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.

CABLE TIES | “Change”

“Change” is the Cable Ties single we’ve been waiting for, a song that captures the special kind of impassioned fury that the Melbourne trio do best. It’s as heavy as it is direct, driven by the explosive nature of Jenny McKechnie’s vocals at full throttle. With their new album, All Her Plans, due out June 23rd via Merge Records (Superchunk, Neutral Milk Hotel, Fucked Up), we’re now three singles deep, each one an avalanche of the band’s primal post-punk and wailing aggression. These songs are barn burners but they’re not without a serious sense of groove. There’s a swagger to the way the band construct their songs, with the low end doing much of the heavy lifting. “Change” is no different, as they dig impossibly deep into pulsating bass and locked in rhythm that forgoes flash for general force. There’s a fire in the song that’s built to shouting along to with all abandon. Turn it up loud and let this one demolish the bullshit.

C.O.F.F.I.N | “Cut You Off”

Of all the ass kickin’ Australian punk out there, C.O.F.F.I.N.’s music still sounds the closest to the energy of a cinematic pub dust-up, with people being slid across the bar and a cloud of brawling limbs moving about the room. Since the release of 2020’s Children of Finland Fighting In Norway, the Sydney based band have been a near-constant world tour with their spiritual mates Amyl and the Sniffers. Capturing a similar sort of energy and reckless abandon, the band put a burly surge of rock ‘n’ roll firmly into their street punk attack, with gruff swagger and big Thin Lizzy indebted hooks. Having recently joined Goner Records (Gee Tee, Dippers, Ibex Clone), the band return with “Cut You Off,” another seat clearing brawler, with twin guitars and beer soaked yelps. The first single from an upcoming not-yet-announced album, there’s as much muscle as there are hooks, the band working themselves into a sweat and booze-addled fury.

JAY WORTHY & ROC MARCIANO | “Underground Legend” (feat. Bun B)

For the better part of the last decade, Compton via Vancouver’s Jay Worthy has been doing his part to keep the flame of the g-funk era going. Adopting the persona of a modern day pimp, with the street glamor and inherent ugliness that comes with it, Worthy had a fantastic 2022, releasing album length collaborations with DJ Muggs, Harry Fraud, and Larry June (together with LNDN DRGS). Those three albums stand among his best work, and he’s back for more, this time teaming up with Roc Marciano for the upcoming album, Nothing Bigger Than The Program. Produced in full by Marciano, the lead single, “Underground Legend,” finds Worthy joined by UGK’s own Bun B, an actual “underground king”. Over a sparse loop from Marci, the two don’t mince words, hitting the beat with an immediate delivery, hitting the beat without a bounce but more instead straight darts, a hard lyrical track that’s tough as nails.

KAL MARKS | “Fuck That Guy (2023)”

“Fuck That Guy” has been a staple of Kal Marks’ sets since they first started playing it prior to the release of Universal Care. At the time the band were a trio and well… the song ripped and audiences instantly loved it. In the five years since the original release however, a lot has changed for Kal Marks, including the line-up. We were reintroduced to the project with last year’s My Name Is Hell, a record that found Carl Shane joined by new members Christina Puerto, John Russell, and Dylan Teggart. Considered by most to be the best work they’ve done to date, the new line-up with it’s twin guitar approach has opened all sorts of new doors for the band, compounding heaviness and adding a vast sense of atmosphere. In celebration of five years of Universal Care, the new line-up decided to re-record the song to match it’s current live version, and it’s become impossibly heavier, the low end feeling colossal while Shane and Puerto add nuance to the demolition.

NAIMA BOCK | “Live on KEXP”

Last year Naima Bock released Giant Palm, her debut solo album, a record that moved away from the post-punk of Goat Girl into a world of stunning folk and lush orchestration. It was easily one of the best albums of the year, an album that is as important as it is profoundly beautiful. Bock’s voice is incredible, leaving goosebumps with a gentle grace and an intricate command. Supporting the record with a short US tour, Naima Bock stopped by the KEXP studios for a session, capturing her live performance for everyone who hasn’t had a chance to see her live (and for those who have too). The songs sound warm and lived in, and her voice is every bit as astounding live as it is on the recordings. Playing album cuts “Campervan” and “Every Morning” together with recent single “Lines” and “The Grey Funnel Line,” an old folk song, Bock and her band sound immaculate, with acoustic strings providing the backing for her voice to dazzle, lulling between a low smokiness and higher registers.

PALEHOUND | “The Clutch”

Hot damn, it’s great to hear a new Palehound song, especially one that swarms the way that “The Clutch” does. The first single from the band’s upcoming album, Eye On The Bat, due out July 14th via Polyvinyl (Xiu Xiu, Julia Jacklin, Alvvays) has a real propulsion that comes fueled by things falling apart. Sometimes it has to crash down to rebuild, and Palehound seem to have embraced that here. El Kempner’s already exceptional songwriting is bolstered with some seriously awesome harmonies (those harmonies!) both vocally and from the layered guitars. This one really rips, the emotion dripping as much from the poetic lyrics as the surging guitars. There are spikes and cracks, moments that make it all feel that much more genuine. By the time the band comes crashing through the bridge into a blown out coda of “you didn’t need my help,” the song has soared to dense and dazzling heights.

PJ HARVEY | “A Child’s Question, August”

In the seven years since the release of PJ Harvey’s last album, the legendary singer/songwriter has kept busy with soundtrack work, scores, a massive reissue campaign, and poetry, capturing sentiment to embellish stories, re-deliver stories, and deriving a long form poetic narrative of her own. Set to release her first new record since 2016, Harvey has joined Partisan Records (Aoife Nessa Frances, Chubby and The Gang, Geese) for her tenth album, I Inside the Old Year Dying, a record she describes as “a solace, a comfort, a balm”. Veering away from the political nature of her last two records, this one, produced together by long-time collaborators Flood and John Parish is about love and ease in our ever troubling times. “A Child’s Question, August” is gorgeous, composed of gentle chord progressions and heavenly vocals, soft but radiant, with a unique sense of momentum that falls somewhere between folk and outsider pop.

STUCK | “Time Out”

Chicago’s Stuck have come entirely unglued on “Time Out,” and they’ve never sounded better. The second single from their upcoming album, Freak Frequency (out May 26th via Born Yesterday Records), has embraced the insanity, taking the band’s usual steely sense of control and wigged it out with paranoia and a delightfully deranged performance from Greg Obis (vocals, guitar). The band are still utterly tight, snapping between well coiled rhythms and abrasive guitars that zig zag around sharp turns rather than bend, but the sense of discipline is pushed toward reckless, they’re letting the noise rock and punk tendencies of their sound grapple with their post-punk precision. The video, directed by Jess Bass and Seamus Carey is equally unhinged and equally amazing, a scourge against the never ending doomscroll of social media.

WASHER | “Improved Means To Deteriorated Ends” LP

There’s no stopping the passing of time, it ravages on, unmoved by circumstance. With each passing year we’re left to wonder what we’re doing with ourselves, trying to giving meaning to our lives. Are things that we’ve decided to give importance to actually important? For some of us, it’s best not to think about, but it’s an exploration that Washer takes on headfirst with their third album, Improved Means To Deteriorated Ends, a record that matches thoughts of decomposition with a slow burning rage-infused drive. The world can be toxic, thoughts can become corrosive, but there’s a way to push through, a chance toward those “improved means,” no matter how unlikely it can feel. [Read our full Album of the Week feature]

WIREHEADS | “Hook Echo”

There’s a lot to love about Adelaide’s Wireheads, a band that can dart between post-punk with a roaring ferocity and a jangly minimalism. Led by the charismatic Dom Trimboli, the lyrics are always laser focused, capturing the mundane and the extraordinary together. The band released five albums in their first four years together, now after six years, the members return with their exceptional new record, Potentially Venus. Due out June 23rd via Tenth Court, the band sound unnervingly alive, the time away resulting in a deeper bond. “Hook Echo,” the first single is built with a ripping backbone, the bass absolutely clobbering the mix of rusty guitars and motorik drums. Everything about “Hook Echo” boogies, from the driving flush of riffs to the doubled (and perhaps tripled) vocals in the chorus. Just as everything seems locked in, the band surge into a rattling guitar solo and warped cosmic synths ahead of the bridge. Trimboli’s expressive vocals and narrative lyrics are sticky with hooks, creating earworms with gentle nuance that cracks and pops in all the right places.

Further Listening:

APRIL 17 - APRIL 23:

APRIL 24 - APRIL 30:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (April 17th - April 30th)