts.com – Parquet Courts – Wide Awake!". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  32. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  33. "Parquet Courts Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
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