by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_), Louis Pelingen (@Ruke256), and Matt Watton (@brotinus)
Welcome to FUZZY MEADOWS, our 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. 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.
DANA GAVANSKI
“Business of the Attitude”
While we’re still very much in love with both Dana Gavanski’s LATE SLAP and “Ought to Feel” (the record’s subsequent b-side), it would appear as though the London based songwriter is already working on new material, inspired in part by sitting back down at an upright piano. “Business of the Attitude” is a sparse arrangement, but even in it’s somber minimalism and serenity, the song retains the art pop nuances of more boisterous music, but in a more gentle manner, a refinement that saunters around the room’s open spaces instead of skipping and contorting from one texture to the next. A gorgeous song written about “the futility of trying to solve things,” Gavanski lets the piano sustain as her dazzling voice does the heavy gymnastics, effortlessly moving between lower and higher registers. - DG
LA SÉCURITÉ
“Detour”
Montreal art-punk collective La Sécurité are back with another post-punk dance number. “Detour” is all rhythm, a masterclass in the entrancing powers of the bass guitar. The sound is rounded out with nasally guitar jolts, the pulsation of a siren synth, tempered by shambolic swells and contained chaos. Breathy lyrics code switch between sarcastic English-language ribbing and starker French philosophical adages. A bit more discordant than ESG and bit more nightclub friendly than a Gang of Four, La Sécurité find that perfect middle line of both dance and punk. It’s like B-52’s party on the banks of the St Laurance. - Matt Watton
MARY TIMONY
“Curious Tides”
Nineteen years after her last solo album, Mary Timony returned back in February with Untame The Tiger, a career stand-out and one of the year’s best records. There’s an eclectic set of influences that swirls underneath Timony’s signature alternative rock glory, but at its core, the record is very much about the strength and resilience in her songwriting. She returns this week with “Curious Tides,” a new stand-alone single, a combination of an old demo and an off the cuff recording from the Tiger sessions. Opening with rattling acoustics and Timony’s always gorgeous vocal melodies, it’s a song of resonant space and discordant folk in the first half, before bursting open on the second half, the rhythm section shuffling together with the soaring riff. - DG
OPEN HEAD
“House”
Following the release of new single “Catacomb,” Hudson Valley’s Open Head have announced their upcoming second album, What Is Success. Due out January 24th via Wharf Cat Records (Drop Nineteens, P.E., CC Heaven) the band continue to bend no wave, noise rock, and avant garde punk into undefinable shapes and inhuman textures. “House,” the record’s second single continues to warp their sound into alien landscapes, dealing as much with texture as it does spiky dissonance. Leaning into a dense rhythm that skitters and throbs, Open Head pour a shadowy groove and gleaming dexterity into the otherwise apocalyptic churn of the song. - DG
RENEÉ REED
“On A Good Day”
Three years after the release of her self-titled album, Reneé Reed is back, and not a moment too soon. Her latest single “On A Good Day” is every bit as bewitching as we’ve come to expect her songs to be. A sparse folk composition of piano and Reed’s stunning vocals, the song is a dreamy ballad of wistful lo-fi, the essence of the room itself playing a part in intimacy of the recording. An exploration of magnetism between two people, longing to come together “like the weather whenever it turns into spring / and the sun that always shines on a good day”. The vocals seem to float in air with a magnificent sense of character, Reed’s words driven with delicate power and thoughtful inflection. - DG
RICHARD DAWSON
“Polytunnel”
After ending the trilogy of projects with The Ruby Cord in 2022, Richard Dawson is back to a happier place. “Polytunnel” leads the path to his upcoming project, End of the Middle, due out February 14th of next year under Weird World / Domino Recordings. This first taste of the record pulls you into a simpler, yet captivating tone. Richard Dawson’s raw vocals carry a sense of joy towards the minimal melodies full of charming guitar strumming, with enough frolicking tug to the folk progressions that further accentuate the calm that comes from daily cycles of gardening. The song is stripped-back in its presentation, always at peace with green pastures. - Louis Pelingen
ROSALI
“Hey Heron”
Rosali and her exceptional band have been on the road constantly since releasing their wonderful new album Bite Down back in March. Their live show is one of the best you can hope to see, rollicking and heartfelt, a mix of blistering southern charm twang and introspective songwriting warmth, all wrapped around Rosali Middleman’s mesmerizing vocals. “Hey Heron,” originally released as part of the massive Cardinals at the Window compilation (which raised much needed money for hurricane recovery efforts in North Carolina), the song has been given a wide release, capturing so much of the magic that abounds from Rosali and Mowed Sound’s collaborations (we sincerely hope they never stop playing together). It’s a song about finding solace in nature, a beautiful yet muscular song that blends well worn Americana and folk as it moseys into a wallpaper peeling finale. - DG
ROTARY CLUB
“Safety Line”
We’ve been pretty enamored with Rotary Club since we were first introduced to their music via “American Tower” at the start of last year. The world’s best landline themed punk band play with an electrified radiance, their mix of skeletal punk and art pop is built on ragged energy and blistering distortion to create music that’s as much fun as it is unhinged. After their quaking single, the Reno based band return with Sphere of Service, their full length debut, due out December 13th via Iron Lung Records (Gaoled, Paprika, Ignorance). The album is kinetic from start to finish, coiled like an old phone cable and buzzing like a bad connection. “Safety Line” introduces the album with grooving riffs and pounding rhythms, setting the tone for the record with a blend of jittery pop splendor that’s dragged through overdriven fuzz and a sense of perpetual motion. - DG
THIRDFACE
“Bankroll”
No matter how many times you listen to Thirdface’s new album, Ministerial Cafeteria, this record feels designed to knock your damn socks off. There’s a real ruthlessness to be found in every moment of the record, and yet they manage an eclectic sound beneath the vicious exterior. For every line of Kathryn Edwards’ blood curdling rasp there’s an ever sliding avalanche of depraved instrumentation to tangle with. Thirdface’s songs are built on so much more than meets the eye, the sheer brutality balanced by brainy (but no less abrasive) compositional carnage. “Bankroll” is a fun example, a song that stutters with a detached rhythm before the band dig into piercing noise rock discordance and a swaggering stampede that sends the entire thing flying off its axis. Hot damn, it sure is wonderful. - DG
Further Listening:
OCTOBER 21 - OCTOBER 27:
2ND GRADE "Triple Bypass In B-Flat" | A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS "It's Too Much" | THE ALCHEMIST “Ferraris In The Rain Part 2” (feat. Freddie Gibbs & ScHoolboy Q) | AMYL & THE SNIFFERS "Jerkin" | ANNA MCCLELLAN "Omaha" | ANNE MALIN "I Know" | BUDDIE "Impatient" | BUÑUEL "American Steel" (feat. Duane Denison) | CHE NOIR "Black Girl" (feat. Rapsody) | CREEPOID "Shaking" | ELIAS RØNNENFELT “Doomsday Childsplay” | FIEVEL IS GLAUQUE "Dark Dancing (Live In Studio)" | GREAT GRANDPA "Doom" | LAMBRINI GIRLS “Live on KEXP” | LOBBY "Folding Out" | MAMALARKY "Nothing Lasts Forever" | MOMMA "Ohio All The Time" | PIG DESTROYER "Terrifyer (Demo)" | SA-ROC "Amazing Grace" | SQUANDERERS "Theme For Silent Cowboys" | STYROFOAM WINOS "Magic Mind" | THA GOD FAHIM & NICHOLAS CRAVEN "Tha Myth Who Never Quit 2" LP | THA GOD FAHIM & NICHOLAS CRAVEN "Tha Myth Who Never Quit 3" LP | WEEZER "Superman (Garage Practice - June 1992)"
OCTOBER 28 - NOVEMBER 03:
CHASTITY BELT "That Guy" | CHAT PILE "Frownland" | THE CIRCULATORS "Yesterday's Kids" | CZARFACE "Knull & Void" (feat. Method Man & Frankie Pulitzer) | DEAD GOWNS "How Can I" | DELIVERY "Only A Fool" | DUMMY "Dip In The Lake" | FANG ISLAND "Starquake" | FATBOI SHARIF & THE LASSO "Teething" | FLY ANAKIN "Anakin & Friends: Episode 2" LP | FREDDIE GIBBS "On The Set" | FUCKED UP "Someday" LP | FULL OF HELL & ANDREW NOLAN "Sphere Of Saturn” (feat. Justin K. Broadrick) | GANG STARR "Finishem" | GAOLED "Tempt" | GOUGE AWAY “Newtau” | IGGY POP "Five Foot One (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival 2023)" | KASSIE KRUT "Racing Man" | KURIOUS "Cow's Eye" | LOBBY "Nightdriving" EP | M(H)AOL "Snare" | MOGWAI "Lion Rumpus" | MOUNT EERIE “Non-Metaphorical Decolonization” | ORUÃ "Live In Ojai" LP | PHIL SPECTOR'S GUN “Maggots on the Meat” | PINK SIIFU "SCREW4LIFE'! RIPJALEN'!" | PINKO "Do You Like Me?" (Fugazi cover) | POPULATION II + MULCH "Mulchulation II" EP | QUICKSAND + HOT WATER MUSIC "Split" EP | RAZOR BRAIDS “42 (Katie Von Schleicher Version)" | RED RIBBON "Gang Star" | SKYZOO "The Workload" (feat. Method Man) | THIRDFACE "Sour" | TOTAL DEFEAT "Medicated Mess" + "You Can't Win" | WISHY "Planet Popstar"