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.

BIG MESS | “Caoutchouteuse"

To come across the heavy thud and dissonant groove of Big Mess’ instrumental wreckage is to fall in love with the band, but it’s been seven long years since their last release (a split with New Hampshire’s Black Norse) and nearly a decade since their last full length. Big Mess come roaring back to life on Heroic Captains of Industry, a new full length album due out on January 1st. “Caoutchouteuse," the record’s first single is a shimmering example of their spacial focus, a song that moves at a slow-pulled pace, opting for seasick progressions and the juxtaposition of sludge and open air freedom. As the dust begins to settle, the avalanche comes toppling over. Rather than a post-rock informed crescendo though, Big Mess pull back and peel at the seams, the course a spiral rather than a straight path. It’s bruising but vivid and then just when you least expect it… there’s a heavenly vocal and twangy guitar lead that come floating out the tangled chaos.

CZARFACE | “Czartificial Intelligence” LP

This year marks a decade of Czarface, the trio comprised of MCs Inspectah Deck and Esoteric and producer 7L. In that time, the group’s indulgent comic book indebted hip-hop has been running at turbo speed, with an endless cavalcade of albums and collaborations. Czartificial Intelligence, their ninth full length is business as usual. Czarface aren’t rewriting the script so much as they are offering the next chapter, and ain’t a damn thing changed. Deck and Esoteric are still trading verses with a love for hip-hop and the culture at its core, bars bruising amid quick jabs and 7L’s sample and scratch heavy production. Inspectah Deck’s flow never falters, his effortless delivery marked with punchlines and the braggadocios stunting of an elder statesman (he does mention back pain on back-to-back songs) while Esoteric drops dizzying references to pop culture, his sense of humor and love for family always in high spirits. It’s old school rap music free of pretension, the pure sound of MCing bumping out the speakers without a care in the world.

LILY SEABIRD | “Cavity”

With her second album, Alas, due out next month, Burlington, Vermont’s Lily Seabird has been slowly introducing the record since September, having released both “Grace” and “Dirge,” a pair of patient songs that split the difference between soft grunge indebted pop and sludgy folk music. The songs unfold in time, never revealing themselves as they unfold. “Cavity,” Seabird’s latest single could just be the best we’ve heard yet, a gentle folk song with an introduction nearly reminiscent of Aldous Harding, that is until it begins to spiral. It’s a song that reflects on feeling better alone than in a lopsided relationship, one that might be hard to leave, but ultimately would be better. As that realization clicks, the song’s cool melodies are met with static saxophone, detached piano (courtesy of Greg Freeman), and warped guitar fuzz that does it’s best to throw the beauty of the song off the rails.

RECIPROCATE | “Soul To Burn” LP

Soul To Burn definitely lends itself to the “hearing is believing” adage. Out December 15th via Gringo Records, the band have dubbed the album’s sound as “alternative soul rock ‘n’ roll,” a description that feels oddly apt but could be misleading. The soul of Reciprocate’s music is palpable, but more so in the songwriting itself than the actual sound. They’re playing with a joyous sort of freedom, painting in vibrant colors with a feeling of peace amid the chaos. Stef Kett and Henri Grime have spent the past fifteen years creating music that pushes boundaries - first with Shield Your Eyes and now as Reciprocate (together with Marion Andrau) - experimenting with post-hardcore, prog rock, volcanic lo-fi, and blues in a way that’s equal parts astounding and raw. Soul To Burn is a wild ride of high voltage rock ‘n’ roll grooves and swaggering hooks, but it’s also inherently complex, the sound in a constant state of contortion. The songs are accessible from first glance but augmented with dissonant vibrations and riotous rhythmic shifts.

STRESS POSITIONS | “Hand To Mouth”

We’re less than a week away from Stress Positions’ new album Harsh Reality, their first for Three One G Records (Fuck Money, Squid Pisser, Planet B). The Chicago hardcore band that formed from the ashes of the great C.H.E.W. remain one of the country’s most exciting punk bands, their sound soaked in feverish feedback and blistering rhythms, like a bulldozer gone haywire in a crowded mall. There’s stream coming off the chainsaw like riffs, at times psychedelic and othertimes crusty, Stress Positions offer destruction with deliberate textures and furious rage. Stephanie Brooks’ vocals lead the way, playing conductor to the onslaught, a commanding and harsh compliment to the abrasive approach of their avalanche-in-progress songwriting. “Hand To Mouth” is a tornado of a single, every member of the band swinging for the fences in a frenzy of scrapping riffs and pounding drums, all entangled with touches of psych dissonance and jazzy shifts in time. Brooks laments on inequality of life and the struggles of living day to day. Stress Positions make hardcore for the people, and Harsh Reality is a beacon for the “huddled” masses.

Further Listening:

NOVEMBER 20 - NOVEMBER 26:

NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 03:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (November 20th - December 3rd)