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|BRAVE | “I Felt A Funeral”
Just a little over a year after 2023’s tremendous nature morte, Montreal’s BIG|BRAVE return with their next album, A Chaos Of Flowers. Due out April 19th via Thrill Jockey (The Body, Eye Flys, Upper Wilds), the trio continue to expand their framework of gorgeous drone and gut wrenching heaviness with serene atmospheric beauty and primal chaotic minimalism. “I Felt A Funeral” is the album’s lead single and opener, a stark song that is centered on Robin Wattie’s radiant voice and the twin guitar scrawls of Wattie and Mathieu Ball. Like a meditative burst of tension and dour sentiment, the song rolls in like a fog, expansive and void of rhythmic accompaniment for the first two minutes, creeping and crawling with its own haunting clarity and dissonant precision.
DANA GAVANSKI | “How To Feel Uncomfortable”
Dana Gavanski’s new single “How To Feel Uncomfortable” is a truly great experimental folk song, arty and skronky, but with an inescapable sense of pop malaise. While the influence of Cate Le Bon rings heavy (who better to take influence from), it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a great song. Based in London (by way of Canada), Gavanski worked with Mike Lindsay (of LUMP) to produce her upcoming album, LATE SLAP, due out in April via Full Time Hobby (Macie Stewart, Sylvie, Silverbacks). The first single has us extremely excited to hear more, a song that’s equal parts swoon and seasick detachment. Gavanski sits comfortably uncomfortable in the pocket of warped horns, punchy but reserved guitars, and a general spiral of delightfully weird pop nuance. It’s an instant repeater.
ROSALI | “Rewind”
At some point since the release of Rosali’s third album, No Medium, we came to consider it a perfect record, a flawless album of earnest country-fried indie rock songs that balanced vulnerability with muscle. It’s a credit to Rosali Middleman’s songwriting, her restraint often feels like a strength, weary but stable. Last summer Rosali released a George Harrison cover announcing she’d joined Merge Records for her next album. That record, Bite Down, is due out in March, recorded together once again with David Nance, James Schroeder, and Kevin Donahue, providing an obvious chemistry that comes from close friendship. Lead single “Rewind” is a gorgeous ode to reseting oneself for love, a desire to get back to where you’re intended after the occasional pull of the day. The song has a subtle twang and build in density, the band rocking with that specific magic that really defines their sound.
SPECTRAL VOICE | “Sinew Censer”
It’s been seven years since the sprawling morbidity of Spectral Voice’s Eroded Corridors of Unbeing was unleashed upon the world and there hasn’t really been anything quite like it since. While the project seemingly crept back into the catacombs, the members have been busy with other projects such as Blood Incantation, Black Curse, and Nekrofilth, among others. They return to Spectral Voice with Sparagmos, their second full length, due out next month via Dark Descent Records (Sovereign, Undergang, Hyperdontia), swarming with scopious death metal brutality via doom metal structures and a cavalcade of dynamics peeled from blackened ambient to unpredictable lapses into savage OSDM. "Sinew Censer,” the album’s second single embraces the dismemberment and dissolution with shifting gradients of terror, from the lurching introduction to the stampeding sludge and blistering cosmic barbarity.
THA GOD FAHIM & COOKIN SOUL | “Guillotine”
Tha God Fahim is always out here rapping like he’s got something to prove. He’s already established himself as a fixture of the underground and has risen toward legendary status in his own right. While his rhymes could be considered an acquired taste to some, his off the cuff and effortless delivery come from a place of pure hip-hop heart, he’s rapping for the art of rapping. Fahim isn’t concerned with the critics and he’s got bars for days. Supreme Dump Legend: Soul Cook Saga, a full length collaboration with producer Cookin Soul, arrives on February 2nd, a triumphant if unexpected pairing. Cookin Soul is a certifiable crate digger and cut chemist, blending samples and 90’s boom-bap loops in a way that should make DJ Premier proud. “Guillotine” captures those cuts with a dusty grace and from there Tha God Fahim does his damn thing, blending braggadocios rap threats with that signature Fahim wisdom, “you can’t compare dudes who whack, you in your hood flossin’, I’m in your hood giving back.”
Further Listening:
ALPHA HOPPER “N-Sub Ulysses” (Nation of Ulysses cover) | @ “Webcrawler” | BAD HISTORY MONTH “Breakdown Lane (Fastlane Version)” | BENNY THE BUTCHER “BRON” | BODEGA “Tarkovski” | CAREEN “Last Winter” | CHARLES MOOTHART “One Wish” | THE CHISEL “Those Days” | DANCER “Passionate Sunday” | DISSIMULATOR “Warped” | FAMILY VISION “Chop Shop” | FRANCES CHANG “Ya A Mirage” | GATES TO HELL “Resurrected” | GHOST FUNK ORCHESTRA “To The Moon!” | GLARING ORCHID “Swimmer” | GOUGE AWAY “Stuck In A Dream” | GRASS JAW “Communion” | GRAZIA “Cheap” | GUSTAF “Starting and Staring” | HANNAH FRANCES “Bronwyn” | ITASCA “Milk” | J MASCIS “Right Behind You” | JEYMES SAMUEL “I Want You Forever” (feat. D’Angelo & Jay-Z) | LAETITIA SADIER “Panser L’inacceptable” | LATE BLOOMER “Mother Mary” | MAXBAND “Nothing’s Changed” | MISTER GOBLIN “Good Son/Bad Seed (Ohmstead Session)” | OMNI “Plastic Pyramid” (feat. Izzy Glaudini) | PACKS “Missy” | PHIL & THE TILES “Death Ship” | PISSED JEANS “Moving On” | ROME STREETZ “Black Magic” | SHEER MAG “Moonstruck” | SLEEPER’S BELL “Umarell” EP (reissue) | THE SMILE “Friend Of A Friend” | TOMB SENTINEL “Endless Anguish” EP | TY SEGALL “My Best Friend” | THE UMBRELLAS “Gone” | ZOWY “Harbored”