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.

ARBOR LABOR UNION | “Crushed By Fear Destroyer”

After a stint with ol’ Sub Pop Records, Atlanta’s Arbor Labor Union are back home with Arrowhawk Records (Gabriel Birnbaum, Shana Falana, Blush) for the release of their first new album in four years, New Petal Instants. The first single “Flowerhead” embraced damn near everything that makes this band so special, their cosmic Americana boogie meets post-hardcore structures and general barn-burning hippie disposition. The second single, “Crushed By Fear Destroyer,” leans in with a classic rock stomp that choogles with a Crazy Horse of Howlin’ Rain aura. There’s a big muscular jangle that feels like its been frying in the sun for eternity, peppered together with the type of twang and well-placed dissonance that make Arbor Labor Union such a unique band.

CINDY LEE | “I Want You To Suffer”

We last wrote about Cindy Lee and the new album, What’s Tonight To Eternity, at the tail end of the year, and while we were into first single “Heavy Metal,” there’s something truly amazing going on with the record’s latest offering. “I Want You To Suffer” is a brilliant extended composition from Patrick Flegel’s avant-garde pop project, opening with the signature washed out R&B-tinged pop, distorted beyond anything familiar, but relatively accessible. Midway through the song, just as you’ve been lulled into the lo-fi discordance of it all, Flegel rips into a feverish squall of noise, disrupting the proceedings and swallowing any semblance of melody or rhythm. The fog lifts before it becomes too much to handle (depending on your threshold for noise) and the song comes drearily back in to focus with a sustained reentry to a surreal pop dirge.

CLAMM | “Keystone Pols”

There are so many great punk bands in Australia these days, it’s getting out of hand… bring some of them over here to the States. Another week, another exceptional new band has come across our path, this time it is Melbourne’s CLAMM (shout out to Raven Sings The Blues for turning us onto this) and I can’t stop listening to the three songs on their Bandcamp page. Set to release Beseech Me, their debut album, on Friday, January 24th, CLAMM play a riotous version of garage punk that’s frothing at the teeth and ready to destroy all in sight. With razor sharp riffs and unraveled distortion, the band’s bark is just as vicious its bite, gnarled and shouted with a constant propulsion from the pounding rhythm. The three piece play it raw and aggressive, forgoing flashy production and studio tricks for an immediate discordant bliss.

HORSE LORDS | “Fanfare for Effective Freedom”

The almighty Horse Lords have returned and it’s reason for celebration. It’s been four long years since their last official record (aside from Mixtape IV in 2017), and the experimental Baltimore quartet are still creating music at its most inventive and hypnotic. The Common Task is due out in March via Northern Spy (Renata Zeiguer, Wilder Maker, Töth) and its lead single “Fanfare for Effective Freedom” is a wild voyage between disjointed and jagged post-punk filtered through experimental jazz and Saharan modalities. It’s freeform in the way that Horse Lords thrive, moving from one section to the next, following the path where it leads rather than trying to wrangle everything neatly together. The band dig into the rhythms and soar far beyond them, always locked in but forever progressing the structures to new realms (I personally love what happens around 4:22).

KAZU | “Adult Baby” (BTR Live Studio)

Last year Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino stepped out on her own for to create an exceptional solo album as KAZU. The record blended futuristic pop with experimental elements that shifted from track to track, shifting shapes and drifting along without guidelines in a delightful way. I was intrigued to see what her live performances in support of the record would entail and sadly I missed the NY release show for Adult Baby. Thankfully the good folks at BTR Live Studio had KAZU in for a session, performing the title track together with Darian Thomas for a stripped down performance. While it strays from the album version, this Mellotron and string arrangement is both beautiful and compelling, providing a sweeping landscape for Makino’s dreamy vocals.

LAKE RUTH & LISTENING CENTER | “How I Hear You”

While we patiently wait for the next Lake Ruth full length (a highly anticipated record whenever it comes), we’ve become enamored with their recent singles. Following last year’s pair of songs from the Slumberland singles series, the New York band has teamed up once again with collaborator Listening Center, this time to benefit The Sunday Experience’s Mark Barton and his ongoing medical needs. “How I Hear You,” their contribution to Polytechnic Youth’s compilation EP, is warm and sultry, capturing the band’s Stereolab influence, and converting it into something with a jazzy swing and a fuzzy shimmer. The drums play just behind the beat as the melody leaves a lasting impression even with it’s breezy atmospherics.

MAMALARKY | “Fury”

Los Angeles’ Mamalarky have joined the esteemed ranks at Fire Talk Records (Patio, Fran, Gold Dime) and with it comes “Fury,” their first new single since last year’s “Hero” (which we had the pleasure of premiering). The band’s shimmering noise pop is a radio hit (in a just world), a dazzling acid soaked rock song that feels fried and jubilant, like a kaleidoscope of sludgy sun-soaked goodness. In just over two minutes the quartet warp the tempo between stoned power-pop jangle and dragged to a crawl decrescendos that add a dynamic flair to their infectious squaller. The future is bright and we look forward to an eventual full length.

MR. ELEVATOR | “Goodbye, Blue Sky” LP

Things over at Castle Face Records have been getting progressively more progressive in recent times… from the Oh Sees embrace of prog to bands like Once & Future Band and now Mr. Elevator. Having just released Goodbye, Blue Sky last week, it’s our first great surprise in 2020, an album built on stacked synths and songwriting that feels like the furthest cosmic reaches of the 70’s never left. It’s one of those albums you really need to immerse yourself in, and thankfully, it’s really easy to do it as you’re whisked into another galaxy right from the instrumental opener “Waiting” and placed gently back to Earth just at the close of the reverb soaked “Patterns.” The shapes and structures of the songs feel surreal, bending with a liquid like retention, steadily flowing but never sitting back to reflect, instead pushing deeper into new realms of outer consciousness. It’s a great listen whether you’re zoning out or intensely dissecting it.

SHELL OF A SHELL | “Knock”

Nashville’s Shell of a Shell return this winter with their full length debut, Away Team, a raw and explosive continuation on their Already There EP from 2018. Due out in late February via Exploding In Sound Records, the first single “Knock” is one of the album’s most “pop” centric moments but that doesn’t mean Chappy Hull (vocals, guitars) have gone soft. The record is an extremely capable and expensive effort that has the quartet fused together to create a singular drive, twisting and turning in unison through post-hardcore that takes new shapes from track to track. “Knock” is built on an avalanche of Hull and Dylan Liverman’s guitars, colliding against the toppling and jagged rhythm section, to create something that’s undeniably catchy and yet eternally wonky. It’s what we love about this band and their always interesting and always raw music.

VARIOUS ARTISTS | “Bernie Speaks With The Community” LP

We don’t tend to get real political on this site, but we are also happy to endorse Bernie Sanders and think maybe you could too. In celebration of his campaign and to help raise funds for his cause, the folks in Strange Ranger (who offer a slow dripped live burner with audience commentary that’s a little too perfect) put together Bernie Speaks With The Community, a great new compilation that features DIY bands from around the country, all united for the man with the plan, Mr. Sanders. Comprised mainly of demos and outtakes that are essential tracks from Post-Trash favorites Shady Bug (an incredible new song that band have been busy perfecting live), Double Grave, Cool Original, IAN SWEET, Thanks For Coming, Smut, Oceanator, Lexie, and beyond. It’s good music for a good cause, so be sure to donate and more importantly, be sure to vote.

Further Listening:

January 13 - January 19:

January 20 - January 26:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (January 13th - January 26th)