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 CHISEL | “Retaliation”

For one reason or another, I never took the time to dig into The Chisel’s first three EPs, but I’m not above admitting I was wrong, damn wrong. The London punk band play with a similar immediacy to Chubby and the Gang (who they share members with) and bands like C.O.F.F.I.N, with a sound made for riotous and drunken nights in the pub, kicking shit over and having a damn fine time. Set to release their full length debut, Retaliation, in November via La Vida Es Un Mus Discos. The first single is the album’s title track, a song that’s amped up from the start, a “street punk” anthem that rips and shreds with working-class ferocity. “Retaliation” has one foot rooted in the UK hardcore of the 80’s and one in our current anxiety-led era, and it’s all the more agitated as a result.

HELVETIA | “Helvetia presents Sudden Hex” LP

I nearly missed this one during its release week… nearly, but surprise!! Helvetia has a new album out this week (their second of the year), though perhaps the credit for this release goes to Sudden Hex, a side project of Helvetia’s Jason Albertini. Either way, we’re all in luck, and the year of new music just got better for it. Released as part of Joyful Noise Recordings’ ongoing Gray Area Cassette Series, Helvetia presents Sudden Hex, finds Albertini creating a set of punk-indebted rippers and fuzzed out rock ‘n’ roll songs (there’s even an homage to Hendrix). It’s clearly still Albertini doing his thing (and no one would question it as a Helvetia record), but it’s brash and abrasive rather than tranquil and psychedelic. These songs don’t feel fussed over, instead Sudden Hex feels like first takes with sonic destruction at its core.

JULIA SHAPIRO | “Wrong Time”

Best known as the leader of Seattle’s Chastity Belt, guitarist/vocalist Julia Shapiro is back with her second solo album, Zorked, due out this Friday, October 15th via Suicide Squeeze Records (Minus The Bear, The Coathangers, L.A. Witch). For anyone that missed the first two singles - “Death (XIII)” and “Come With Me,” the album is rooted in a heavy shoegaze sense of dread, one that Shapiro has done to perfection. Recorded together with Melina Duterte (Jay Som, Bachelor) in Los Angeles, it’s awesome to hear Shapiro embrace heavier tones and walls of guitars. On the record’s third single, “Wrong Time,” she eases up a bit on the slow crushing riffs, but the song still has a dark and ominous impact, with guitars that flicker in shadows, careening with Shapiro’s drifting composition and a sweet yet haunting vocal melody as she laments being stuck inside.

KRISTINE LESCHPER | “Figure and I”

After a pair of albums with her former band, Mothers, the project’s songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist, Kristine Leschper has joined Anti- Records as a solo artist. Having recently shared “Something Like An Exit,” she’s returned with a new single, “Figure And I,” a gorgeous song with hand-clapped rhythms, hypnotic synths, and winding bass. The amorphous track is mesmerizing as it slinks about, with Leschper’s vocals rising to their highest pitch, floating amid the intricate groove. This is post-punk at its dreamiest and we’re always eager to hear what Leschper releases next.

STEEL TIPPED DOVE | “Call Me When You’re Outside” LP

Following an instrumental beat-tape at the beginning of the year, Brooklyn producer Steel Tipped Dove is back with Call Me When You’re Outside, a new record out via Backwoodz Studioz. With the support of the label’s MCs and artists - including Armand Hammer’s billy woods and Elucid, KeiyaA, Fielded - and likeminded artists such as Pink Siifu, Fat Tony, and The Koreatown Oddity, the record not only highlights the production, but puts some of hip-hop’s absolute best and most versatile MCs on the tracks, putting on a show with the space-aged shimmer of the jazz age beats. Steel Tipped Dove constantly offers chill production that’s still rich in rhythm (there are drums here, rest assured) with enough landscape to give the lyricists room to do their thing, coming together with a unison that feels radiant and highly repeatable. For anyone with even a passing interest in woods and the empire he’s built with Backwoodz, this one is another essential.

Further Listening:

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