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.

ALIEN NOSEJOB | “King’s Gambit”

We recently had the pleasure of sharing Alien Nosejob’s “Leather Gunn,” the first single from Jake Robertson’s (Ausmuteants, Hierophants, Smarts) upcoming album, Paint It Clear. Known for his ever shifting mutant punk that pulls influence from hardcore to disco, “King’s Gambit” shifts the record in a different direction than the previous single, one more grandiose with synths that take flight, a hard driving beat, and a circular melodic pattern that expands as the song progresses, with a massive bridge that feels equal parts fantasy epic and sci-fi odyssey.

ANNA MCCLELLAN | “Veronica”

It’s nearly been a year since Anna McClellan released her brilliant third album, I Saw First Light, but there’s a brand new music video for one of the album’s many highlights, “Veronica”. The song is loose and gorgeous, with bent chords and fuzzy melodies building beneath McClellan and Ryan McKeever ramshackle vocal harmony. The video, directed by Teal Gardner, is equally vibrant, an homage to The Seventh Seal.

BAD HISTORY MONTH & NYXY NYX | “Death Takes A Holiday” LP

Death Takes A Holiday, a split release between Boston’s Bad History Month and Philadelphia’s Nyxy Nyx isn’t just a chance pairing, it’s a well of inspiration in collaboration. While the songs recorded separately by the respective projects, many of Bad History’s song came together after hearing Nyxy Nyx’s contributions and there’s an understated fluidity between the pair that shines even under the most grim of circumstances (death, relationships gone sour, etc).

BEAUTY PILL | “You Need A Better Mind”

Just in time for the last presidential election, Washington, DC’s Beauty Pill released the predictably great “Instant Night” single and now it’s getting a release as an extended EP of the same name. Due out in December via Northern Spy, “You Need A Better Mind,” is a new single with a funky kind of synth loop and all the majestic charm that Chad Clark and co. have continuously become known for, without ever sounding remotely predictable.

CATE LE BON | “Running Away”

It’s always great to have something to look forward to and there’s nothing quite like a new Cate Le Bon record to look forward to. Pompeii isn’t due out until February (via Mexican Summer) but the first single “Running Away” is a tranquil bit of esoteric psych to keep us patiently awaiting the release. It picks up on the lilting beauty and detachment of Le Bon’s music, but does so primarily with synth in place of any jittery guitar noise.

DAMAGED BUG | “Exit Vollmer" b/w "Violent Times"

If there’s one thing you can always be sure of, John Dwyer is always working on new music. Between Osees releases and his ever expanding world of improvisational records, he still finds time for the occasional solo album under his Damaged Bug moniker. Last year saw Bug on Yonkers, a very inspired collection of Michael Yonkers covers, and he’s back it with “Exit Vollmer” and “Violent Times,” a pair of songs recently released on a flexi via Sometimes Magazine. The tracks capture the freaky synth psych of the project with both ominous terror (“Exit Vollmer”) and hazy warped pop plodding (“Violent Times”).

DEERHOOF | “Be Unbarred, O Ye Gates of Hell”

Deerhoof return with another smash hit of a record, Actually, You Can, and it’s opening track and final single is the perfect jumpstart for the record. As Satomi Matsuzaki asks “if we have only planted onions, how are these tomatoes all growing?,” the entire band comes colliding together to create their own unique blend of prog, funk, noise pop, and punk that continues their legacy as one of our generation’s greatest bands.

LAETITIA SADIER | “New Moon”

While Stereolab has kept busy with reissues, new additions to the Switched On series, and plenty of touring, it’s been four years since Laetitia Sadier released new solo music. While there hasn’t been a new album announced, Sadier released the dreamy “New Moon,” a song that fits perfectly into her extended catalog, with jazzy space-age futuristic pop. Her voice sounds radiant over the swelling production and cosmic atmospherics.

LISA/LIZA | “Rose Pedals”

When the weight of the world feels like it can’t get any heavier, there’s Lisa/Liza, a calming musical presence amid life’s anxieties, losses, and despair. Following last year’s Shelter of a Song LP, Liza Miller has been tapped by Mexican Summer’s Looking Glass series, resulting in new single “Rose Pedals,” a song that Miller fittingly wrote about “the balance of learning to find calm through very difficult things, while also at the same time becoming aware of my relationship to minimizing my own pain and suffering.” As per usual, she nailed it and it’s been making me feel better with every listen.

MARISSA PATERNOSTER | “White Dove”

While Marissa Paternoster is best known for her work in Screaming Females, she’s released several solo albums under the Noun moniker over the years. With Peace Meter though, Paternoster is releasing her first album under her own name, due out in December via Don Giovanni Records. While she’s joined by a few other musicians (members of Snakeskin, Thou, etc), “White Dove,” the album’s first single seems to be a more intimate track, with a steady tension and a warm hum throughout.

MELKBELLY | “Haunted Trails”

This Halloween was just a bit spookier thanks to Melkbelly’s holiday single, “Haunted Trails,” their first new music since May’s “Prehistoric Worm”. Expansive yet tightly arranged, the song stretches out its sense of dread for nearly eight minutes with a focus on tension. The song rumbles and pounds in the shadows with distortion and feedback bubbling up under the dense rhythm, but never quite exploding in the way that you might expect. Its that kind of restraint that keeps the vibe eerie, waiting in suspension for the chaos to arrive.

OVLOV | “The Wishing Well”

If the new Ovlov singles don’t get stuck in your head, you’re not listening right. In all seriousness though, “The Wishing Well,” the second single from the band’s third album, Buds, features hooks at every turn from the verses to the crushing fills that separate them to the softly interwoven vocal harmonies courtesy of Dig Nitty’s Erin McGrath. It’s one big earworm that’s light on fuzz and feedback but perfectly structured to create memorable indie pop in just under two minutes.

RICHARD DAWSON & CIRCLE | “Methuselah”

There are a lot of unique bands and artists out there, but both Richard Dawson and Circle have both followed their own paths to become cult legends in their own right. The pairing of them could sound like anything and perhaps the oddest thing about it is that it sounds as cohesive as it does… and it fucking rocks. “Methuselah” is the album’s second single and it’s utterly epic in a medieval prog-centric psyched out kind of way. With krautrock and maybe even a touch of metal in the mix, this song just keeps getting better for about nine minutes.

SULPHUROUS | “The Black Mouth of Sepulcre” LP

Hold on to your butts. The never-ending avalanche of great new death metal releases isn’t showing any signs of slowing down and the latest from Copenhagen’s Sulphurous is brutal, technical, and utterly monstrous, with riffs both lurching and shredding. The Black Mouth of Sepulchre is the band’s second full length (out now on the ever consistent Dark Descent Records) is full of menacing dread, but the band’s dexterity keeps this one exceptionally dynamic. At one minute they’re blasting through rapid riffs and complex rhythms and the next they’re digging into sludge and primal fury.

WENDY EISENBERG | “Evening Song”

“Evening Song” is the second single from Wendy Eisenberg’s upcoming album, Bent Ring, a set of banjo based songs that range from reflective to spiritual, in one sense of another. While Eisenberg hasn’t been playing the banjo as long as they have guitar, it comes as little surprise that the virtuoso composer excels at both. “Evening Song” is stunning, with repetition the focus of the finger picked and plucked banjo structure, while Eisenberg’s words reflect on songwriting itself and the pressures that can be involved.

Further Listening:

October 11 - October 17:

October 18 - October 24:

October 25 - October 31:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (October 11th - October 31st)