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.

DANA GAVANSKI | “Let Them Row”

Ever since we first heard Dana Gavanski’s “How To Feel Uncomfortable” single we’ve been eagerly waiting for more of her upcoming album, LATE SLAP. Due out in April via Full Time Hobby, the record’s second single, “Let Them Row” has us every bit as excited as the first one did, a song that warps folk and art-pop with a brilliant touch of psych and whimsy. Much like Aldous Harding, Gavanski balances shifting balladry with small earworm progressions and the strength of her gorgeous voice, contorting to meet plinking keys, warm synths, and a delicate swoon. Gavanski peppers in mini-movements throughout the track, melodic ideas that come and go without overstaying their welcome, ideas that spark and fizzle as the next arrives, while the overarching core moves with a lilting ease.

DEADY | “R.I.P.”

Louisville’s Deady are an exciting band with an eclectic background that leads toward an eclectic sound. Last year they released their self-titled debut EP, a collection of songs that darted between “eggy” party punk and more corrosive noise rock, with touches of sugary alternative-leaning FM gold and riot grrrl energy thrown in for nuance. With the band headed out on tour (including stops at SXSW and Treefort Music Fest), the quintet return with new single “R.I.P.” a song that opens with a distorted dirge before quickly dancing its way into something far more hooky and spring-loaded. As they weave between crushing and radiantly hooky, the band dip into knotty riffs and howling vocals, a delightful blend of caustic and catchy.

DEGRAVED | “Infinite Fissures of Shadow”

The caveman brand of death metal is often the best kind of death metal and Seattle’s Degraved sound as primal as they come. Following last year’s Whispered Morbidity, an EP as cavernous as it is utterly filthy, the destruction continues with Lightless Domain, an upcoming split 7” together with Cystic, out later this month via Iron Lung Records. Degraved’s contribution to the putridity is “Infinite Fissures of Shadow,” a song that sounds apocalyptic in monotonous motion until the walls cave in, the tempos devolve into rapid speed and the whole thing spirals like a demonic vortex straight to the crust of the earth. Degraved do a great job of locking into one monstrous onslaught before shifting into the void, and once they’ve been ripped from the colossal pummel, the shredding terror only escalates.

GRASS JAW | “Cause of Death: Explosion”

Aliens, the supernatural, the occult, it all goes hand in hand. Grass Jaw’s upcoming album, I Don’t Want To Believe, is rooted in the rabbit-hole that comes with exploring the unexplained. Set for release on February 29th, the record’s third single, “Cause of Death: Explosion,” was written in reflection to learning about Jack Parsons, a physicist in the 30s and 40s who helped to develop propulsion rockets before his career dissolved due to high order positions within occultist theology. Over woozy guitars and a perfectly textured whir of saxophone and trombone low in the mix, Brendan Kuntz contemplates Parson’s life of dangerous inventions and dabbling ideologies over a song that splits the difference between sludgy slowcore and Jar of Flies 90’s twang. There’s a lot of nuance and Kuntz’s recording and mixing go a long way toward making it great.

MARY TIMONY | “Summer”

There are only eighteen days left until the release of Mary Timony’s new solo, but who’s counting. It’s been a long time coming, but it is worth the wait. A true DC legend, Timony has earned every accolade thrown her way, a modern guitar hero since the early days of Autoclave and Helium to the short lived but excellent Wild Flag and Ex Hex, her playing has always radiated in a special way. Untame The Tiger continues to push her songwriting, revolving around a personal narrative of loss, but it’s far from a bummer of a record. Case in point, “Summer,” the album’s third single, a rollicking garage rock tune with plenty of stomp and swagger. The song saunters around broken dreams and momentary escapes, but there’s a perpetual brightness which really comes to a head during the bridge with a pair of overlapped guitar solos that don’t quite connect but compliment each other perfectly.

VESSEL | “Game”

There’s an immediate charm to Vessel’s minimal post-punk, it was love at first listen. The Atlanta based quartet are set to release Wrapped In Cellophane, their full length debut on April 2nd via Double Phantom Records, an album built on springy grooves, skronky sax, and arty repetition that practically feels freeform. With elastic rhythms that ripple somewhere between PYLON and Gang of Four, the key to Vessel’s sound is the vibrant command of Alex Tuisku’s vocals. There’s something special about the way her voice stretches and reframes the hypnotic beats, creating a loose focus that happens to sound impossibly tight. “Game” is the album’s first single, a song wrapped in spaced out fuzz and a brilliant bass progression, the cosmic bop of the song the perfect framework for Tuisku’s elongated vocal performance. The more you listen, the more engrained it becomes.

Further Listening:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (January 29th - February 4th)