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.

CEL RAY | “Cellular Raymond” LP

I was immediately hooked from the moment I heard Cel Ray’s debut single, “Surf’s Up (Garfield Park),” a springy art-punk song with boundless energy. With an impressively coiled rhythm section that reminds of The Uranium Club, the Chicago band’s propulsive riffs and Maddie Daviss’ animated vocal performance are given room to unfurl with exuberant freedom. The band’s debut album, Cellular Raymond, not only has one of the best titles we can imagine, it’s also boundlessly fun, explosive, and tightly punchy. The rhythms sprint with taut perfection, locked in at warp speed, layering a dense framework for the radiant cleanliness of the guitar’s attack and Daviss’ always captivating performance. There’s a vivid sense of humor balanced by a state of urgency that runs throughout. It would seem Cel Ray had a great time making this record, and it’s near impossible not to have a great time listening to it. Having recently played with Spread Joy and Stress Positions and upcoming shows together with Liquids, Choncy, and Abi Ooze, Cel Ray find themselves in great company, and we expect to hear a lot more from them in the years to come.

GOO | “Outlaw”

Goo’s music, while undeniably beautiful, has the ability to shake you to the core in composition alone. The Beck Zegans led band are set to self-release their second album, Squid Ink Sky, in June 7th, a collection of slow dripped psych folk and wide open expanses. The songs take their time to draw upon moonlight ambiance amid whispered croons, gentle acoustics, sweeping melodies, and subtle twang. “Outlaw” is a noir tale of life and love on the run in avoidance of emotional connection. This is the more upbeat side of Goo, shuffling into place with a jaunty rhythm, warm keys, and serene guitars providing a beautiful complement to the stretched and pulled resonance of the pedal steel. The band shimmer in the song’s vast landscape, adding a real sense of depth to the careful construction. At the heart of it all is Zegans’ voice, twisting in the emphasis with each repeat of the phrase of “my honey,” offering the sense of personal loss and forlorn understanding on lines like “home isn’t safe for everyone, my honey’s on the run forever.”

GRACIEHORSE | “What I’m Missing”

While best known as a founding member of Boston’s much loved Fat Creeps, Gracie Jackson has remained active over the years since moving to Los Angeles, releasing solo records (as Gracie) and contributing to records from Color Green, Jonny Kosmo, and others. With her latest single, “What I’m Missing,” out now via Wharf Cat Records (Dougie Poole, Bush Tetras, Macula Dog), Jackson offers a stunning alt-country introduction to her latest project, GracieHorse. The truly immaculate song (which at times reminds us of Julia Jacklin) is led by acoustic guitars, gorgeous pedal steel, and a soft but nuanced rhythm section, is full of swooning character, setting tone and atmosphere for GracieHorse’s gorgeous vocals. Her voice is low and smokey, full of dreamy elegance and expressive west coast mystique, embracing her new surroundings, balancing twangy inflections with layered harmonies. The lyrics explore a desolate tale of loneliness stirred from a cross country move just ahead of a world wide pandemic. It’s longing for fun times and familiar faces.

MEYHEM LAUREN, DJ MUGGS, & MADLIB | “Fresh Out The Water”

It’s been said by us before but it bears repeating, Meyhem Lauren is the very essence of New York hip-hop. Lay out a beat for him and he effortlessly crushes it, bar after bar detailing accounts of lavishing living and devious behavior. He’s got an iron clad flow, absolutely bodying beats, doubling back, and flipping the script as he flosses over the grime, shining like diamonds glistening from the shadows. Last year saw the long-awaited release of Black Vladimir, a collaborative album with Griselda in-house producer Daringer, and this year it seems “Laurenovitch” is setting the bar even higher with Champagne For Breakfast, an upcoming record co-produced by true legends, DJ Muggs and Madlib. It feels like hip-hop history in the making, as two of the all time greatest producers team up together, bringing an apocalyptic boogie to psychedelic noir boom-bap, the perfect landscape for Meyhem Lauren to do his thing. “Fresh Out The Water” finds him in slaughter mode, flipping between gangsterisms and a life dedicated to the eternally fly.

THA GOD FAHIM | “Iron Bull” LP

Much like his album’s namesake, Tha God Fahim can’t be stopped. Iron Bull wastes no time in proving that, as Fahim sets the tone on opener “Man Of Steel,” reminding us that “the show must go on, operations must continue / got me art dealing, we be selling out the menu.” It’s business as usual from one of this generation’s finest underground hip-hop veterans, kicking out rhymes that feel off the cuff, a blend of street corner cipher simplicity and kung-fu sage-like wisdom. Fahim often plays both sides of the coin, one moment glorifying violence (“I keep the steel like a statue, roll with two guns, that’s twice the bullets coming at you“) and the next acknowledging the impacts (“broken up homes from poverty and the drugs, families feeling generational pain from hot slugs”). There are affirmations and the wisdom that buds from struggle (“Makin Rounds”) and there’s also plenty of hard-headed shit talk (“Battleship”). Tha God always paints the picture in full, with a delivery that favors raw straightforwardness over anything fancy. Featuring production from SadhuGold, Camoflauge Monk, Nicholas Craven, and others, some of the best beats come (unsurprisingly) from Fahim himself. It’s always a treat to hear him lace his own laconic production (may we never forgot the “Mailman” beat), spitting stream of conscious rhymes over muted horns, sweeping strings, hypnotic keys, and dusty drums.

Further Listening:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (February 20th - February 26th)