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.

GATECREEPER | “Boiled Over”

Arizona’s Gatecreeper are getting ready to release their long awaited and heavily anticipated sophomore album, Deserted, this October via Relapse Records. The band’s sound is rooted in death metal but there’s a looming influence from hardcore, sludge, and the crustiest of metal, adapting their own sound that’s at times slow and lumbering and others viciously rattled. “Anxiety,” a stand alone single released earlier this year with Adult Swim was grinding and ferocious, a complex and blistering thrasher. “Boiled Over,” the first single from Deserted is slow and lurching, the demonic howls sounding like the coming of the apocalypse as the band dig out an overdriven despair that eventually moves into double (or it is triple) time. It’s a steady burn that never flickers as it envelops the dust and dirt, becoming ever stronger with each crushing polyrhythmic full and guttural howl.

KAL MARKS | “Heads Been Ringing”

Boston’s Kal Marks really are the gift that just keeps on giving. Sure, the gifts aren’t always sunny or picturesque, but there’s no one doing it quiet like them and their deranged blend of noise rock, folk, and post-hardcore. In the end they sound something like Neil Young with an infinity for Harvey Milk, but their colossal sludge and piercing distortion comes from a place close to their heart, with self-reflection ever present in their best works. “Heads Been Ringing” is the first single from the band’s upcoming (and brilliantly titled) Let The Shit House Burn Down EP, due out in late September. The recording captures the band at their best, experimenting with the studio but channeling their aggression into shifting progressions and expansive rhythms that drop out and reappear, colliding to create tension and beauty, often at the same time. There’s a great deal of depth in the single, with something to discover upon ever listen, a layered dive into intricate structures and the brutally serene.

LINA TULLGREN | “Saiddone”

The wait for Lina Tullgren’s long awaited sophomore album is nearly over. Free Cell is due out August 23rd via Captured Tracks and they’ve shared “Saiddone,” the final single prior to the release, a song I’ve been humming in my head since I first heard it a few weeks ago. Each delicate line of Tullgren’s vocals and piano arrangement fold back into each other, a circular melodic drift, that feels weary but remains stunning regardless. With keys that burst like sunspots against the rest of the instrumentation, Tullgren sings about falling in love to quick, only to be disappointed, “I am leaning into no one again, I should not be allowed to love anything this much.” The slow shuffle of the drums are a perfect compliment to the textural guitars and the sustained piano radiance, each accenting the thoughtful reflection of heartbreak.

PEAER | “Have Fun!”

Set to release their new album, A Healthy Earth, at the end of the week, Peaer have graced us with one more single, the album’s incredible closer, “Have Fun!” It’s the song I’ve been waiting for, one that I’m pretty sure has been a staple of their live show for the past few years. The slow crawling lullaby of restrained indie pop bliss builds and breaks, shrinking itself to delicate moments only to explode back into syrupy pop hooks. It’s a roller coaster of emotional depth, a song wrapped in depression and anxiety, but wavering between the lulls they bring and the momentary escape that comes with it. “Have Fun!” pushes and pulls in all directions, it’s nuances are based mainly in volume, with unpredictable shifts that go beyond your standard loud-quiet-loud as it suits them.

SWEET WILLIAMS | “Ride A Gold Snail“

Brighton, UK’s Sweet Williams have returned and that’s damn well reason to be excited. In the case that you’re not already familiar with the band, luckily, it’s never too late to explore their back catalog, an impressive and immersive collection of dragged and droney post-hardcore and post-punk with a sludgy bent. Following 2016’s exceptional Please Let Me Sleep On Your Tonight, the band has devolved and left mastermind Thomas House as a solo artist, but Where Does The Time Come From remains ever brilliant. The band’s guitar tone (an ever noteworthy aspect of everything Sweet Williams) on lead single “Ride A Gold Snail” sounds as delightfully mangled and distorted as ever, a dirge that’s bright but blistering, always digging further downward, steadily bummed out and triumphantly reckless. Get to know this band.

Further Listening:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (August 5th - August 11th)