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.

DELIA MESHLIR | “Dirty Colors”

It’s been a good few weeks for artists influenced by PJ Harvey, which is to say it’s been a good few weeks for listeners as well. Delia Meshlir, hailing from Lausanne, Switzerland, definitely draws a good deal of inspiration from the legendary songwriter, but her full length debut, Calling The Unknown, goes beyond that spark, with songs both tense and brooding but also moments of graceful beauty with expansive synths and lush atmospherics. “Dirty Colors,” the third single from the record (due out March 18th via Ba Da Bing Records) is a prime example for the Harvey comparisons, and Meshlir is more than capable at filling those impossible expectations. The song seductively slinks and howls with sinister abandon, a perfect control on the vocals that snakes around the reverberating rhythm and the sludgy glow of the guitars.

JUST MUSTARD | “Still”

There’s a dark and murky din to the latest single from Dundalk, Ireland’s Just Mustard. The band, which has been buzzing on both sides the pond have announced their sophomore album, Heart Under, due out via Partisan Records on May 27th. Residing somewhere between post-punk and heavily manipulated electro-grunge (think Sneaker Pimps or even Portishead), “Still” sees the band build an atmosphere of dark tension and brooding menace, punctuated by the plodding bass and scrapes of distortion that cascade across the beat like bad vibes. The sense of terror is balanced by sweet but eerie vocals, affected by just the right amount of reverb to make them stretch and drift amid the dark carnage.

KING HANNAH | “I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me” LP

We missed the roll out on King Hannah’s new record, I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me, but now that it has arrived, the album has immediately caught our attention. There’s a great deal of 90’s influence at the core of the Liverpool duo’s music, drawing well deserved comparisons to both PJ Harvey and Portishead, thanks in part to it’s blunt lyrics but more so Hannah Merrick’s smokey vocals and the sonic landscape they choose to slink through. The album lurks in the shadows musically, but the vocals are clear and present, focused and determined. Piercing feedback is met with complex drum patterns, with stunning tone and songs that patiently work them selves into a frenzy. The duo balance acoustic tension with harrowing realism and breathy vocals (reminiscent of Goat Girl’s Clottie Cream) that seem to recall experiences of youth and the mental health struggles that comes with it.

NICHOLAS CRAVEN | “Craven N 3” LP

Montreal’s Nicholas Craven has carved out a place for himself among hip-hop’s modern producer elites. He’s produced gems for underground superstars like Mach-Hommy, Conway The Machine, Roc Marciano, and Billy Woods, and he’s recently been busy doing full album production for both Tha God Fahim and Your Old Droog. Craven N 3, the latest in his solo album series features cuts with Boldy James, ELUCID, Pink Siifu, Stove God Cooks, Droog, and beyond, bringing Craven’s signature relaxed soul looped charm to the production. The stoned chill is perfect for rappers who tend to be animated and all of these MCs fit that bill in one shape or another. “50 Wings,” the track with ELUCID may just be the highlight, a song that bends and grooves as the Armand Hammer MC raps circles around the backbeat.

PATTI | “On The Rice Continuum”

It’s been three years since Patti released Good Big, their debut full length via the finest of “egg punk” leaning record labels, Erste Theke Tontraeger. The years since have been strange ones for the world (you may have heard) but the Brooklyn based band returns this week with The Toothpick 3, a new record that seemingly embraces the strange. Due out on Propane Exchange (Chronophage, Staffers, Matt Norman), the record coincides with a month long US tour, including a stop in Austin for SXSW. “On The Rice Continuum” is the new album’s first single, a loose and ramshackle punk song that rips with a shuffling drum pattern and softly hypnotic vocal melodies. There are touches of krautrock and subdued power-pop, but as Patti swirl it all together, they create psychedelic punk that feels like it could contort at any moment.

RZA & DJ SCRATCH | “Fate Of The World”

There’s no doubt that RZA stays busy. The Wu-Tang founder and hip-hop legend has full blown “Hollywood,” making movies, TV shows, and music for decades. Film scores aside, it’s been fourteen years since his last solo album, Digi Snacks was released. That’s a long time without RZA’s particular lyrical flair and unique delivery, one that can be an acquired taste for some, but essential to any diehard Wu-Tang fan. There’s nothing quite like it. Saturday Afternoon Kung-Fu Theater is due out this week (baring any setbacks), a new record entirely produced by DJ Scratch. “Fate of the World,” the latest single loops a dusty soul beat and sharp snares as RZA attempts to unite the world together, reminding us all Wu-Tang is forever. His signature flow is in fine form as his spits mythology and lessons in expansive vocabulary.

SPRINGTIME | “The Names of the Plague”

“Supergroups” are clumsy, often built on washed up musicians coming together looking to cash in. Springtime ain’t no damn “supergroup,” at least not in that sense. The trio of musicians - Jim White (Dirty Three, Nina Nastasia), Gareth Liddiard (Tropical Fuck Storm, The Drones), and Chris Abrahams (The Necks) - have played in countless projects between them, each earning a legendary status that ranges from avant-garde to folk, free jazz to noise rock. As they demonstrated on last year’s self-titled debut, they are able to explore with ease, playing to each other’s strengths as musicians who instinctively hear and expand on ideas. They return with the sprawling Night Raver EP, a set of three songs, two of which stretch past the fifteen minute mark. This may be treated as an interstitial release, but it’s among the best music we’ve heard all year. “The Names of the Plague,” is radiant with depth, as each member adds their own sonic touchstones, free in composition but glued together with a clear sense of purpose and resolve. It’s astounding and worth every last second.

THA GOD FAHIM & DUS | “One Thousand and One Nights” EP

Tha God Fahim is prolific to the point that when a few months go by without a new record, I start to wonder if everything is alright. Having released his latest collaborative album with Your Old Droog at the end of January, the Dump Gawd didn’t keep us waiting long for One Thousand and One Nights, a brand new EP together with New Jersey based producer DUS. Much like Nicholas Craven and Fahim’s own beats, they feel tailor made for Fahim’s flow. Tha God Fahim seems to be in an inspiration mood throughout, lacing each track with his sage wisdom, evident on “Sunday Morning Paper,” with a hook that recalls “Git Up, Git Out” as Fahim raps “Live, love, and learn, make the most outta what you got / Gotta go and earn, that's gonna get you to the top spot / If you wait your turn, your time gonna come / Stand on it firm and shine like sun.”

THE WEB OF LIES | “Nude With Demon” LP

The Web of Lies is a duo comprised of Neil Robinson (Buffet Lunch) and Edwin Stevens (Irma Vep). With their debut album, Nude With Demon, the pair have created a brilliant record of hard pressed psych, vast droning repetition, and vocals that are often loosely doubled. There’s a dense and sour quality to it, with one foot in noise rock and another in jangle pop, the mix of which is both radiantly hypnotic and sludgy. Having introduced themselves to the world with lead single “Receiver” (and instantly selling out all the label’s copies of the vinyl), we were hooked from the sheer power, primal distortion, and relative breeze of the vocals. It’s a masterful opening statement to a record that retains a similar dynamic throughout, but with plenty of turns and bruises. Songs get slower and heavier. Songs get more agitated and raw. There’s noise, there’s krautrock, and everything they do works with their hazy bad-trip formula.

WIDOWSPEAK | “The Jacket”

Widowspeak have never released an album less than “pretty damn good,” but 2020’s Plum stood among their best work yet, and if the singles are anything to go by, their upcoming album, The Jacket, seems to be another high-water mark for the duo. The album’s title track is the record’s third single, and while the concept of the record may have gone a bit over my head, the resonance in the music hits all the same. With acoustic guitars that echo and fade like passing clouds, the whole song feels adrift in the fog, colors being painted in patchwork. Widowspeak’s signature twang is there, but rather than leading the composition, it’s an accent upon the layers of sustained warble, the perfect accompaniment to Molly Hamilton’s always perfectly dreamy vocals.

Further Listening:

february 14 - february 20:

february 21 - february 27:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (February 14th - February 27th)