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.

THE MARTHA’S VINEYARD FAIRIES | “Betty Ford James“

We were first introduced to The Martha’s Vineyard Ferries back in 2013 when the band featuring Chris Brokaw (Codeine, The New Year) and Bob Weston (Shellac, Mission of Burma) released their full length debut Mass. Grave, a delightfully irreverent record that featured an all-time earworm in “She’s A Fucking Angel." The band’s sense of humor was generally the tipping point of everything they did, but the songwriting reflected their veteran statures. It’s been eight weird years but the band are back with a new album, Suns Out Guns Out, due out next month via Ernest Jenning Record Co. (King Khan, Built to Spill, Savak). The lead single, “Betty Ford James,” makes good on those earworm proclivities in just under a minute, with a clever sense of humor, and a surging power-pop kinda charm.

SILICONE PRAIRIE | “Dance To The Beat”

Kansas City’s Ian Teeple is best known for his involvement in Lumpy Records stand outs Warm Bodies and The Natural Man Band, but he’s recently turned his focus to a solo project, Silicone Prairie. Set to release his debut album, My Life on the Silicone Prairie via Feel It Records (Sweeping Promises, The Cowboys, Freak Genes) next month, the record’s first single “Dance To The Beat” is a great introduction to the project, one that retains a sense of his other bands but opens a world all its own. It’s delightfully rattled and lo-fi in its basement recording way, jangling around sharp angles and jittery melodies. It’s definitely a welcome addition to the Midwest punk of the past decade, the egg punk elite, for those that want something both primal in execution, genuinely weird, but also well structured.

WATER FROM YOUR EYES | “If You Could Save Yourself (You'd Save Us All)“ (Ween cover)

If anything this week was going to put a smile on your face this week, Water From Your Eyes’ new covers album, Somebody Else’s Songs (not to be confused with their exceptional Somebody Else’s Song album), is the one to do it. The Brooklyn duo have released a free collection of sincere (and often hilarious) covers that include songs from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eminem, OMC, and Tears For Fears among others. The highlight for me comes in the form of “If You Could Save Yourself (You’d Save Us All),” the epic closer from Ween’s 2003 album, Quebec. Water From Your Eyes play the cover with a straightforward zeal, nailing the song’s swirling psych passion and the dreamy resolve. The entire song swells into the chorus and Nate Amos and Rachel Brown do it every bit of justice.

WIDOWSPEAK | “Romeo and Juliet“ (Dire Straits cover)

Following the fantastic Plum, one of our favorite albums of 2020, Widowspeak are wasting no time between releases, set to release Honeychurch, a companion EP due out on January 22nd via Captured Tracks (Mourn, Locate S,1, Wax Chattels). The first preview of the record comes in the form of “Romeo and Juliet,” a cover of Dire Straits’ 1980 hit single. While I had no idea it was a cover the first time I heard it (sorry to any Dire Straits fans, I’m not all that familiar with their music), Widowspeak do a great job making it their own, slowing it down a bit and making it as dreamy as can be. It almost has a Lou Reed kinda quality to it, but its that retro vibe that rides right into the sunset for Widowspeak, with gorgeous sustain and breezy twang.

BONUS:

THE CRADLE | “Walking With The Moon“ EP

Released back in early December, we forgot to feature this one on our last “Fuzzy Meadows” column, so we’re adding it in as a “bonus” because any new release from The Cradle is well worth a mention. There’s often a distinction between the more experimental self-released albums from Paco Cathcart’s project and the more “formally” released records (such as the immaculate Laughing In My Sleep), but the Walking On The Moon EP tends to be closer to the latter. From the worldly percussive backbone of “Bottleneck Blues” and the tin-whistle assisted title track to the lush harmonies of “Born Wrong” and the surreal folk of “History of Hunger,” these songs stand among Cathcart’s most alluring. The lyrics are radiant throughout, both introspective and reflecting on the world around us, there’s a visionary quality to his words that transports between this existence and one far more beautiful.

Further Listening:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (January 4th - January 10th)