Sunbathing Animal

Parquet Courts perfected their guitar clang on 2013's Light Up Gold – if all they wanted to do was make the exact same album again, most of us would have been delighted. But these Brooklyn dudes go even deeper on Sunbathing Animal. They've outgrown the Pavement comparisons – these songs make you wonder if you're hearing early Wire jam with Creedence while Thurston Moore brews the tea. Austin Brown and Andrew Savage trade off deadpan vocals, mostly about arty girls, stretching out for fantastic guitar rambles like "Instant Disassembly." Best in show: "Raw Milk," a sweetly demented love ballad to a dog-walker