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.

AMAR LAL | “Privilege”

Following Big Ups’ hiatus and Amar Lal’s move from Brooklyn to Oakland, he’s set to release his debut solo album, Gardening, on September 27th via Never Content. After years of noisy output, Gardening, much like the album’s title, is a calming effort, an ambient record built on a backlog of tranquil ideas, field recordings, and gorgeous textural synths. Like watching a time-lapse of grass growing or ants working, the record’s opening track “Privilege” is a metamorphosis, the start of something new and cyclical in its awakening. It’s a warm fog rolling in as the ocean ebbs and flows at the shore. It’s getting lost among the tallest of trees with no concept of time or place. However you like to imagine it, Amar Lal’s music feels like a de-stresser, an escape from the grind of city life and working jobs we hate.

CATE LE BON & BRADFORD COX | “Secretary”

Recorded during Mexican Summer’s annual Marfa Myths festival in 2018, Cate Le Bon and Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox are the latest to join the label’s collaborative series. The album, completed in a week’s time together with help from Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint), Stephen Black (Sweet Baboo), Tim Presley (White Fence), and Samur Khouja, is due out at the start of November and the first single “Secretary” is genuinely stunning. Led by Le Bon’s gorgeous vocals and a clackety rhythm that nearly sounds like a faucet dripping in perfect time, the somber song follows the mundane life of the titular secretary, but there’s a touch of surreal to it all as Le Bon sings “I can put you through to everyone, or anyone.” The sweeping orchestration of the song and the brilliant refrain are extra impressive when you consider the spontaneity of the record and the fact that both musicians are known to be meticulous in their creations. We’re eager to hear what else this release has in store.

FRANCIE MOON | “All The Same” LP

New Jersey’s Francie Moon create psych rock that is heavy on soulful influences. Led by Melissa Lucciola, they blend in dusty folk, ear-bleeding country, and a touch garage punk, letting their guitars shred and eviscerate with an open air. Lucciola’s voice has always been something special, a gloriously commanding presence that sounds as new and uncommon as it does worn in and retro, and now the band’s songs are holding equal ground, rooted within the cosmic realm of psych’s wandering feedback. Francie Moon’s latest album, All The Same, combines the tracks from this year’s New Morning Light EP with five brand new songs, each one a sonic compliment to the last, Lucciola’s howling vocal melodies and walls of guitar fuzz linking everything together into a cohesive record.

FREAKING | “Mind Palace”

This week I was introduced to Boston’s Freaking, a new band that shares three members with the incredible SUPERTEEN - Meryl Schultz (vocals), Sam Robinson (drums) and Chris Faria (guitar) - joined by Tyler Zizzo (bass). The band just released their debut single “Mind Palace,” a two track effort that swirls with a busy sound circling between post-hardcore, noise pop, and psych. It’s an incredible promising start with a lot to take in (though dialed back from the layered carnage of SUPERTEEN), as each of the songs contort into new shapes with blaring dynamics and abrasive yet dreamy structures. “Sugar” maintains a ringing backbone that’s both haunting and insistent while “For” opts for more of a pop-dirge, the ground dropping out beneath the caterwauling guitars while Schultz delicate melody floats above. Freaking are definitely a band to watch.

GATECREEPER | “From The Ashes”

Not everyone would describe the cavernous sludge meets death metal of Gatecreeper as a good time, but I’ll be damned if their latest single “From The Ashes” isn’t a fun listen. Described as their most “anthemic” song by the band due to it’s guitar leads and “accessibility,” this one is definitely an ease into their sound, but it’s still heavy as a ton of nails. Deserted, their upcoming album due out next week on Relapse Records, takes the band into new territory with guitars that tear outside the walls of death metal rigidity, but the band’s primal aggression and guttural menace is well honed and in fine form throughout, the record best presented in its uncompromising whole. “From The Ashes” is a great singular moment of the album, one that shreds with a classic riff, pummeling rhythms, and a demonic howl, only to shift into a deathly crawl of doom-tinged crust midway. The band are able to achieve enormous dynamics through subtle changes, retaining their apocalyptic filth along the way.

GONG GONG GONG | “Ride Your Horse”

Beijing’s Gong Gong Gong release their full length debut Phantom Rhythm at the end of this week via Wharf Cat Records and the record’s final single “Ride Your Horse” is one of our favorites from the album. Blending together the band’s signature post-punk and delta blues sound with an Eastern tinged take on Spaghetti Western soundscapes, the song is built on a twangy presence that feels in place with the track’s title. The guitar’s clamor sounds almost like a tight snare rasp played with brushes, there’s a sharp snapping rhythm to it (Phantom Rhythm is not just a clever title) and a bouncing bass groove that would make Les Claypool proud. Mosey on over to this one, a colliding of worlds that is uniquely Gong Gong Gong.

KAL MARKS | “Kimmy”

Boston’s Kal Marks can make heavy songs that beautiful and they can make heavy songs that are delightfully ugly. “Kimmy,” the final single from the band’s Let The Shit House Burn Down EP, takes form of the latter, a ferocious noise rock song that pairs mangled vocals together with a tidal wave of feedback. While the lyrics are garbled beyond recognition, their angst and deranged delivery sit well within the sinister bass line and shapeshifting rhythm. It’s all a bit demonic sounding, but this monster isn’t hiding in the shadows, it’s bold and vivid and coming straight for the throat. Kal Marks are at a peak of creativity, pushing their sound in all directions and seeing what sticks, from meditative sludge to bonkers noise punk and in-the-red glimpses shoegaze, and they’ve forged it all into something massive and brooding.

L’ORANGE & JEREMIAH JAE | “After Alley Life”

We’ve already featured L’Orange & Jeremiah Jae’s “Dead Battery” on Fuzzy Meadows, but as one our most anticipated hip-hop album’s of the year, we wouldn’t be doing the record justice without featuring their latest single “After Alley Life” as well. The duo’s sophomore collaborative album, Complicate Your Life With Violence, is due out at the end of this week via Mello Music Group and the record’s third single captures the brilliance of both producer and MC in equal measure. L’Orange, one of the best producers in modern hip-hop, offers a sleepy jazz-influenced beat with a slowed sample that sounds nearly “screwed” but is just pulled back to the pound of woozy extreme. Jae uses this relaxed beat to offer an equally chilled out flow, for an abstract delivery that sits perfectly in the groove, adapting the verses with the beat’s easy flow.

MATT TALBOTT | “Sinister Webs”

In some circles (our circles), Matt Talbott is a living legend. As the guitarist/vocalist of HUM, Talbott has influenced countless bands with his lackadaisical approach to melody and soaring guitar work, a pioneer of 90’s “space rock” and beyond. Ever the humble artist, Talbott is currently on a solo living tour… playing kind folk’s living rooms throughout the country. It’s up close and personal and for anyone wondering what Talbott might sound like solo, he’s graciously offered up a rough mix of “Sinister Webs,” a new song from an upcoming record. Built on a single chord progression, his echoing vocals feel weightless, an omnipresent force that feels sent from an extraterrestrial transmission, coloring the sparse guitars with the same sparkle that makes HUM one of the underground’s all time best. While only a rough demo (recorded live to analog tape, with no overdubs and no processing at mix down), it’s a raw look into Talbott’s songwriting without the multi-layering you’ve come to expect.

SINEAD O’BRIEN | “A Thing You Call Joy”

Earlier this summer Sinead O’Brien released a new single, “Taking On Time” via the now prestigious Speedy Wunderground single series (Squid, Black Midi, Black Country, New Road), a fantastic song that transposed the poet words and prose with a sharp post-punk track that had us instantly hooked. The Irish musician has since joined Chess Club Records and with that comes new single “A Thing You Call Joy,” another incredible look into O’Brien’s stunning lyrical poetry and her truly incredible lyrical delivery, accenting and elaborating syllables to fit her jagged post-punk grooves, rarely leaving an empty moment without her captivating words. An impeccable blend of phrasing and vocal structuring, O’Brien’s poetry thrives with tight agitation.

Further Listening:

September 16 - September 22:

September 23 - September 29:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (September 16th - September 29th)