by Benji Heywood, Charlie Pecorella, Dan Goldin, Kris Handel, and Patrick Pilch
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.
DELIVERY
“Digging The Hole”
Australian quintet Delivery’s blistering new track, “Digging the Hole,” bursts out of the speakers full force with window-rattling drums and chugging guitar chords. Everything about the song is in your face from the fiery shouted vocals to the surf-punk indebted melodies. Delivery refuse to shrink in any capacity and the explosive visceral rumblings they emit are quite enchanting. “Digging the Hole” really imparts some surprising twists and turns that are truly delightful throughout its three and a half minutes, the combination of force and an integral grasp of melody proves quite sublime. - Kris Handel
ILLUMINATI HOTTIES
“Power”
Tenderpunk pioneer Sarah Tudzin, the visionary multi-instrumentalist and producer behind indie project illuminati hotties, debuts a new track for her forthcoming fourth album, POWER (out August 23rd via Snack Shack Tracks). Her latest single, “Power,” is a stripped-down, emotional tune that was written in the aftermath of her mother’s death. Embodying a disempowered sentiment, listeners are honored with a vulnerable, softer piece compared to IH’s previous releases. Tudzin sets the song in a backyard, a place of familiarity and nostalgia, to explore her relationship to her mother in honest. It’s about your worst fears coming to fruition, a mother’s gentle reminders, worn habits that catch you off guard, grief, and the love that gives you your power. - Charlie Pecorella
LAURA MARLING
“Patterns”
Following the release of 2021’s immaculate LUMP album, Animal, a record that feels damn near perfect, Laura Marling returns with Patterns In Repeat, her first new solo album in four years. Forever shifting her style from release to release without losing identity, you can hear a bit of both Semper Femina and LUMP’s DNA in new single “Patterns,” the record’s dazzling first single. Written following the birth of Marling’s daughter, the song reflects on how family shapes our lives, from physical features to the transposition of emotional weight. There’s a natural beauty to the song, with soft strings and gently finger picked guitars offering a swirling lullaby of texture and comfort. Our world changes as our families expand, and Laura Marling is marking the time as it begins to fly by. - Dan Goldin
LIA KOHL
“Car Alarm, Turn Signal” (feat. Ka Baird)
Lia Kohl’s recently announced Normal Sounds is a prize in sonic recycling. For her second full length, the Chicago-based cellist/composer reclaims human-made sounds for a pastiche of repurpose. Car horns, self checkouts, and sneakers on a gym floor frame a world emblazoned with Kohl’s arrangements. Where her previous work documents near-unheard signals on the AM/FM dial, Normal Sounds centers the sounds you always hear, but may not be listening to. I find turn signals comforting, but “Car Alarm, Turn Signal” flips the former sound’s inherent distress into a grounding and desensitizing moment. With added improvisations from multidisciplinary performer Ka Baird, the cellist obscures the sounds and “real” instruments, arranges a breakthrough, and releases the alarm’s unlistened tension. - Patrick Pilch
LIFEGUARD
“Ministry / Energie” b/w “Telepathic Love” (Wipers cover)
Chicago punk trio Lifeguard are back with a two-sided single recorded by the legendary Randy Randall of No Age. The new 7” features the band’s first new tune since 2022 and a ripping cover of Wipers’ classic “Telepathic Love.” Two years out from Lifeguard’s breakthrough EPs, “Ministry / Energie” is a thrilling hint of what may lie on the horizon with their recent Matador signing. With their new single, the band sound tighter as a group, and even sharper is the vision that is the Lifeguard sound. “Ministry / Energie” never strays too far from their playbook, but this time there’s more focus on a clearer-cut path in arrangement. As the band turns a corner in their professional careers, “Ministry / Energie” makes it plain to see the band's steadily impressive development is along for the ride. - Patrick Pilch
MEMORIALS
“Cut Like A Diamond”
If “Acceptable Experience” was a reintroduction to MEMORIALS’ music after two exceptional film scores, then “Cut It Like A Diamond” is a majestic statement of intent, a song paired together with the announcement of their “official” debut album, Memorial Waterslides. Due out in October via Fire Records (Jane Weaver, Marina Allen, Monde UFO) the duo of Verity Susman (Electrelane) and Matthew Simms’ (Wire) latest single radiates with a cosmic and kaleidoscopic vision of space-age lounge fuzz, connecting the dots between avant-garde expanse and harmonically rich left field art pop. I can’t stop listening to it, and I think it gets better every time. Detached and manipulated around a buoyant bass progression, its locked in and grooving even as if weaves between bouts of noise pop and analog synth warmth. - Dan Goldin
MERCE LEMON
“Backyard Lover”
“Backyard Lover” is the first single off of the Pittsburgh based Merce Lemon’s forthcoming album, Watch Me Drive Them Dogs Wild , out September 27th. The track is propelled by some appealingly ragged riffs following a swaying steel guitar pattern from Wednesday’s Xandy Chalmis. “Backyard Lover” swells and collapses along with Lemon’s vocals, fluctuating from hesitant searching to a soaring anger. Lemon and cohorts mine pain and reparation with a great sensitivity and resolve on this tantalizing shuffle that is so strongly impassioned. - Kris Handel
POISON RUÏN
“Execute”
Poison Ruïn’s chainmail punk may set them apart from heavier Relapse label mates like Pig Destroyer and Inter Arma, but the project’s quasi-camp approach speaks to a heavier aesthetic sourced from the roots of metal and hardcore. The Philadelphia band’s recently announced Confrere takes a neighborly approach to the chaos of existence, touting the small-scale revolutionary act of friendship, a tenet clearly fostered by the city’s notably supportive scene. Poison Ruïn’s latest single “Execute” is another gripping practice in classic hardcore, the band’s sound and vision anachronistic in all the right ways. Poison Ruïn leans into what’s tried and true; hard riffs and the power of friendship. When everything goes to shit, it’s best to use the buddy system. - Patrick Pilch
POM POKO
“My Family”
What makes a good summer sequel? More of what made the first one successful and less of anything that slows the popcorn intake. Think Aliens. More xenomorphs (good!), less plodding space horror (yawns, checks phone). “My Family,” Pom Poko’s latest single from their upcoming album Champion (out August 16th via Bella Union) is the good kind of summer sequel. The music here is less burly but every but as quirky as the Oslo band’s previous work even as vocalist/lyricist Ragnhild Fangel Jamtveit showcases a new command of melody. “My Family” pops and spits like a beach bonfire, crackling with near anthemic energy. The song is fun and approachable, capitalizing on hook sensibilities without dumbing anything down. A perfect sequel to 2021’s Cheater. - Benji Heywood
TASHA
“The Beginning”
Chicago-based singer-songwriter Tasha breezily declares “this is not the end, but the beginning”. The way her warm-cool voice rushes over a new, steady, upbeat track is a lesson in optimism. Recent encounters with triumph and travesty, including a role in the Tony-nominated musical adapted from Sufjan Stevent’s Illinois, have inspired this bright-eyed track that is willing to bear all in exchange for self-discovery. “The Beginning” is an honest, comforting track with dizzying guitar riffs and lyrics that ponder each passing moment, before ultimately centering on joy. Tasha’s forthcoming third LP All This and So Much More is out September 20th via Bayonet Records. - Charlie Pecorella
Further Listening:
ABI OOZE "Of Power//Cums as No Surprise" | ACTION BRONSON "Johann Sebastian Bachlava The Doctor" LP | BARTEES STRANGE “Lie 95” | BEN SERETAN “Climb The Ladder” | CHIME SCHOOL “Wandering Song” | COLOR GREEN "Ball and Key" | CULTS "Hung The Moon" | DINOSAUR JR “Whenever You’re Ready” (The Zombies cover) | FAKE FRUIT “Más O Menos” | FATBOI SHARIF & DUNCECAP "Psychedelics Wrote The Bible" | GRAFH & 38 SPESH "Rocafella Chain" (feat. Freeway, Peedi Crakk, & Memphis Bleek) | JAE SKEESE "Situated" (feat. Big K.R.I.T. & Sauce Walka) | JESSICA PRATT "Life Is" (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) | THE JESUS LIZARD “Alexis Feels Sick” | J.R.C.G. “Drummy” | LASSO "Parte" LP | LEAFING "Sleep" | LINDSAY REAMER "Figs and Peaches" | LOTS OF HANDS "Rosie" | NAILS "Give Me The Painkiller" | ØKSE "Amager" (feat. billy woods) | OSEES “Earthling” | PYREX "Alley Katz" (Hall & Oates cover) | RAZ FRESCO & DJ MUGGS “Look What You Made Me Do” | SEABLITE "Venus In Furs" (Velvet Underground cover) | SEAN HENRY "Burn It Out" | SILVERBACKS “Selling Shovels” | SIMA CUNNINGHAM “Nothing” | SKULLPRESSER "Positions of Power" | TRUE OPTIMIST “The Argument” | WATER FROM YOUR EYES "The Good Ship Lifestyle" (Chumbawamba cover) | WEAK SIGNAL “Wannabe" | WISHY "Sick Sweet"