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.

FULL OF HELL | “Language of Molten Cherubs”

Following last year’s brutal new album, Weeping Choir, and a reissue of their first two albums, Maryland extreme metal experimentalists Full Of Hell return with a new single for Adult Swim Singles series. “Language of Molten Cherubs” is a monstrous song and about what you imagine given the title’s imagery of burning angels. In true Full Of Hell fashion though, the band are always pushing new dynamics, rarely taking the route most traveled. Their latest single opens with grinding intensity, a ugly storm of filthy blast beats, but it never settles into place, instead breaking into a dirge of noise and howls that sound like they come from six feet below. Feedback swirls and everything feels tense and ominous, the sludge eventually opening up into a slow yet colossal thud for chaos. It’s a wild ride. Hold on to your butts.

HUM | “Inlet” LP

The almighty Hum returned with their fourth album, Inlet, dropped out of nowhere and it feels like the small miracle we’ve all been waiting for. Having reformed to play shows sporadically throughout the past decade, the Champaign, IL based quartet have always kept it humble, playing fuzzy “space rock” while remaining grounded with the spectacle of it all (hell, I went to Chicago to catch them play a pizza shop for PRF BBQ in 2014). The band’s first album in 23 years is nothing short of incredible, a new benchmark for bands that have taken the extended hiatus. Inlet sounds as though it was recorded in the months that followed the eternally classic Downward Is Heavenward, capturing the same muscular shoegaze and laid back post-hardcore the band made their signature in the 90’s. Everything is well conceived and natural, without a forced idea in the bunch, and the band exude patience to let the record evolve at a lumbering pace. It’s everything we’ve ever loved about Hum, done to perfection, just as one may expect.

MARLOWE | “Future Power Sources”

Back in 2018, the duo of Solemn Brigham and L’Orange came together to form Marlowe, releasing their self-titled debut via Mello Music Group, which proved to be one of that year’s best hip-hop records. Brigham, a relatively unknown MC at the time proved to be one of the best lyricists coming out the South, with his NC drawl working an array of dynamic flows, capable of shifting his delivery to any of L’Orange’s dusty sampled beats while keeping his words forever pointed. The two are back with Marlowe 2, due out in early August and judging by first single “Future Power Sources,” we’re in for another treat from a pair that should be making mainstream headlines. The song takes the producer’s patch work samples and creates something funky and soulful for Brigham to run wild over, his flow bouncing around the Trackstar scratches, spitting with dexterity, “I’ve been putting up my hands, I just want to be sovereign, but I’m still trying to get up at the heart of it, everything I’m looking for a part of me.”

OCEANATOR | “A Crack In The World”

Two years after the Lows EP, Brooklyn’s Oceanator return with their full length debut, Things I Never Said, due out late August via Plastic Miracles. We’ve heard the album and we can tell you it’s a doozy, exceptional songwriting from start to finish, each song offering a unique resolve that rarely lands in the same way it begins. “A Crack In The World” is the album’s first single, a song that opens with massive overdriven guitars, balancing Oceanator’s knack for creating power-pop and grungy rock music, but it’s Elise Okusami’s vocals and her lyrics that really steal the show. The song is a reminder that plans change and dreams can waver, but what you make of your life is still important, whatever path it takes you down. Okusami sings in the hook that “it’s not what you wanted but it’ll do, it’s not what you wanted, but it’s what you get, and who knows, things could get better yet.” There’s almost a folk like quality in the way Oceanator write songs, with an intelligence that pushes for a better vision of everything… and thats all before you hit the massive crescendo.

WIDOWSPEAK | “Money”

It should be said that we consider Widowspeak’s self-titled album a classic at this point. Their 2011 debut was stunning upon release and it remains just as pivotal nine years later. In the years since, the band have been rearranging their sound, never content to create the same album twice, but they’ve kept the essence of what made that album special in tact, primarily Molly Hamilton’s forever dreamy vocals and their slow-drop cosmic Americana vibe that channels everything from Mazzy Star to Sam Evian, who actually produced the band’s upcoming album Plum. “Money” is the second single, a gorgeous reflection on both capitalism and our environment. The programmed sounding drums set the backdrop for a mesmerizing arpeggiated guitar progression, everything layered to great effect under Hamilton’s soft yet unmistakable voice.

Further Listening:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (June 22nd - June 28th)