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.

EDITRIX | “Editrix II: Editrix Goes To Hell” LP

There’s absolutely nothing like an album that makes you excited about music’s existence, and Editrix II: Editrix Goes To Hell, the second album from Western MA trio Editrix, has me downright thrilled. Every member of the band - Wendy Eisenberg, Josh Daniel, and Steve Cameron - are incredible at their instruments, but it’s not so much what they do, but how they piece it all together, one astounding moment built on the next, interweaved with a connection rarely found. It’s evident on songs like “Gut Project,” “Hieroglyphics,” and “I Can Hear It,” where the focus moves from one member to the next, tangled together in harmony that’s both challenging and constantly rewarding. There’s a pull and balance to everything Editrix does, from changes in pitch and tempo, to general shifts from art punk to sludge and bubblegum hooks, it’s all so purposeful, with every deliberate decision informed by the grand design. Editrix Goes To Hell isn’t an album for passive listening, it’s claws sink deep and reward close listening, with progressions and nuances that range from reactions of “holy mole, this is incredible” to “my damn jaw is stuck on the floor”.

ERICA DAWN LYLE & VICE COOLER | “PS Forever“ (feat. Satomi Matsuzaki)

There are a lot of charity compilations that come and go, with great bands for great causes, but the music more often than not sits in your digital library, a collection by design, without much longevity. In terms of Land Trust: Benefit for NEFOC, an Indigenous and POC-led grassroots organization that seeks to connect POC farmers to land to grow healthy foods and medicines for their communities, Erica Dawn Lyle (Bikini Kill) and Vice Cooler (The Raincoats) have created more an album than a compilation, as the duo form the core of each song, with various guests featured on each track. The duo brought together both punk legends and some of today’s best, recruiting everyone from Kim Gordon, Kathleen Hanna, and Christina Billotte (Slant 6, Autoclave) to Palberta, Ali Carter (Control Top), and Rachel Aggs (Shopping, Trash Kit). The entire thing plays surprisingly cohesive, but “PS Forever,” the track led by Deerhoof’s Satomi Matsuzaki, is an undeniable stand-out, a song that plays to everyone’s strengths. The interpretive lyrics, written by Matsuzaki seem to address the feelings of aging, and the idea of remaining vibrant and untamed in the process. With Cooler on drums and Matsuzaki on bass, the pair groove through detached rhythms as Lyle weaves in, out, and around the beat, triumphantly bent and melodic.

HORSEGIRL | “Versions of Modern Performance” LP

You don’t have to buy into any of the narratives around Horsegirl and their meteoric rise to know that Versions of Modern Performance is one of the year’s best albums, you simply have to listen to it. The idea of a “guitar rock” savior is ridiculous (especially if you’re a regular Post-Trash reader) as rock music hardly needs saving, but if the mainstream is catching up with what the underground already knows, then we’re thrilled to see Horsegirl lead the way, a deserving band that writes songs well developed beyond their years. The Chicago trio have a deep understanding of their vision, a rich tapestry of post-punk, shoegaze, and “college rock” influences, peeled, stripped, and collapsed only to be reshaped and repurposed as it suits their songs and the very complete landscape of their debut album. The record is impeccably structured, with one great song washing into the next, as noise freakouts and segues bridge everything together. The band write what feel like pop songs, with little to no reliance on hooks, a fact that’s hard to believe on first listen, but becomes increasingly apparent. Horsegirl rarely rely on repetition, instead focusing emphasis on mesmerizing harmonies and melodies so thick they only need one pass to be memorable.

KAMIKAZE PALM TREE | “In The Sand”

Prior to this week I was sadly unfamiliar with Kamikaze Palm Tree, but it’s safe to say, having dug through their back catalog and new singles, I’m now fully enamored, and that’s the beauty of music. What’s strange and unknown to you one day, can be strange and beloved by you the next. Los Angeles duo Kamikaze Palm Strange’s music is definitely strange, but we mean that in the absolute best of ways, their sound is consistently disorienting, unnervingly sunny, and structured with constant guesswork of what might come next. Set to release their sophomore album, Mint Chip, via Drag City Records in August, the band remind me a bit of labelmates DRINKS, the duo of Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley, drawing upon the same mystifying and detached sort of noise pop lullabies, where quirky melodic touches are paired with glorious instrumentation, abrasive in essence but delivered in a way that sounds blissfully psychedelic. “In The Sand,” the album’s second single is built on marimba like percussion and a background of swirling vocals, a lush and unusual framework that suits the song to perfection. From their the duo layer the leads of carnival synths and hypnotic vocals, everything in its own place, piled up and adding to the strange glory.

VIAGRA BOYS | “Punk Rock Loser”

Whether Viagra Boys are your cup of tea or not, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that the Swedish band are having a great time. Since their earliest EPs when the band leaned closer to noise punk through to their upcoming album, Cave World (due out in July), it’s been clear that the band don’t take themselves, or much of anything, all too seriously. Street Worms, their 2018 breakout album, had been out for nearly a month before I listened to it, based on my disinterest in the band’s name, but as soon as you learn to stop taking everything so seriously, the magic of Viagra Boys becomes immediately encapsulating. They make funny songs without the music being a joke, as in, they’re a good band, who happen to have a vibrant sense of humor. Case in point, “Punk Rock Loser,” one of the band’s finer moments, utterly taking the piss out of self-serious punk rock culture. Over dance floor grooves and their normal cocaine fueled auditory grease, Sebastian Murphy gives a sardonic tale of debauchery, with a constant reminder that he “keeps things loose”. The Western video, directed by SNASK, is music video as high (low-brow) art, the perfect visualization fo the song’s “savage” fun.

Further Listening:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (May 30th - June 5th)