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.

ASTREL K | “Flickering i” LP

There’s dissociation lurking around every corner on Astrel K’s debut album Flickering i. The solo project of Ulrika Spacek’s Rhys Edwards follows a period where the musician relocated to Stockholm and worked to record at night in an empty practice space. The results are pulled from the dazzling outer reaches of cosmic psych pop, with each song pulling you into it’s own disorienting bliss. The record is beautifully composed, with layered synths, warm strings, and the perfect fuzz captured in production. Released via Stereolab’s own Duophonic Records, the similarities between Astrel K’s songwriting and that of Stereolab’s are apparent, but there’s a unique sense of soul to be found under the punchy drums and sweeping melodies of Astrel K. From early singles like the slinky “Is It It Or Is It I?” and and the warped swoon of “You Could If You Can” to the detached and bubbling “Clicktivism” and spaced out voyage of “Forwardmomentum,” Astrel K keep us floating captivated in their own lush stratosphere, free of this world, and into the next. By the time we’ve reached the title track, dissociation has fully set in, as Edwards cements it with “are you here? because I’m not.”

BORZOI | “Passing”

Back in the Fall of 2018, Borzoi released A Prayer For War, an absolute masterpiece of an album. If you haven’t heard it, stop what you’re doing and listen to it. If you have already heard it (know it, love it), you already know to stop what you’re doing and listen to it. It’s sort of a game changer, a sordid noise rock/art-punk onslaught that truly doesn’t sound like anyone else. Well, it’s been four years since and we’re eagerly awaiting the band’s follow-up. While there’s no specific word of when a new album will be ready, the band are sharing new stand-alone single “Passing”. The Austin based trio remain in a league of their own on the belligerently wonderful new song, with the kind of seasick groove that fuels so much of the band’s miraculous live sets and a compressed anxiety that erupts and melts all in its path. It’s firmly in the red, blown out and willfully abrasive, but the off-kilter swing and howling vocals pull it all together. It’s another gem from a band that’s full of gems.

DAN FRANCIA | “You Never Know” LP

It’s generally safe to say that you can expect the unexpected when it comes to Dan Francia’s music. He’s played with a wide range of bands, from Flagland and Stove to The Feelies and gobbinjr, but his creative impulses are best caught in his solo music. Over the years he’s bounced between avant-garde pop, impromptu jazz, indie rock, and sparse solo bass records, bringing his sense of vision into each project and despite all odds, giving his catalog an impressive cohesion. Following 2020’s improvisational album Dust, which found Francia prompting a group of fifteen musicians and non-musicians alike, he returns with You Never Know, his latest solo album. Joined by Adam Reich, Amar Lal, and a cast of guest collaborators, the primarily instrumental record dips its toes into celestial jazz, proggy minimalism, fuzzy art rock, and gorgeous soundscapes that capture the depth of Francia’s bass playing and his knack for creative arrangements.

HELVETIA | “Gladness II / Unreleased 4-Track Recordings 2001-2006” LP

The Helvetia archives appear to be an endless treasure trove of amazing home-records. If you’ve ever listened to any of Jason Albertini’s records, this makes complete sense, and he’s proven once that his scraps are better than most band’s finished works. Having already released the massive Gladness collection back in 2010, a set of non-album songs recorded from 2001-2006, he’s dipped back into the era with Gladness II, another twenty songs and two hours of music from the same timeframe (not to mention he released another two hours of home recordings back in March). You might think we’ve heard everything worth hearing at this point, and you’d be wrong, damn wrong. Gladness II is incredible late night listening, with the radiant glow and warble that feels so unique to Albertini’s songs. It’s captivating and fully realized, adrift from reality but rooted in real emotion, however buried or warped it may be. Turn this one up and zone out.

LAWN | “Down”

Some bands just do it better than others. There’s no shortage of jangly post-punk bands in the Flying Nun school of sound, but few make music as radiant and consistently engaging (read as: never boring) as New Orleans’ Lawn. While their sound is definitely rooted in the bright colors and semi-muted energy of the jangle punk greats, their knack for songwriting has a wide range of depth, always revealing nuances with repeat listens. Bigger Sprout, their upcoming album out July 15th via the great Born Yesterday Records (Caution, Spirits Having Fun, Mesh), is a current bookend for the band, the record split between new music and a newly remastered version of their debut EP, Big Sprout. Separated by six years and several releases between them, it captures Lawn in transition, but also highlights how dialed in they were from the start. “Down,” a brand new track that looks back on adolescence and youthful choices, while not so far removed from it, weaves melodies together. They song steadily progresses from one earworm hook to another, always jangling, but never stagnant.

PET FOX | “Checked Out”

Boston’s Pet Fox are set to release their third full length, A Face In Your Life, on June 17th, the follow up to last year’s all too brief More Than Anything EP. While those songs definitely whet our appetite and left us wanting more, the band have never sounded better than they do on their upcoming album, engineered by Ethan Dussault and mixed by Seth Engel. It captures the band’s pristine balance of art pop and post-punk influences, mixing together soft melodies with intricate structures and complex rhythms that never feel overly intricate and complex, a magic trick that’s hard to pull off. The trio of Theo Hartlett, Morgan Luzzi, and Jesse Weiss, who between them you may know from Ovlov, Grass Is Green, and beyond, have a special shared chemistry, as evident on “Checked Out,” the record’s lead single. The song has a knotted rhythm (hats off to Weiss who really goes in) and a tangled progression but everything sounds smooth as eggs.

SHILPA RAY | “Portrait of a Lady” LP

I know I’ve said it before and I know I’ll say it again, but Shilpa Ray is one of the best songwriters of our generation. There’s an observational wisdom to her words, a poetic sensibility that examines life, often at its ugliest. The strength of her voice is unmatched, setting tone and disdain in place, whether over dreamy pianos and synths or hard driving punk. Portrait of a Lady is an essential album, one that explores sexual bass, horrific male behavior in the age of Trump, and coming out as a survivor on top. In the same way that Door Girl took a personal approach to paint a picture of New City’s lows, Portrait of Lady does so in regards to the shit women have to deal with and the nature of entitled scummy men. The scope of the songs is ever changing, a gift that Shilpa Ray possesses better than most, moving between ballads (“Heteronormative Horseshit Blues”), noise rock rippers (“Manic Pixie Dream Cunt”), and 80’s tinged post-punk (“Lawsuits & Suicide”). All the pieces fall into place, and the mix of harsh and surreal feels intentional, shaping life as we know it, for better or, more likely, for worse.

SPACEMOTH | “Pipe and Pistol“ + “This Shit“

We’re living in good times for people who like bands that are influenced by Broadcast and Stereolab, as the past few years have proven there’s still lots to explore in the retro-futuristic noise-pop lounge world. The Bay Area’s Spacemoth is a shining example, the solo project of engineer, musician, and synth-pop extraordinaire Maryam Qudus. After a few self released singles, Spacemoth has announced her full length debut, No Past No Future, due out this July via Wax Nine/Carpark Records (Melkbelly, Sad13, Johanna Warren). The space-age pop is built on layers of analog synths and warm production, offering a thick glow on lead singles “This Shit” and “Pipe and Pistol”. There’s a hypnotic sense to both of the songs, but it’s more than mere-motorik rhythms, it’s the swirling blend of textures and the mix of synths pulled together with crackling distortion and colorful arrangements that make each song pop in the best of ways.

STEVE HARTLETT | “1/2” LP

Following last year’s Waste of Water album (and a subsequent Ovlov record), Steve Hartlett is sharing a new home-recording solo album, 1/2. Released just in time for Bandcamp Friday, but still very much available on every other day, the record has a unique lo-fi charm to it, with walls of fuzzy guitars, and experimental programmed rhythms, all lending itself to warm shoegaze sound of the album. Hartlett builds between swarms of guitar distortion, bells, acoustic guitars, and clacking beats, peeling back at times, and enveloping at others. The album doesn’t feel overly fussy, and it’s another great glimpse into the naturally addictive songwriting that endears all of Hartlett’s music. It’s harsh yet beautiful, like settling into bliss by trudging through turmoil. Even at it’s most piercing, every wash of feedback is in favor of the melody, building texture to color the bedroom pop charm of the songs.

UNDO K FROM HOT | “Remnants Of Chris”

We’re long overdue to discuss Undo K From Hot, the trio of Zach Hill (Hella, The I.L.Ys, Death Grips), Nick Reinhart (Tera Melos, Disheveled Cuss, Big Walnuts Yonder), and Robby Moncrieff (The Advantage). The band, whose collective catalog stands unmatched in sonic destruction and brash creativity, hardly need any introduction beyond the member’s good names, and last year’s debut was released as such, with no big press push or label involvement. For everyone that misses the chaotic flurry of Hill’s solo records and Reinhart and Hill’s duo Bygones, this one is for you. While Undo K From Hot doesn’t necessarily sound like the record’s that have come before, it does pick up a spiritual kind of clusterfuck depravity, in the best of ways. Undo K From Hot is electronic mayhem, built by musicians that understand the implications of their experimentation. Their latest single, “Remnants of Chris” is brutally detached and aggressive, with manipulated vocals bleeding all over wildly distorted guitars and rhythms that collapse and expand without warning. It’s heavy, brilliant, and weird, exactly as we hoped it might be.

Further Listening:

April 25 - may 01:

may 02 - may 08:

700 BLISS “Bless Grips” } THE AFGHAN WHIGS “The Getaway” | ALEXALONE “Rainbow” (Boris cover) | ANNE MALIN “Pink Blur” | ATARAXY “Decline” | BERATOR “Onslaught to Absolution” | BOLDY JAMES & REAL BAD MAN “All The Way Out” | BORIS + ENDON “Eros” EP | CAL FISH “Aglet” (feat. Lucia Arias) | CANDY “Human Condition Above Human Opinion” | CHRONOPHAGE “Summer To Fall” | COLA “Degree” | CROWS “Closer Still” | DION LUNADON “It’s The Truth” | ELCAMINO “Better Than Love” (feat. Curren$y) | ELF POWER “Artificial Countrysides” | ERICA DAWN LYLE & VICE COOLER “Mirrorball” (feat. Kathleen Hanna) | FLORIST “Spring In Hours” | GRASS JAW “Circles” | GUIDED BY VOICES “Unproductive Funk” | HAUNTED HORSES “Pig” | HOMEWORK CLUB “Oleander“ | HOVVDY “Hide” | JACKSON REID BRIGGS “Expectation” | KAMIKAZE NURSE “Come From Wood” | KENDRICK LAMAR “The Heart Part 5” | MACH-HOMMY “Dump Gawd: Triz Nate” EP | METHOD MAN “Come Get Some” (feat. Intel & Pxwer) | METHOD MAN “Meth Lab Season 3: The Rehab” LP | NINE OF SWORDS “The Pavement” | OTOBOKE BEAVER “I Don’t’ Want To Die Alone” | PANTHER HOLLOW “Julia” | PARLOR WALLS “Belly Up“ EP | PHRENELITH “An Irate Force Descends Upon The Unchaste World” | PINK MOUNTAINTOPS “Nikki Go Sudden” | PORRIDGE RADIO “End of Last Year” | PRISON AFFAIR “Demo 3” EP | RAZOR BRAIDS "Kellogg's" | RED PANTS “In The Passing Time” | SPEEDY ORTIZ “Theme From Ghost Church” | SPREAD JOY “Dry” | STILL/FORM “Loyal, Like Dogs“ | TAN COLOGNE “Topaz Wave” | THIS IS LORELEI “Thirty Minute Sketch” | TIJUANA PANTHERS “False Equivalent” | UNDERGANG “Øjne På Stilke” | VARIOUS ARTISTS “Totally Real Records presents Another Distance To Fall: A Tribute to Sebadoh” LP