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.

7XVETHEGENIUS & DJ GREEN LANTERN | “The Genius Tape” LP

The rise of Buffalo’s 7xvethegenius has been slow but full of promise, each verse over the past four years has been building the legacy of a dynamic rapper. Her style moves between both traditional boom-bap glory and something less familiar, flirting with experimental R&B production and cool jazzy flourishes. Regardless of the beat she’s lacing, there’s always a focus on meticulous lyricism and craft, with verses that invariably strike as confident yet empathetic. While 7xve’s Drumwork Music Group debut remains in the works, she’s followed last year’s Self 7xve 2 EP with The Genius Tape, a collaboration that finds DJ Green Lantern handling production. The tape is the best showcase of her lyricism yet with beats that match the grimy intensity. Whether talking her shit, embracing the grind as an up-and-coming MC, tracing her roots, or focusing on the community around her, 7xve is painting pictures amid classic flows and unflinching honesty in her lyrics.

BOLDY JAMES & CHANHAYS | “Prisoner Of Circumstance” EP

It took a near fatal car accident to slow down Boldy James, but after months of rehabilitating, the Detroit MC is back on the road and he’s released his second record of the year, the first recorded since the accident. We’ve long admired his commitment to working with a single producer per release (The Alchemist, Nicholas Craven, Real Bad Man, Futurewave, Cuns, etc) and Prisoner of Circumstance keeps his impeccable streak going, pairing him together with Canadian producer ChanHays. While Hays might not be as high-profile as some of Boldy’s past collaborators, the beats are exceptional, crisp loops and great samples, the perfect framework for the return we’ve all been waiting for. Boldy sounds razor sharp and focused, his laid back flow working in double time (see “Trust Issues”), still smoked out and deceptively chill, but matching the vibrancy of the production. It’s a celebration (of sorts) and it feels like it. Boldy is rapping without distraction, there’s no features and less ad-libs, instead we get twenty minutes of personal reflections, supreme conviction, and the highs and lows of street life (see “I Tried”).

IT THING | “Constant State”

Back in 2021 we were introduced to the great It Thing, an explosive punk band from Hobart, Australia. Their first full length, Syrup, was one of our favorite releases of that year, an album that shreds with rattled tempos, art punk extravagance, but more than anything, the band have massive hooks. The results sound like B-52s on a diet of 80’s hardcore and power-pop charm, reanimated to express modern social issues. The quartet are set to follow that album with a new single, Constant State / P.C.H, due out June 23rd via Marthouse Records (Dr Sure’s Unusual Practice, Gut Health, Bench Press) and Feel It Records (Sweeping Promises, Motorbike, The Stools). The record’s a-side, “Constant State,” picks up where the band left off, with blistering hooks and raw punk swagger, brilliantly catchy and full of delightful attitude. Charlotte Gigi’s wailing vocals steal the show, shouting out an acrobatic melody with lyrics addressing ever fluctuating struggles with mental health.

SQUITCH | “Bird of Prey”

We’re not ready to see Squitch go, especially not when they’re releasing songs as amazing as Tumbledown Mountain’s latest single “Bird of Prey,” a track we can’t stop listening to. With oscillating guitars and vocals that spike only to slink back down, it’s an incredible composition, built an onslaught of ideas and arrangements that come together perfectly. There’s minor chords that warble, tension that tugs between disjointed bedroom-sludge and resigned fuzz, a supernatural break toward deep space, a disoriented twang, and vocal melodies that keep everything in place. It’s really something special, reminiscent of so many of our favorite bands but uniquely their own, Squitch weave it all together with grace, playing intricate pop with gut wrenching beauty and a calm exterior. Emery Spooner’s lyrics seem to revolve around (too much) time spent in your own head, as long-gestating anxiety comes to a forefront, but it’s hard to have stifling thoughts when there’s so much to love about the song’s ever shifting structure.

WOMBO | “Slab EP”

In most cases a ten minute EP released less than a year after a full length, seemingly created to promote tour dates and keep a band’s name in the press, could be a throw away. In Wombo’s case however, the Slab EP is a distillation of what makes them such a great band and they seem to only get better. The Louisville trio were said to have recorded their latest quickly, using scratch guitars and first takes, everything played off the cuff without excess studio finesse. In turn Slab and it’s tangled and bouncy post-punk only proves that their initial instincts may very well be their best. Throughout the all too brief EP the band find themselves wrapped in and out of art-punk wonkiness, yet the overall effect remains undeniably dreamy. The record is split between gentle moments and knotty kinetic math rock, but everything becomes subdued by Sydney Chadwick’s laconic vocal melodies, so serene that complex rhythmic work outs feel natural. Its sweetness earned the hard way, and the band triumphantly blur genres to create magic.

Further Listening:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (June 5th - June 11th)