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 BODY & BIG|BRAVE | “Oh Sinner”

Big|Brave have certainly earned their place among our favorite bands over the years and their recent album, Vital, stands among the year’s best. When it was announced the band had collaborated on a full length with experimental duo The Body our minds began wandering as to what exactly that would sound like, thinking of the sordid noise of The Body’s previous collaborations with Full Of Hell, Thou, and Uniform. Where those efforts followed a recipe of adding chaos to chaos to see just how crazy things can sound, Leaving None But Small Birds on the other hand, is nothing like that. It’s immaculate, a record that finds the compositional and textural bliss of both bands fused together to form something new. “Oh Sinner,” the album’s first single is sparse and hypnotic, but airy and dare I say somewhat twangy. It’s still heavy, but rather than the apocalyptic sludge either band can produce, they’ve created something closer to cosmic Americana and we’re here for it. Consider this your new AOTY contender.

LA LUZ | “In The Country”

La Luz have stayed relatively active over the past year, as active a band can be without touring or releasing a record. They’ve played some exceptional streaming shows, including December’s Live From The Black Hole which was released earlier this year on Bandcamp for posterity, but they haven’t released any new studio recordings since 2018’s Floating Features… until now. “In The Country,” the trio’s latest single continues to find in peak form, a song about the experience of moving out to the country and the thought of drifting away from society all together. There’s whirs of cosmic synths and static-rattled fuzz mixed in for texture, but this one is serene and gentle, with the band’s knack for multi-part vocal harmonies setting the tone. The band sway between their signature surfy-pop sound, dreamy art-folk, and a warm psychedelic sound that clatters as the song expands. We’re hoping there’s a new album announcement to follow.

LYSOL | “Can’t Win”

Seattle’s Lysol play the type of punk that is damn near impossible not to enjoy. The quartet have released a slew of singles and demos over the past six years and earned a reputation for their live performances in the Pacific Northwest, but that buzz should be spreading worldwide with their full length debut, Soup For My Family. Due out in late July via the incomparable Feel It Records (Spread Joy, Sweeping Promises, Leopardo), Lysol have crafted a record that hits the sweet spot between hardcore, punk, and garage rock, with songs that rip and shred with sweat soaked tenacity. Having shared lead single “C-4” already, the band return with the cascading “Can’t Win,” a loose and ramshackle song that feels both corrosive and a bit sardonic. The band shift tempos between pounding hardcore rhythms and spirited garage punk stomps, colliding head first into their raw energy with a deranged sense of melodic rust.

MEGA BOG | “Weight of the Earth, On Paper”

The visionary Mega Bog returns to bring us another vividly surreal trip with her latest album Life, and Another, due out next month via Paradise of Bachelors (Mike Polizzi, Itasca, Nap Eyes). The record seems to come from a place described as otherworldly and alien, which in all reality, is of this Earth, which is a fitting conceptual idea for Mega Bog’s music which certainly follows suit. While the album’s first single, “Station To Station,” which is not a Bowie cover, was lush with dreamy synths and a sultry 80’s retro aesthetic, “Weight of the Earth, On Paper” is closer to the expansive art-rock we’ve come to associate with Mega Bog. It’s an up-beat whirlwind of radiance, with soulful vibes and an incredible tongue twisting delivery from Erin Birgy, commanding our attention with a captivating grace… then there are those gang vocals as it all unravels.

MOUNTAIN MOVERS | “World What World” LP

New Haven’s Mountain Movers have been a consistent source for mind expanding psych for well over a decade at this point and while their sound became a bit more refined around 2015, they’ve never lost their lust for caterwauling feedback. In fact, that “refinement” is a relative term, and we have no doubt that the band continues to get better with every release, case in point their latest effort, World What World. The record, out now on Trouble In Mind Records (FACS, Writhing Squares, Nightshift), is a full of screed of kaleidoscope wanderlust, as the duel guitars bleed in all directions, blistering with cracked distortion and a reckless syrupy abandon. It’s Crazy Horse music for a new generation, with enough unfurled chaos to delight the staunchest of acid heads and the song structures and melodic sensibilities for those that come for the home fried songwriting.

PSYCHIC GRAVEYARD | “Word Machine”

When you reach a certain pedigree in music, you’re allowed to relax. If your next album takes a bit longer than the traditional album cycle, no one cares, everyone will wait. The members of Rhode Island’s Psychic Graveyard have earned that veteran status, having played in bands that include Arab On Radar, Doomsday Student, All Leather, and Hot Nerds among others, but the idea of relaxing has never crossed their minds. Since forming in 2019 the band have released two full lengths, two EPs, and a string of collaborative singles, and they’ve got album number three, Veins Feel Strange on the way this Fall. The record’s first single “Word Machine” is nervy and claustrophobic, as synths and guitars bleed together with a sludgy disdain for melody against a mechanical rhythm that never flinches in the face of “bad circuitry.” It’s delightfully ugly and abrasive, which is business as usual.

SMILE MACHINE | “Shit Apple”

While Jordyn Blakely has served as an amazing drummer for a ton of groups (Sharkmuffin, Butter The Children, Maneka) and a collaborating songwriter in bands like Stove and Jackal Onasis, the time has finally come for her solo debut as Smile Machine. Set to release Bye For Now next month, these songs have long been in the works, waiting to come out, and the results are fully formed. There’s an incredible balance in Blakely’s songwriting, built on sweet melodies, towering lo-fi fuzz, and sincere songwriting that works through life’s difficult moments. Blown out and gloriously sludgy, there’s a confident power to it, with dreamy vocals peaking just through the layered guitars, adding brilliant hooks and sharpened harmonies that float above the carnage. We all know Blakely is a great drummer, but hot damn, she’s an incredible guitarist too, and this song rips through several blistering solos… again, that’s several blistering solos.

SWEET WILLIAMS | “What’s Wrong With You” LP

Here at Post-Trash we will continue to yell about how great Sweet Williams are until our dying day. It’s a band we should all be listening to and their new album What’s Wrong With You is as good a starting point as any. Out now via Gringo Records, the album is another perfect encapsulation of the minor chord sludge and rust scraping tonality that makes for the band’s tangled brand of droning punk. Based out of Zaragoza, Spain, Sweet Williams is the brainchild of Thomas House (Charlottefield), who can drag a melody through the mud for miles and still make the ugliest of distortion sound endlessly inviting. What’s Wrong With You is raw and abrasive but easily accessible, drawing a spiritual kinship with albums like Unwound’s Repetition or Hum’s Downward Is Heavenward, but will a decidedly more lo-fi English touch to it. The songs stretch like glue over bleak and arid atmospheres, swarming and clawing their way into our minds and our hearts.

WATER FROM YOUR EYES | “When You’re Around”

A large part of what makes Water From Your Eyes such an incredible band is their ability to combine disparate ideas and sounds into something you’ve never quite heard before yet is instantly enjoyable. The duo create experimental music that’s still rooted in pop, their sound warping and reshaping earworm melodies over repetitive electronics and programmed beats with ever transfixing results. Set to release their latest album, Structure, in August via Wharf Cat Records (Palberta, Holy Motors, Public Practice), the band shared lead single ‘"Quotations,”’ which captures a trip-hop beat and looped vocal samples to build its world. The record’s second single “When You’re Around” on the other hand, has them at their prog-pop best with broad keys and a wistful melody that could have been ripped from a classic ELO or Zombies record. It’s vividly dreamy and built around lush harmonies and Rachel Brown’s perfect AM gold vocal melody.

WITCH VOMIT | “Abhorrent Rapture” EP

While humor isn’t really a key factor in the relentless death metal genre, the over-the-top naming of bands, albums, and songs can only be taken so seriously.If you can’t laugh a bit at the absurdity of it all, it would seem you’re missing a piece of the puzzle… because just how much sincerity can put behind a name like Witch Vomit. That being said, the Portland band are not joking around with their new EP, Abhorrent Rapture, which rips with an impeccable brutality and a great deal of textural dissonance in just under twenty minutes. The riffs are crushing, the solos are violent, and the death metal grind simply flattens and demolishes all in its path. The only thing to chuckle about with this one is how damn great it is, a twisting and turning scourge through the bowels of hell with a demonic fury. It’s the nuances though that set it apart, with the occasional hard rhythmic shift and the ever bludgeoning guitars. It’s a disgusting release, which is to say, it’s everything they set out for.

Further Listening:

JUNE 07 - JUNE 13:

June 14 - June 20:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (June 7th - June 20th)