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.

BABE REPORT | “Allergy 2000”

If “Turtle of Reaper” and “Universal,” the first two singles from Babe Report’s upcoming album drew upon the band’s propulsive immediacy, their latest, “Allergy 2000” highlights their more expansive and groove oriented side. Our latest preview of Did You Get Better slinks into shape with bouncing bass and a very in the pocket beat, the locked in pulse allowing guitarists Ben Grigg and Emily Bernstein to let their blanket of twin melodic distortion do the heavy lifting. The guitars swirl around each other, slowly progressing from a vortex of chiming high end into an overdriven churn as the song warps into densely motorik territory. The Chicago based quartet quickly come unglued from the hypnosis though, embracing increasingly sweeping drum fills as the songs roars into its own patient crescendo.

FAKE FRUIT | “Mucho Mistrust”

The return we’ve all been waiting for, Oakland’s Fake Fruit are back! Three years after their exceptionally great debut, the band are set to release its follow up, Mucho Mistrust, on August 23rd via Carpark Records (Rui Gabriel, Ducks Ltd, @). The album’s title track and lead single sets the tone with the band’s bright and fuzzy post-punk in fine form, lead by chiming guitars, stuttering drums fills, and Ham D’Amato’s melodic vocals. With an acrobatic approach to song’s bent delivery, the band feel locked in even as the structure tumbles. Exploring the difficult times that shaped the record and the years since their debut, D’Amato’s vocals are both pointed and with a sense of humor as she asks “How you gonna marinate me in shitty things overnight?”

FINOM | “Not God” LP

There’s so much to love and explore on Finom’s new album Not God, an endlessly interesting art rock album that really shines from the duo’s chemistry, Macie Stewart and Sima Cunningham forever completing each others “freak” in stunning fashion. While early singles “Haircut” and the timeless beauty of “As You Are” are astonishing, the album’s “deep cuts” offer some of the record’s greatest moments, found in songs like “Dirt” and “Naked,” the former falling so deep into a mesmerizing groove, while the later comes slinking right behind it, gliding on tight harmonies, minimalist grace, and a hook that soars while retaining a sense of subtlety. Finom play with amorphous shapes, their songs dazzling and rewarding, exploring textures that really demand repeat listens.

J.R.C.G. | “Dogear”

Having evolved from the forward thinking fog of Dreamdecay, J.R.C.G. has been pushing boundaries since the project’s inception. Lead by Justin R. Cruz Gallego, the band’s debut was a groundbreaking album that reframed acidic krautrock and experimental punk into something void of form, but still inherently concise and engaging. Three years later and the band return with Grim Iconic...(Sadistic Mantra), their second album, and first for Sub Pop Records (La Luz, Amen Dunes, The Bug Club), continuing to expand into the further reaches of the cosmic unknown. “Dogear,” the record’s first single is built on Gallego’s cascading drums, a staple of the immersive J.R.C.G. hypnotic charm. There’s an off-kilter pull that grooves and contorts, pushing between chaos and hard fought densly warped melodic hooks.

LILACS & CHAMPAGNE | “Ill Gotten Gains”

It’s been nine years since the last Lilacs & Champaign record, but the duo of Emil Amos and Alex Hall (who both play in Grails) are back at it, blending instrumental hip-hop production aesthetics with their own eerie psychedelic touch to create something that feels beamed in from another planet. Set to release Fantasy World on July 19th via Temporary Residence Ltd (Beak>, MONO, June McDoom), “Ill Gotten Gains” is a great introduction, a song that rides a cryptic sense of dread into something you can easily bob your head to, with crackling pianos and samples that feel near deterioration. There’s a definite cosmic vibe to be found in the song’s swirling abandon, but the horror and disorientation of it makes it feel all the more human, a smooth but dangerous beat that would suit Fatboi Sharif or even The Gravediggaz.

NIGHTSHIFT | “Crystal Ball”

Glasgow’s Nightshift defy easy categorization. They’re more than happy to catch listeners off guard, but the more you listen to their music, the more the pieces comes into glorious synchronicity. Three years ago they dazzled with their second album Zöe (and the odds and ends experimentation of Made Of The Earth), and with a shift in the band’s line-up, they reemerge with Homosapien, due out July 26th via Trouble In Mind Records (Mountain Movers, Writhing Squares, Sunwatchers). “Crystal Ball,” the first single and album opener, proves the band to be in fine form, creating a lush and surreal landscape for a song that’s both radiant and reflective as well as divergent and mysterious. Eothen Stearn’s vocals have a commanding presence, leading the sing-song melody between the dreamy atmosphere and the dissonant resolve.

POM POKO | “Growing Story”

While Pom Poko’s upcoming album Champion is said to do away with some of the more jarring moments of the band’s prog-pop tinged past, there’s no taking the sheer vibrancy out of their sound. The Norwegian quartet are still making art pop that’s full of swarming melodic charm and just the right amount of teetering rhythms. “Growing Story” isn’t exactly disconnected in it’s wonky construction so much as the pieces are fantastically askew and vividly glowing as result. Their intricate progression still manages to sound essentially “pop” at the core, but there’s such a special aura in the way it unfolds, discombobulated to perfection yet undeniably accessible, Pom Poko swoon and swerve their way into immaculate hooks throughout the song’s spiky sonic wonderment.

ROBBER ROBBER | “Backup Plan”

Following the release of their great “Sea or War” single back in January, Burlington’s Robber Robber have announced their highly anticipated new album, Wild Guess, due out on July 26th. The band’s first full length is a great mix of genres that never feels too indebted to any one sound, instead creating a unique mix of shoegaze, post-punk, lo-fi art rock, and the motorik bliss of krautrock. With the album’s announcement comes “Backup Plan,” a song that digs into a locked in drum pattern, buoyant but steady, and an avalanche of piercing guitars that slowly scrape their way into an impenetrable wall of sound. There’s a sense of patience to it even as they jitter between well coiled verses, disarming repetition, and the mesmerizing drift into the blistering abyss.

SOOKS | “Moral Decay” LP

Ain’t no two ways about it, Moral Decay, the full length debut from Perth’s Sooks is a ripper, and a dynamic one at that. While many hardcore records can be full throttle at all times, this is corrosive punk with a sense for nuance, splitting time between brutal indignation and a flippant sense of sarcasm that’s equally built around a righteous fury. The riffs are always shredding, the hum of the distortion captured with a perfect layer of hiss to mix together with the propulsive drums. Everything pounding in unison amid a flow of feedback, setting the muscular backdrop for Ange’s lacerating vocals and her higher pitched sardonic screeds as she takes on mountainous levels of gendered inequality, discrimination, bigotry, and the devolved state of society.

WORKERS COMP | “Pressure Today”

Workers Comp split the differences between lo-fi punk and Americana in it’s rawest distillation. The decidedly “for the people” trio of Ryan McKeever, Luke Reddick, and Joshua Gillis have been cranking out dusty country tunes that feel built for cassette, a destiny cemented in clamoring minimalism and plenty of psychedelic twang. Their upcoming self-titled album, due out May 31st, collects all of their EPs and singles together with a new song, highlighting both the humanity and labor driven dissatisfaction that lies at the heart of their music. “Pressure Today,” with a delightful lack of finesse to the production, a quick sunburst of a guitar solo, and the general attitude in Gillis’ delivery, becomes the perfect encapsulation of the band’s beaten down by the workforce sensibilities with an ever present smirk lying beneath the surface.

Further Listening:

MAY 13 - MAY 19:

MAY 20 - MAY 26:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (May 13th - May 26th)