by Benji Heywood, Dan Goldin, Matt Watton, 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.
CHAT PILE
“I Am Dog Now”
There’s a certain brand of horror film – Longlegs, It Follows – that uses nostalgia for a misremembered past to expunge anxieties of a terrorized present. At their best, Chat Pile are that kind of band. Their music is like an artifact discovered buried in a time capsule from 1995 by time travelers from the year 2030. It’s a neat trick, one that propelled the OKC noise rockers to unexpected notoriety on 2022’s God’s Country. This week, the band returns with “I Am Dog Now,” the first single from forthcoming album Cool World, once again released by The Flenser and once again an exploration of angst in a world where you’re just as likely to drive past a church as you are to see a car crashed through its facade. On “I Am Dog Now,” Chat Pile’s effective formula remains intact—jagged riffs propelled by bottom-feeder bass and metallic drums. Meanwhile, singer Raygun Busch continues to straddle the line between righteous prophet and unhinged anti-hero. It begs the question: Why break what ain’t fixed? - Benji Heywood
KIM DEAL
“Coast”
As the Breeders gear up to introduce more Olivia Rodrigo fans to the spirit of true grunge, Kim Deal has dropped a new single under her own name. A quirky tune with a somber edge, Deal is in fine form: her voice is as singular as ever, and her irrepressible ear for melody wrangles together charming harmonies and a bubbly horn section. The vibes are tropical (think Jimmy Buffet covering Blondie’s “Sunday Girl”), with a lead guitar line that sounds a Hawaiian luau guitar melting in the sun (‘no aloha’ indeed). This is Deal’s first official ‘solo’ release since a handful of 7” singles in 2013/4, though she is joined by her sister Kelley Deal on guitar and former Breeders’ bassist Mando Lopez. The song’s dual vibe, both peppy and wistful, is appropriate given the fact that the late, great Steve Albini recorded/engineered the track: a poignant reminder of Albini and Deal’s 35+ year working relationship; of Albini and Deal’s musical eclecticism; and of the inexorable march towards the end of summer itself. We can only hope this single (released on 4AD) is harbinger for more releases to come. - Matt Watton
NOUN
“Wanted/Consumed”
After last year’s bittersweet but amicable end of the Screaming Females, it’s heartening to see Marissa Paternoster reviving her solo project Noun with a new pair of songs. Since Noun’s earliest releases in 2007, the line between a Noun song and Screaming Females song is thin: Noun tunes tend to be a bit more eclectic in their instrumentation and stylistic influences, more electronic and spacious than the catchy hard-hitting rock of the Females, but Paternoster’s inimitable yowl and incomparable guitar work is still front-and-center. Currently Noun is a duo with drummer Phillip Price bringing his progressive-metal edginess (you can feel each snare hit through the speakers). These two songs are heavy and unapologetic. “Wanted” is sludgy and indignant with rage; it’s impossible to tell where Paternoster’s bloody scream ends and the guitar solo screech begins. “Consumed” is alternatingly melodic and caustic, building to a driving crescendo. This great pair of songs shows off Paternoster’s range and ability to mine well-worn paths for new artistic gold. - Matt Watton
RONG
“Live At New Alliance” LP / “Ohmstead Session #1” EP
I do not window shop, dear reader. I like to try things on for size. But it only took three seconds before adding the new RONG tape to my Bandcamp cart. Between the first few blistering moments of “COINCIDENCE” and the last two years of replaying the band’s Ohmstead session on YouTube, consider me fucking sold. RONG are better than sliced bread, always have been, and the band’s new pair of live sets are here to prove it. The noise rock outfit’s explosive performances are expertly recorded, capturing every ounce of raw energy the volatile Massachusetts project has to offer. Live at New Alliance boasts not only three live cuts, but four brand new cuts. Get your head rite and grip the new RONG. - Patrick Pilch
TROPICAL FUCK STORM
“Antimatter Animals (Live)”
It didn’t take long for Melbourne’s Tropical Fuck Storm to become one of the world’s most exciting bands. With a tireless work ethic that either finds the quartet touring the world or recording new music, the quartet have released three brilliant full length albums, two EPs, an intimate (and hard to describe) film performance with an accompanying soundtrack, and a slew of singles over the past six years, pausing only for global pandemics and a battle with cancer. The band’s sound is warped and blistering, a unique and caterwauling fusion of experimental indie rock, damaged folk, noise rock, and psychedelic punk, delivered with pop hooks and a deranged technicolor radiance. Tropical Fuck Storm’s Inflatable Graveyard, due out September 27th via Three Lobed Recordings, is the band’s first proper live album, captured in 2022 at Chicago’s Lincoln Hall. Swarming in a wall of guitar noise and buzzing synths, the band tear through their set with a primal intelligence, maximalist and unapologetic, as seen on the detached glory of “Antimatter Animals,” a song as indebted to its harmonized hooks as its enveloping sonic assault.
WENDY EISENBERG
“Lasik”
Wendy Eisenberg’s “Lasik” is our introduction to the brilliant concept behind Viewfinder, the guitarist’s fascinating post-op record on perception, objectivity, and love after Lasik. After a lifetime of inconvenience, Eisenberg went into eye surgery in Fall of 2021. What followed was paradox: with clarity came complete disorientation. Viewfinder is a song cycle for improvisers meditating on “vision, the visible, signs, viewpoints, eyes themselves.” As Eisenberg explains, it is an album which questions the rules of objectivity and understanding in relation to our own inherently flawed perceptions. “Healing takes forever/But changing isn’t healing,” they sing near the final moments of “Lasik,” a beautiful observation reached only after deep contemplation the musician phrases best: “I have begun to comfort myself with the notion that loving something does not require that what is beloved be understood. I would have not reached that notion without following this meditation on sight so deeply that it showed me the beauty of what is impossible to see.” - Patrick Pilch
Further Listening:
A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS "Disgust" | ALAN SPARHAWK "Can U Hear" | ALLEGRA KRIEGER "Audiotree Live" | BENNY THE BUTCHER "Summer '24" | BIKINI KILL "Rebel Girl (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) | CLASS "First To Finish Last" b/w "Just A Worm" | DALE CROVER "I Quit" (feat. Kim Thayil) | ED SCHRADER'S MUSIC BEAT "Roman Candle" | FANTASY OF A BROKEN HEART "Loss" | FUCKED UP "Divining Gods” | FULCI “Fucked With A Broken Bottle” | HEEMS "DAME" | HORSE JUMPER OF LOVE "Today's Iconoclast" | HYPER GAL "Over Fussy" | JANA MILA "In Between" | LITTLE BIT "Lead You On" | LUNAR VACATION "Sick" | MICHAEL BEACH "The Sea" | ONEIDA "Reason To Hide" | ORUÃ "Caboclo" | PALEHOUND "Fadin' (Live)" | RAKIM "Now Is The Time" (feat. B.G., Hus KingPin, & Compton Menace) | RANSOM & MADEINTYO "Smoke & Mirrors" EP | RONG "Ohmstead Session #1" EP | SCRUNCHIES "High Pile" | SHINER "Brooks (Remixed/Remastered)" | THE SOUNDCARRIERS "Already Over" | WEBB CHAPEL "Springtime" | WHISPER STATES "Death in the Country"