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.

BANANAGUN | “Do Yeah”

Melbourne’s Bananagun (featuring members of Parnsip and Frowning Clouds) let it rip with a freaky groove from the start, there’s a hit of the gong and it’s all hypnotic from there. Reminiscent to Can with a condensed approach, “Do Yeah” offers rhythms with Latin accents, rattled on timbale and djembe’s. The percussive nature of the song and the gang-vocal chants put this in a unique place. The video is a call back to the paisley era of acid trips and peaceful outsiders, all its psychedelic bliss instilled deep into the third eye. With ever present layered rhythms that demand attention, the band’s guitars and fuzzy vocals float warped melodies in mesmerizing patterns. I’ve been listening to this song on repeat for a few weeks and it feels something like joining a cult… the good kind of cult, full of sunshine and community.

THE COATHANGERS | “F The NRA”

The Coathangers are using the second single from The Devil You Know to spread an extremely important message, “Fuck The NRA” and bless them for it. All too often issues with American’s tragic and excessive gun violence are discussed only in the wake of a mass shooting and then falls all too silent without any real change or legislation happening to make the sale/access to guns more strict or ideally, prohibited altogether. “Fuck The NRA” is a simple message that takes aim against arming teachers, unnecessary war, and the NRA’s general lack of concern for human lives being lost to gun violence. While I never really thought of The Coathangers as a political band, their dismay for the NRA is well fucking deserved and I only love this band more.

CZARFACE & GHOSTFACE KILLAH | “Mongolian Beef”

As we mentioned back in December, Czarface (the trio that pairs the Wu-Tang’s Inspectah Deck with 7L & Esoteric) have teamed with Ghostface Killah to release Czarface Meets Ghostface, the conceptual comic book-influenced sequel to last year’s Czarface Meets Metalface (together with MF Doom). For fans of what I’m going to call the “golden era” of hip-hop, the early 90’s, there is none more consistent these days than Czarface and adding the manic energy of Ghostface only makes things better. On “Mongolian Beef” the trio of MCs go in over a crackling beat with villainous strings and an everlastingly creative approach to lyricism. The animated video works with the grainy comic book aesthetic to create a visual fitting what could well be the hip-hop record of the year.

EDITRIX | “Talk To Me” EP

Talk To Me, the debut EP from Western Mass trio Editrix is the record we’ve all been waiting for, we just didn’t know it was coming. A new band formed by the incomparable Wendy Eisenberg, this marks her return to the wildly unpredictable punk format (since the untimely demise of Birthing Hips), following a pair of avant-garde guitar albums released toward the end of last year. While those records were fascinating in their own right, with Editrix, Eisenberg (guitar/vocals), Josh Daniel (drums), and Steve Cameron (bass) are shredding their way through post-hardcore and noise punk songs with a pop-centric core that sticks in sweet melodies and syrupy hooks. The playing is wild and technical at times and straightforward at others, a perfect balance of freaked out revulsion and pointed lyrics that take aim at shitty male behavior and unwanted sexual advances. Get very excited, this band is amazing.

ENDON | “Boy Meets Girl“ LP

If there’s anything quite like ENDON out there, I haven’t heard it. The Japanese noise-metal band are as strange as they are brutal, their artistic scrawl of cataclysmic distortion and overt inaccessibility is inspiring. On Boys Meets Girl, the band’s latests album (and first for Thrill Jockey Records), their tortured and primal vocal contusions appear to be wordless yelps, neither in Japanese or English, but just panicked screaming to accent the cavalcade of hardcore, grindcore, and art-metal that swirls relentlessly below. It’s a “colorful” sound of unrelenting chaos, noise soaked in every crack of their abrasive spectrum, but with their own frightening melodic sensibility. Not even Boris and Melt-Banana in all their genre defying glory can prepare you for the onslaught of ENDON.

FONTAINES D.C. | “Big“

Ireland’s Fontaines D.C. (the D.C. being Dublin City) seem to be primed as the next UK post-punk export and from what we’ve heard so far, we’re along for the ride. After just a few singles and plenty of buzzy tours, the band have announced Dogrel, their full length debut due out April on Partisan Records. Having previously shared pre-album announce single “Too Real” that laid the groundwork for their lyrical brand of working class UK post-punk, the record’s reveal comes with “Big,” a song that feels weary about commercial success as it relates to their surroundings. There’s a subtly snide feeling to the song’s repeated verses, and yet it also seems somewhat inevitable as they enter “buzz band” territory ahead of their first US dates and a SXSW that is sure to be beneficial for them.

PATIO | “Boy Scout“

We’ve been fans of Patio since their inception, a great minimalist post-punk band that uses their sparse songwriting to hammer home sentiments of ennui and moral decay in a nonchalant way. Their debut, Luxury, was released nearly three years ago, a record that introduced the world to Lindsey-Paige McCloy cooly unimpressed vocals and Loren DiBlasi’s spoken-word thoughts and reflections. It’s a pairing that works wonders together on “Boy Scout,” the first single from the trio’s full length debut, Essentials, due out in April via Fire Talk Records. “Boy Scout” finds a great balance between McCloy’s soaring melodies and DiBlasi’s hypnotic expansion of the themes, a song that would be depressive if their wasn’t a wiry progression slowly evolving as they push through the fog.

SHARKMUFFIN | “Liz Taylor“

“Liz Taylor” is an exceptional b-side from Sharkmuffin’s expanded Tsuki reissue that we wrote about last summer. Now as the band get ready to announce a new release that was previously available on their European tour dates, the band are sharing a video for “Liz Taylor,” that’s just as fun as the song itself. Built on a ripping guitar line and a stampeding melody, the song howls with harmonized vocals and careening distortion that sits between riot grrl punk and supercharged shoegaze, with an energy that’s 100% Sharkmuffin. The video finds the band traveling through space with a variety of costumes and a good deal of attitude. It’s obvious the trio have fun doing what they do, and its hard not to love a band that transform into alien / sea creatures as soon as the fuzz kicks in.

THIS IS LORELEI | “We Are Taking You Home“

“We Are Taking You Home,” the second single from This Is Lorelei’s The Mall, The Country, is a tender and reflective companion to the record’s first single, “Score Heal Score.” Where the latter was discordant and tangled in its own looped progression, “We Are Taking You Home” is a more serene and tranquil meditation. It’s a thick blanket on a below zero day, every note of the sparse arrangement situated for maximum impact, harmonic plucks bursting and fading in a gorgeously repetitive succession. Nate Amos’ lyrics are stunning in return, opening with an accepting, “I’m off of the tracks, out of the gate” to the casually hopeful, “there’s no one thing alone, nothing in the light, we’ll figure them out, just not tonight,” his couplets feel worn in but relatable. When the careening digital feedback comes in for the melodic refrain, the layer’s brief but abrasive juxtaposition, only works to tighten an already beautiful piece of work.

URANIUM CLUB | “Man Is The Loneliest Animal“

It’s a simple fact, life is better when there’s new Uranium Club to be heard. The Minneapolis band have become one of our favorites of the past years, a sentiment that can be felt amongst almost all that have been acquainted with their music. The band, who have no social media, no website, no way to know if they’re ever going to tour, have released two flawlessly frenzied records and a great live album, All Of Them Naturals standing as a modern post-punk classic. While the band’s sound takes from the pages of Devo and Dow Jones before them, there’s a greater sense of agitation in Uranium Club’s sound, and it’s those nervy eruptions that separate them from the pack. “Man Is The Loneliest Animal” is the first single from the band’s upcoming album, The Cosmo Cleaners, a song that begins in a new casual manor for the band, a slow burning lackadaisical slacker punk twang. For anyone thinking the band have taken a hard turn, patience is key, because as the band approach the two minute mark, they snap into a jittery storm of shifting guitar lines and razor sharp rhythms that skitter with every jagged variation. Uranium Club are up to new tricks, but they sound as phenomenal as ever.

Further Listening:

FEBRUARY 04 - FEBRUARY 10:

FEBRUARY 11 - FEBRUARY 17:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (February 4th - February 17th)