Following in the footsteps of Kiss and the Eagles, noise-rock group Parts and Labor have reunited after playing a supposed farewell show, in their case, in 2012. The newly supersized band (the onetime trio now features two drummers from past lineups playing side by side) will release a new album, Set of All Sets, on July 10 via Ernest Jenning Record Co.
The quartet — founding members Dan Friel and B.J. Warshaw alongside drummers Christopher Weingarten and Joe Wong — previewed their sixth long-player with a four-part single, “Endless Cycle,” which, at 20 minutes, spans everything from Queen-via-Hüsker Dü urgent melodies on part two (“Edges of Forgetting”) to a massive drum cacophony on the final part (“Working in Storm”). Covering the full spectrum of styles Parts and Labor are known for, it’s a fitting preview for an album, which is now available for preorder, that runs 79 minutes. On the album’s track list, parts one and two kick off the first half, while three and four begin the second.
“These songs are mirrors in all manner of ways,” the band said in a statement. “Reflective and fragmented, this is our attempt at epitomizing the band we always strove to be. The ‘Endless Cycle’ is us.”
The band, which originally formed in 2002, will mark their return with four concerts this summer in California and New York. The support bands, which variously include Oneida, PG14, and Kinski, among others, differ for each concert. “It felt like all the things we were worried about back in the day — techno-fascism, authoritarianism, rapacious capitalism, societal division — were coming true if not getting worse,” Warshaw said in a statement. “Reuniting has been a lifeline. The doing is the antidote.”
Set of All Sets Track List
1. “Endless Cycle Pt. 1: Repetition Nil”
2. “Endless Cycle Pt. 2: Edges of Forgetting”
3. “Many Worlds”
4. “Descending”
5. “Haunted Limbs”
6. “Seamripper”
7. “Arterial Material”
8. “Anti-Lions and Lemonade”
9. “Descending”
10. “Endless Cycle Pt. 3: Better Run”
11. “Endless Cycle Pt. 4: Working in Storm”
12. “Indecision Tree”
13. “Descending”
14. “Parallel Tracks”
15. “Off by One”
16. “Like They’re Here to Stay”
17. “Set of All Sets”
Parts and Labor Tour Dates
July 24 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon *
July 26 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill **
Aug. 7 – Ridgewood, NY @ TV Eye ***
Aug. 8 – Ridgewood, NY @ TV Eye ****
* with PG14 & HLLLYH
** with Evicshen & HLLLYH
*** with Oneida & Kinski
**** with 75 Dollar Bill and Parlor Walls
