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.

AVA LUNA | “Take It Or Leave It”

Less than a year after the release of Ava Luna’s genre-bending Moon 2 album, the ever active band (whose members stay busy in Gemma, Jennifer Vanilla, Carlos Truly, Coughy, etc) are set to share their Pigments EP next month. The band will be donating 50% of the proceeds from the EP to the Yellowhammer Fund to support abortion rights in Alabama and beyond, giving us great music for a great cause. The record’s first single, “Take It Or Leave It,” finds the band doing their majestic thing over a mechanically tight rhythm and plinking synths that add both melody and washes of noise pop texture. Led by Felicia Douglass’ R&B influenced vocals (with harmonies from Becca Kauffman), it’s a futuristic turn for a band that always seems lightyears ahead.

CHERUBS | “Sooey Pig”

When Cherubs, Austin’s legendary noise rock trio, returned in 2015 after twenty years apart, it would have been fair for expectations to be low, and yet the band’s come-back album, 2 Ynfynyty found the band in prime form. With one of the best albums of that year, Cherubs proved they still had a lot of life left in them, having since released an EP and playing a handful of shows around the US and abroad. In December the band announced they had joined the ranks at Relapse Records, and now we have announcement of Immaculada High, due out in late July. “Sooey Pig,” the album’s first single is a great re-introudction to the band’s non-traditional noise rock sprawl, full of loud and decimated guitars with a serrated melody that could be construed as “pop” in another timeline. Big riffs, big dissonance, and psychedelic ugliness.

CHRISTIAN FITNESS | “Real Tennis” + “Newly Colonised Moon”

With their sixth album coming any day now, Christian Fitness should need no introduction and yet here we are offering one once again. The latest project of Andy Falkous (Future of the Left, Mclusky), the “band” have released exceptional albums every year for the past five years, and while the mainstream media can’t be bothered to pay attention, Falco’s loyal audience remains engaged. Last year’s Nuance - The Musical was my favorite Christian Fitness release yet, as it pushed the boundaries of what you may expect from this project while still firmly snide and biting. New singles “Real Tennis” and “Newly Colonised Moon,” released within a few hours of each other (probably as each were bounced following their completion), take different approaches to Falco’s signature noise punk. The former with a near pop shimmer and sing-a-long skate punk melody, the latter an abrasive skewering of how we’ll eventually ruin space travel as well. With the release imminent, stay tuned to all things Christian Fitness.

DUST FROM 1000 YRS | “Born To Itch” LP

After nearly fifteen years of records, it’s amazing to see that Boston’s Dust From 1000 Yrs continue to get better and better. Last year’s A Sweet Thing Turns Sour made the case as being the best album Bone has done to date, a release that was rooted in bad times-folk and sincerely nuanced songwriting. Less than a year later Dust is back with Born To Itch, a new full length out now via Bone’s own So Hard Young Boy imprint. After playing some stunning banjo on Puppy Problems’ album, he’s picked it up again for his own record, paying homage to outlaw country and the great wide open West with a dampened twang, gothic folk, and an eerie resolve. The rattling atmosphere and arpeggiated chords are still very much Dust From 1000 Yrs, and the personal tension is as heavy as ever.

HORSE JUMPER OF LOVE | “Airport”

We’ve already mentioned the fact that Horse Jumper of Love’s new album, So Divine, is now and will be one of our favorite albums of the year, and let second single “Airport” be example as to why. Slowly trickling into ominous beauty and abstract reflections, the song lays into disorientation for it’s melodic sensibilities, throwing shifts of texture and well constructed dynamics into free and unpredictable structures. Riding into the sunset with a wall of rusty guitars and peaking washes of distortion, the once calming presence becomes chaotic but the gentle approach remains, and as the walls begin to close in, its the beauty that remains.

PAX | “Eat Me”

Toronto DIY darlings PAX have a new two song single lovingly named Eat Me out this week, and their hazy slacker pop charm continues to shine in all its warped bliss. Following March’s “Sink,” a song we’re still over the moon about, these new songs continue with the solo-project-turned-full-band approach. The joy of PAX’s warbly and detached bedroom pop weirdness is as much in Madeline Link’s songwriting as she sings of “my brain is melting” as it is in their keen and deliberate production choices, with manipulated tape effects and fuzzy harmonies that drift instead of drive. Heavy of atmosphere and washed out simplicity, the songs take a stoned and syrupy delivery, infecting your daydreams with inescapable melodies and subtle nuances. I’ll keep saying it: pay attention to this band.

POM POM SQUAD | “Heavy Heavy”

New York’s Pom Pom Squad has a new record on the way, but before that is announced, the band are sharing “Heavy Heavy,” a new single that just so happens to be pretty heavy. Earning comparisons to bands like Hole and Babes In Toyland, their brand of grungy punk is at once agitated and anxious, a song that captures the daily turmoil of these modern times that leave you feeling “heavy heavy.” Without anything that would really be classified as a “hook” or “chorus” the song is still undeniably catchy, the type of effort you want to shout along with after only an initial listen. It rips like a long-forgotten 90’s anthem, with Mia Berrin (vocals/guitar) questioning if she wants to die by the end of it all.

Further Listening:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (May 20th - May 26th)