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.
CATE LE BON | “Remembering Me”
One of the truly great auteurs of our generation, Cate Le Bon has continuously changed shape over the years, while retaining her signature charms and inflections that make her music so captivating. With three singles to date from her upcoming LP, Pompeii (due out February 4th via Mexican Summer), the Welsh polymath continues to warp the synth-pop tinged art pop of 2019’s Reward, bending it in lovelorn yet quirky disco-tinged shapes. It’s Cate Le Bon as only Cate Le Bon can do. “Remembering Me,” the latest single, is the best one yet, a song with a mutant pop groove, careening synths, and a silky vocal performance full of the nuance and lilting melodies that set her apart from the rest. The hook hits especially hard as Le Bon deadpans “upset and out of touch / good grief, you missed so much.”
ERIN RAE | “Cosmic Sigh”
Nashville’s Erin Rae is set to release her sophomore album Lighten Up on February 4th via Good Memory / Thirty Tigers, a stunning blend of soft focus psych, easy country, and that early 70’s Laurel Canyon folk sound. With four singles out in the world, you can get a good sense for her songwriting, both dreamy and cinematic, with sweeping gestures and sparse piano that resonates with every key hit. “Cosmic Sigh” is our latest preview of Rae’s beautiful album, the gentle centerpiece that twinkles with hometown charm and the titular ‘cosmic sigh’. With a minimalist arrangement, Erin Rae sets the scene, pulling us into her narrative as delicate strings begin to swell. The whole thing opens up with a graceful progression, keeping in tune with all that came before but adding shuffling drums and an inescapable lushness.
PILE | “Rope’s Length + My Employer”
Last year Pile released Songs Known Together, Alone, a triumphant album that found Rick Maguire going it solo, reimagining songs from the band’s discography with a newfound tranquility. It’s a testament to the magic of seeing Maguire perform solo but also to his songwriting that each of the songs welcome such adaptability. It’s a record that feels like a companion to seeing them performed live and as luck will have it, Rick Maguire just announced a set of US dates from late February through April. In celebration of the tour announcement comes the video for “Rope’s Length + My Employer,” one of the record’s stand-out moments. The Songs Known… version of the tracks are meditative in structure yet still dissonant, pulled and reshaped, distant but immediate. It’s an exploration of space and rebuilding.
TOMATO FLOWER | “World To Come”
Gold Arc is the experimental pop-meets-art rock debut from Baltimore’s Tomato Flower, a great new band that you ought to know. Set for release on February 11th via Ramp Local, the band sound fully formed from the get-go, an impressive accomplishment when fusing together the accessible with an avant-garde pop mentality. Their sound is psychedelic and dreamy with a penchant for explosive entanglements and earnest melodies, sounding like a pulpy blend of contemporaries Crumb, Palm, and maybe even the occasional hint of Empath or Lomelda. Tomato Flower are painting with a wide array of colors and textures, never transfixed on the same ideas for too long as they introduce all that lies ahead. “World To Come" is a jazzy jaunt of exploratory psych. The song slinks between enormous harmonies and dynamic rhythms, naturally expanding and contracted without much warning.
WINGED WHEEL | “Monsella”
Winged Wheel is a new band with some familiar faces - Cory Plump (Spray Paint, Rider/Horse), Whitney Johnson (Matchess), Fred Thomas (Idle Ray, Tyvek), and Matthew Rolin (Powers/Rolin Duo) - bringing a diverse musical sensibility to their latest project. The result is No Island, the band’s debut album, out April 29th via 12XU (Borzoi, Florry, Lewsberg), a propulsive blend of krautrock, kosmische, and punk that feels both free and focused. They may have recorded it apart from one another but they’ve pulled everything together seamlessly. “Monsella,” the album’s opener and first single is a wonderful introduction, with Fred Thomas’ drums hard and fast at the core of it all. The looping rhythm is kinetic, piecing together an unwavering energy while the guitars and bass are set free to explore, and they do.
Further Listening:
ALLEGRA KRIEGER “Taking It In” | ANGEL OLSEN “Something On Your Mind” (Karen Dalton cover) | BATTLE AVE “Leo” (feat. Laura Stevenson) + “Maya” | BEDBUG “Songs About Ghosts” | BUKE AND GASE & RAHRAH GABOR “Taste Up” | CLOAKROOM “Fear of Being Fixed” | DARTO “Fundamental and Slyme“ | ED SCHRADER’S MUSIC BEAT “This Thirst” + “Berliner” | EMPATH “Passing Stranger” | FORCE MODEL “Security Theater” | GUERILLA TOSS “Cannibal Capital” | JOEY BADA$$ “The Rev3nge” | LADY PILLS “What I Want” | MITSKI “Love Me More” | MONO “Scarlet Holliday” | MYTHLESS “Dreadless” | PARQUET COURTS “Watching Strangers Smile” | PARTNER LOOK “Right Here” | PAVEMENT “Be The Hook” | PJ HARVEY “The Wheel” (Demo) | PRIMITIVE MAN “Audiotree Live” | PRINT HEAD “In Motion” EP | ROBERT GLASPER “Black Superhero” (feat. Killer Mike, Big K.R.I.T., & BJ The Chicago Kid) | SILVERBACKS “A Job Worth Something” | SOUL GLO “Jump!! (Or Get Jumped!!!) ((by the future))” | THE SOUNDCARRIERS “At The Time” | SUN JUNE “Reminded” | TRUPA TRUPA “Uniforms” | YOUNG PRISMS “Honeydew”