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.

DAVID NANCE | “The Merchandise”

David Nance recently described his new album Staunch Honey as the closest he’s ever gotten to the sound inside his head. it rings true, as the album feels personal and reflective, stripped of the noise (which is not to say we don’t love some quality David Nance noise) and poured from the mind and soul. The record was released this past Friday via Trouble In Mind Records (Lithics, Naked Roommate, FACS) and it’s another brilliant addition to Nance’s ever growing catalog, building on the records that have come before while offering something new, something that feels like the dust has settled. The record’s opening track, “The Merchandise,” is a real woodsy jam. It’s built on musical twang and a stomping boogie, as Nance assures us all, “I swear everything will be alright, but there’s no returns on the merchandise.”

HORSEGIRL | “Ballroom Dance Scene”

The band formed a little over a year ago and have slowly been releasing singles, each one building on the promise of what came before. They’re off to an incredible start, with fully realized songwriting that is dense and alluring, falling away from pop structures but remaining infinitely accessible. “Ballroom Dance Scene” is a slow burner, continuously building, with a lush Fripp inspired guitar backdrop creating tension along the way. Horsegirl play with many nuanced ideas, with counterpoint vocals the star of their latest single. The song opens with a tight jangle and a low sung melody, eventually balanced by a stuttering rhythm and another gentle higher registered lead vocal that blends perfectly together with the lower lines as they weave around one another. As the song builds, the distorted intensity grows with it.

MIRANDA WINTERS | “Audiotree Live”

Following the release of the exceptional All-Purpose 7” single, Miranda Winters (best known as the guitarist/vocalist of Chicago’s Melkbelly) stopped by the Audiotree studio for an intimate live session, accompanied by Joe Starita, who played strings on the new single. There’s something so wonderfully comforting about Winters’ solo music, her songs both gentle but low-key twisted, with easy melodies that are more expansive than they first appear. We could listen to them forever, and the Audiotree Live session is a great example as to why, with Winters playing both songs from the new single as well as the previously released “Hurling,” new songs, and selections from the great Xobeci, What Grows Here LP. The songs ooze a quiet poetic appeal, winding between tongue twisters and vibrant vocal melodies that could float on forever.

NOPES | “Pocket Square Motherfucker”

Oakland’s Nopes are one of the most consistent noise punk bands of the past half decade, with a steady stream of brutally wonderful releases that toe the line between noise rock, hardcore, and that dirty old SST brand of fuzz punk. They do it with a sarcastic sense of humor, and they do it better than most. Set to release their third full length, wonderfully titled Djòrk, on January 29th, the band have unleashed the record’s lead single “Pocket Square Motherfucker,” a song you can really believe in. The rhythm hits like a baseball bit to the face, an immediate crack and the song is in full frenzy, with shredding riffs and garbled vocals. The guitars unwind about half way through, spilling all over the song’s moment of relative calm, before colliding headfirst into the mayhem, with a blistering the entire way. We can’t wait to hear more.

PINK SIIFU & FLY ANAKIN | “FlySiifu’s” LP

In case anyone hasn’t noticed, a new renaissance of hip-hop has been building these last few years. Case in point, the emergence of Birmingham’s Pink Siifu and Richmond’s Fly Anakin, two shape shifting MCs that are capable of folding their style into any space needed. The two have come together to share their collaborative debut (though they both have prolific solo outputs), FlySiifu’s, an album that revolves around a conceptual theme of a record store, with our hosts flipping through the dustiest of bins to bring life to chilled out, psych influenced hip-hop, that is both boastful and thoughtful, offering perspective to the dreamy beats that crackle beneath them. The two MCs complement each other well, with flows that take their time, because they’re not in any rush to get anywhere anyway. FlySiifu’s packs in 22 tracks (with conceptual interludes included) that blend together for a seamless experience, like a Curren$y record with a bit more conscious thought and intelligence construction.

YOUR OLD DROOG | “Pravda“ (feat. Mach-Hommy, Tha God Fahim, El-P, & Black Thought)

Your Old Droog and his frequent collaborators in Tha God Fahim (who we cannot stop listening to) and Mach-Hommy have become three of the most consistently astounding MCs for the past few years. They take it back to the golden age of Wu-Tang and Mobb Deep, MF Doom and Nas, a time where lyricism and rawness was celebrated over flashy presentation and R&B hooks. Following three albums in 2019, Your Old Droog returns with Dump YOD: Krutoy Edition, due out December 4th. The record’s latest single “Pravda” brings the aforementioned trio together with none other than Black Thought and El-P, making this undeniably the most essential six minutes of pure, no bullshit, hip-hop you can ask for. Everyone brings their best, rhyming at a hard-nosed yet brilliant level that prevents anyone from outshining anyone else, unity in numbers. Next up, Tha Yod Fahim.

Further Listening:

November 02 - November 08:

November 09 - November 15:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (November 2nd - November 15th)