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.

We’re going to continue to do this a bit different this week as we’re running behind on this column. Consider this the “lightning round,” where everything is twice as fast and twice as fun. There’s been a lot of amazing music over the past week, so don’t take our abbreviated blurbs as a sign of anything other than us just getting behind on our responsibility to bring you the best new music.

CRAVEN IDOL | “Forked Tongues” LP

There’s an unholy amount of evil carnage to Craven Idol’s third full length, Forked Tongues, a ritualistic shred fest that pulls from thrash, black metal, and the occasional death metal influence. Released via Dark Descent (Blood Incantation, Undergang, Spectral Voice), the London based band tear away at full speed, decimating with an unreal sense of urgency, a constant avalanche of riffs and blast beats. By the end of the album the band have moved beyond the traditional and into unique territory, thrashing over expanded structures that twist and turn with fiery depravity.

DEERHOOF | “Department of Corrections”

If there’s one consistent source of joy in the world it’s that we’re never too far between Deerhoof albums. The band crushed 2020 with a great new album, a great live album, and a great “covers” record unlike anything else, and now they’re back with their latest full length Actually, You Can, due out October 22nd. If “Department of Corrections” is anything to go by, this could be a boisterous one. The opening riff could almost be classic rock… or at least what classic rock sounds like in the fractured world of Deerhoof’s complex rhythms and shifting time signatures.

DUMMY | “Daffodils”

Dummy have distilled the sound of their EPs down to perfection, creating the type of instant classic that comes from a clear vision and impeccable chemistry. The band float in and out of the void, blending together a wide eyed lens of dream pop, krautrock, shoegaze, space-age jazz, and the hazier edges of psych punk to create something with obvious touchstones in a vibrant new light. “Daffodils” finds Dummy at their most immediate, riding an urgent textural wave, thick in tone with a blanket of whirring synths and guitars that swarm with forward momentum.

FAKE FRUIT | “I Am The Car”

Having already released one of the year’s best records, Fake Fruit, are keeping the momentum going with a new single via Fire Talk’s new singles label, Open Tab. The song takes a softer edge than most of the band’s self-titled effort, as Hannah D'Amato drifts over mesmerizing dreamy verses and a massive chorus. It’s another strong argument as to why they are one of the year’s best new bands and it shows an added dimension of their sound, keeping with the combustible punk but blurring the lines with brilliant ease as they come ripping into the song’s crescendo.

FULL OF HELL | “Industrial Messiah Complex”

There’s a special kind of fury that envelops all Full of Hell records, one that is unique to them, and unafraid to take risks that always seem to reward. The band are getting ready to release their next full length, Garden of Burning Apparitions, and they’re continuing to expand their extreme metal assault with noise rock bile, shifting focus and production techniques to work with their sludgy carnage. “Industrial Messiah Complex” is abrasive and dynamic, a rush of violent noise and disgusted tension that filters out of focus and back again. It’s full of texture and inescapable density, where primal and technical come together.

LA LUZ | “Watching Cartoons” (feat. Adrian Younge)

Following the release of “In The Country,” La Luz announced their next full length, a self-titled album due out in October via Hardly Art, produced by Adrian Younge. While Younge has made his career working with artists like Ghostface Killah, The Delfonics, and his Jazz Is Dead label, his silky soul-tinged production makes a lot of sense with the reverberating surf pop that La Luz specialize in. “Watching Cartoons” brings a tinge of funk and soul from Younge’s catalog and mixes perfectly with La Luz’s sun-faded psych, still rich in captivating harmonies and lulling hooks.

LE PAIN | “Troisième Groupe”

Los Angeles’ Le Pain are a new band formed by sisters Olivia Babuka Black and Madeline Babuka Black (formerly of Yucky Duster), together with Scott Rosenthal. Their first single, “Troisième Groupe” is a stunning introduction to their sound, one seemingly rooted in French dream pop, recalling the brilliance and sweetness of Alvvays with it’s fuzzy production and impeccable knack for earworm hooks. There’s a power-pop edge to their pop, with jangly guitars, tight drums, and chiming keys lending the framework for the band’s heavenly ye-ye harmonies.

LUMP | “Animal” LP

I’m very late to the LUMP party, but their sophomore album, Animal, has me transfixed and listening on repeat. The London based duo of Laura Marling and Mike Lindsay (Tunng) come together to create music outside of their main projects, instead adopting space-age indie soul and deeply grooving dream pop with high gloss production that actually works its pop sheen magic. It’s psychedelic at its core but its not far from dance music, pop, krautrock, or the retro-futuristic realm. The duo swirl together sincere songwriting with electronic elements and analog fuzz to create a refreshingly bright mix of experimental pop.

LYSOL | “Soup For My Family” LP

The Seattle punk band give us that “fuck it all” release we so desperately need from time to time (most of the time). The album is raw and unfiltered, ripping with paint peeling riffs and furious rhythms that pound with a primitive garage punk intensity. LYSOL’s sound blends hardcore, punk, and garage into something that feels fun and destructive, discordant at times and generally fed up with the bullshit. There’s not a moment wasted as they set tone and chaos with avalanches of guitars that crash headfirst into their stomping rhythmic density.

MAITA | “The Road”

My introduction to MAITA came earlier this year when the Portland musician released an excellent cover of Nirvana’s “Dumb,” a song that was faithful to the original while peering into Maria Maita Keppeler’s own sound. Two months later and MAITA return with a new stand-alone single, “The Road,” a lulling song about life on tour, one that mixes down tuned folk with memories of rest stops, drink tickets, and chatting with strangers. There’s a sinewy melody that wraps itself around the monotony, the song building in tension but retaining its cool. The intensity ramps up but the song remains beautiful, a life spent in repeat while doing something meaningful.

MISTER GOBLIN | “Left Before Your Set”

We’re always going on and on about Mister Goblin’s gift for songwriting, something Sam Goblin has been perfecting over the years (as both Mister Goblin and prior with Two Inch Astronaut). With his latest single, “Left Before Your Set,” there’s a hard shift in the recent Mister Goblin songwriting. The song is hilarious, featuring a lengthy list of excuses to give a band as to why you didn’t see them play, and then it just comes out with it, Mister Goblin shares how he’s really feeling. While the project has been primarily acoustic at its core, this one is a ripper, a potential sign of whats to come from the band’s future.

PINK SIIFU | “GUMBO’!” LP

Following two great collaborative releases with Fly Anakin and last year’s punk/noise rap extravaganza, NEGRO, Pink Siifu returns with his latest full length, GUMBO’!, a record that radiates “feeling” and a cosmic spirituality as decadent as they come. Taking influence from the legendary Dungeon Family (always a great idea), Siifu slides and contorts from track to track with a rich atmosphere that feels both welcoming and triumphantly alien. It’s a mix of soul, funk, jazz, and of course hip-hop, and Pink Siifu transcends it all to create something rich and freeform. If the appearances of Big Rube and Georgia Anne Muldrow are anything to go by, this one is a cerebral listen, a vision from beyond this reality.

SOLEMN BRIGHAM | “Keep The Hope”

Over the past three years Solemn Brigham has become known for his chameleon flow as one half of Marlowe, his duo with producer L’Orange. The North Carolina natives worked together, introducing the world to Brigham’s charismatic delivery and lyrical gymnastics. After a pair of Marlowe records, Brigham steps out on his own for South Sinner Street, his much anticipated solo debut. “Keep The Hope,” produced by Krum, finds Brigham doing what he does best, riding a casual beat and moving it forward with a flow that’s forever adapting, approaching the beat in every direction.

STUCK | “City of Police”

Change Is Bad, Stuck’s full length debut, was easily one of our favorite records of 2020, a sort of reimagined post-punk that drew on noise rock and post-hardcore to create tension within its otherwise steely disposition. The band return this month with Content That Makes You Feel Good, a new EP that picks up where they left off with an increased intensity and sarcastic animosity, brought to life against the police, Spotify, and the evil that lurks as being helpful. “City of Police” is discordant and darting, with an attack built on unpredictability. It’s a biting statement about the futility of the law enforcement and their inept idea of right vs wrong.

TUNIC | “Fake Interest”

Set to release their second full length in October via Artoffact Records (Cloud Rat, Bootblacks, The Foreign Resort), Winnipeg’s Tunic sound as wonderfully destructive as ever on the record’s second single, “Fake Interest.” The noise rock duo opens the song with a deep dirge of low end and erupts with atonal riffs from there, piercing through the clutter and rattling with primal intensity. The band drop in and out of the sensory overload attack, pulling out the floor just to bring it crashing down once again.

Further Listening:

JULY 19 - JULY 25:

JULY 26 - AUGUST 01:

AUGUST 02 - AUGUST 08:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (July 19th - August 8th)