by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Welcome to FUZZY MEADOWS, our weekly recap of this week's new music. We're sharing our favorite releases of the week in the form of albums, singles, and music videos along with the "further listening" section of new and notable releases from around the web. It's generally written in the early hours of the morning and semi-unedited... but full of love and heart. The list is in alphabetical order and we sincerely recommend checking out all the music we've included. There's a lot of great new music being released. Support the bands you love. Spread the word and buy some new music.
*Disclaimer: We are making a conscious effort not to include any artist in our countdown on back-to-back weeks in order to diversify the feature, so be sure to check the "further listening" as well because it's often of top-notch quality too.
EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING | “Our Quiet Whisper”
It’s been nearly a decade since Eddy Current Suppression Ring released a new record but the band’s own Mikey Young has earned a spot among the busiest people in music between Total Control albums, solo material, and mastering just about ever great punk record in recent memory. It’s an incredibly welcome surprise that ECSR have returned, noted very casually in a routine email from their new home at Castle Face Records as the band reportedly asked “not to make a big deal of it.” It is however, a big deal, as the band were a pivotal part of our current wave of post-punk bands, Australian and beyond. Set to release new album, All In Good Time, next month, the first single “Our Quiet Whisper” is full of off-kilter jangle and discordant pop with a raw intensity that’s still relatively gentle. It cuts around tight corners but maintains an anthemic aesthetic as “our quiet whisper becomes a chant.”
HOT SNAKES | “Checkmate”
It’s always worth repeating (over and over again) when a band comes back from a lengthy hiatus and delivers with a great record, one that stands in the catalog equally among their original output. Hot Snakes did just that last year with Jericho Sirens, their first new album in fourteen years. They kept their energy pumping this year with a good deal of touring and now they’re ringing in the holidays together with Sub Pop with “Checkmate,” the a-side to a new 7” single. It’s pretty much quintessential Hot Snakes, buzzing guitars, big primal rhythmic heft, and a melted boogie that is as ferocious as it is ecstatic. John Reis and Rick Froberg dig into dissonant riffs that blister and peel over their propulsive groove, burning down the highway with the intensity we know and love. I’m 100% on-board for the second coming of Hot Snakes but I also keep my fingers perpetually crossed for more Drive Like Jehu.
MIRANDA WINTERS | “Come On And Do The Exist”
Best known as the singer and guitarist of Chicago’s Melkbelly, Miranda Winters has released her second set of solo songs since the release of her band’s incredible Nothing Valley. Last year’s Xobeci, What Grows Here? was a gorgeous mix of lo-fi acoustic songs, field recordings, and scattered compositions that ultimately became one of our favorite records of the year. This Monday, November 25th, Winters released a new collection of voice memo and Garageband demos, Do Thee Exist, to Soundcloud. It’s another intimate set of lo-fi pop that further proves Winters to be an amazing songwriter, twisting together melodic phrases and lyrics that move between personal reflections, monotonous life, stream of conscious, and the surreal. The first song released, “Come On And Do The Exist,” contemplates life and the existence, with or without the desire to do so. It’s a quick acoustic dirge that rings with the soft poetic charm of Winters’ solo recordings.
MISTER GOBLIN | “Is Path Warm?” LP
We’ve mentioned our affinity for Sam Goblin’s songwriting before, whether in Two Inch Astronaut or with his latest project, Mister Goblin, his attention to melodic detail only gets better and better. While far more refined than his previous band ever was, the pop-centric sound of Is Path Warm? works with Goblin’s confessional songs, putting an emphasis on his words over the tempo shifting gymnastics (though there’s still a decent amount of tangled chord progressions and rhythmic contusions). Cleaner and softer, the record pulls on your heart strings without sanding down the interesting nuances in Goblin’s bent melodies and swooning harmonies, driven at times by both the gentle guitars and vocals. Stand outs like “Between You And Me” and “The Forgettery” double down on the beauty of Mister Goblin’s careful and conscious like at mental health, friendship, and awareness of those around you.
YOUBET | “Endless”
The friendly alien-pitched bliss of Youbet is compressed to perfect experimental pop throughout their debut album Compare and Despair. Due out in January via Ba Da Bing Records, the project released two songs this week, “Endless” and “Mental,” two exceptional cuts that take a psychedelic approach to warped and fuzzy pop, with a great deal of layered melodies squiggling in and out of the mix, creating something utterly joyous even if the context is closer to the opposite. “Endless” in particular is a song I can’t stop listening to, a bright and dreamy song that floats effortlessly in a cloud of detached acoustics, rippling synths, a silky rhythmic pulse, and Nick LLobet’s brilliant vocals wrangling it all together.
Further Listening:
ACTION BRONSON “Lamb Over Rice” EP | APOLLO BROWN “Deception & Woes“ (feat. Clear Soul Forces) | BAKLAVAA “Dsnylnd“ | BLESSED “Caribou” (Rain City Recorders Session) | DUCKS UNLIMITED “Gleaming Spires“ | FREDDIE GIBBS & MADLIB “Gat Damn” | FUTUREBIRDS “Crazy Boys” | GABRIEL BIRNBAUM “Blue Kentucky Mile“ | HOMEBOY SANDMAN “Lookout” (Remix, feat. Kurious & Aesop Rock) | ISOBEL CAMPBELL “Hey World” | LEGGY “Not What You Need“ | LUGGAGE “Shift“ LP | MASKS “Our Weekend Starts Tomorrow“ | NO TONGUES FOR QUIET PEOPLE “Corridor” | PINKO “Rats In Reverie” | POST MOVES “Cerulean“ | RAILINGS “Shelving Pattern“ | REALWORLD “Green Room” | THE RENTALS “Forgotten Astronaut” | SALAD BOYS “This Issue” | SINGLE MOTHERS “Nihilist Headlights“ | STATIK SELEKTAH & PAUL WALL “Overcome” (feat. Benny The Butcher) | WEAVES “Internet Tears” | YO LA TENGO “Eight Candles” | YOUBET “Mental”