by Benji Heywood, 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.
BEST BETS
"Spooky Signals"
New Zealand quartet Best Bets’ "Spooky Signals" comes blasting out of the speakers with fuzzed out jangle pop, as the vocals of Olly Evans and Joseph Harding harmonize ecstatically. Joe Sampson's bass bobbles and dips throughout with an endless energy that fits so well amongst the bright guitar pops and rolling drums on this piece of hyper power-pop. Best Bets detail a bit of romantic confusion and distance with an explosive enthusiasm that it's hard not to bob along to this driving, shuffling chaos. Best Bets prove themselves as band to pay attention to from the little South Pacific Island that has a long and well deserved musical reputation, one that Best Bets collide head on with in impressive fashion. - Kris Handel
FAKE FRUIT
“Gotta Meet You”
I’d missed the boat on Fake Fruit’s lauded self-titled debut in 2021, but the Oakland project’s latest single is an excellent reason to climb aboard. “Gotta Meet You” is a frantic skronk punk cut as delirious as its alarmingly enamored narrator. “You keep running from me/I’ll catch up to you,” Hannah D’Amato insists, her words reflecting audibly obsessive expressions. Wide-eyed and wild-eyed, smiling, she shrills, “Just gotta meet you”. It’s an obvious role D’Amato takes on, delivered with a healthy dose of the band’s palpable wit, and is wildly effective and fun when paired with the track’s sax-driven freak out. If you weren’t in on Fake Fruit’s joke the first time, now’s as good a time as any to start chuckling along. - Patrick Pilch
IT THING
“Roman Baths”
Three years after they released Syrup, their fantastic debut album (and a year since the last single), Melbourne’s It Thing make their return with a new EP, Spirit Level. Due out August 30th via Marthouse Records (Dr Sure’s Unusual Practice, Bench Press, Tali & The Arms), “Roman Baths,” the record’s lead single picks up on what makes the band so great and then wanders into the expansive unknown. It Thing play within a splendid yet well tarnished realm of B-52s inspiration, led by sharp melodic cuts, galloping rhythms, and most importantly, the gripping howl of Charlotte Gigi’s unmistakeable vocals. Shaking with an antagonistic rumble amid infectious grooves and mantra-like repetition, the band let the tension unwind, darting through the front half before locking into slow burning hypnosis. - Dan Goldin
LERRYN
“As A Mother” (feat. Naima Bock)
Lerryn’s “As A Mother” is abundantly beautiful, a warm introduction to the London based songwriter’s solo debut. Having cut her teeth in post-punk bands, overwhelming love and its shared complexities are now leading the way as her upcoming record of the same name (out in September via Redundant Span Records) is built on tender, gentle, and wondrous art-pop. “As A Mother” is spring-loaded with vibrant hooks, a dreamy nugget that focuses on the struggle between the grip of deep rooted love experienced as a new mother with the need to go out, to break from routine and simply live. It’s gorgeous writing, and if you happen to have a newborn in your arms as you listen, it’s all too real. Joined by Naima Bock on backing vocals, the song swells with resounding joy, home or away, the heart beats with unfiltered love. - Dan Goldin
MEMORIALS
“Lamplighter”
“Lamplighter” was described by the band as the most outright “pop” cut from their debut album Memorial Waterslides, (soundtracks not included), and yet MEMORIALS of course say it with a caveat, as experimentation always seems to lurk just beneath the surface. With the record due out in October via Fire Records (Marina Allen, Jane Weaver, Royal Trux), the third single from the duo of Verity Susman (Electrelane) and Matthew Simms (Wire) does indeed have an immaculate pop glow radiating from its core, but there’s a great deal of psychedelic texture bubbling up underneath the sweet folk harmonies and sprightly synths. Incredibly well-crafted with nuance and structural asides, the song blooms and bursts from hook to hook. - Dan Goldin
PEEL DREAM MAGAZINE
"Central Park West" / "Dawn"
Over the past five years or so Peel Dream Magazine have amassed a catalog of impressive releases, gorgeous psych pop and nervy bursts of noise, one after the other. "Dawn" and "Central Park West" are two new singles off the forthcoming Rose Main Reading Room and these tracks should leave listeners salivating. "Dawn" is a slowly revealing bit of keyboard ambience broken by the purring vocals of Olivia Babuka-Black (Le Pain), accentuating the orch-pop beauty akin to Bobby Wratten fronting Stereolab that Joseph Stevens continues to miraculously develop. "Central Park West" continues the laid back atmosphere with a jazzy swing as Stevens’ acoustic guitar chords ring over bright keyboards and his vocals intertwine with Babuka-Black with a soothing blissfulness. Stevens continues to explore many different avenues of dreamy pop with a sense of wonder and songwriting that highlights daily activities in a manner full of unflappable zest. - Kris Handel
THANK
“Writing Out A List Of All The Names Of God”
You can dance to Thank's new song “Writing Out a List of All the Names of God”—or at the very least have an epileptic seizure to it. With its fierce brutalism and sarcastic sneer, the band’s first single since signing to Big Scary Monsters would be harrowing if it weren’t so fucking funny. Which is the point. The Leeds agit-rockers describe “Names of God” as a diss track (devil horns emoji). As such, anyone who’s been first-of-three where the headliners were a bunch of pricks will appreciate the song, as will anyone who wishes the jungle and noise rock Venn diagrams overlapped more. Thank once cheekily claimed there’s never been a good band from Leeds. “Writing Out a List of All the Names of God” is proof positive there sure is now. - Benji Heywood
Further Listening:
A GIANT DOG "Raw" EP | ADRIANNE LENKER "Once A Bunch" | BLACK ENDS "Bent" | BOOJI BOYS "Demo Promo 2024 !!??" EP | THE BUG CLUB "A Bit Like James Bond" | DEVO "Tiny Desk Concert" | ELUCID "Instant Transfer" (feat. billy woods) | ENDON "Hit Me" | EX PILOTS "Spirits Up" | GUIDING LIGHT "Guiding Light" EP | HEEMS "Rakhi" | LEAFING "Take The Medicine" | LITTLE BIT "Out To Dry" | LUNAR VACATION "Tom" | MUGGER "Get A Clue" | NAILS "Lacking The Ability To Process Empathy" | NAKED ROOMMATE "Bus" | OFF! "Oblivion" | ØKSE “Skopje” (feat. ELUCID) | POISE "Give" | PORCHES "Crying At The End" | SEAN HENRY "Jamproof" | SHOWER CURTAIN "Wish U Well" | SILVERBACKS "Something I Know" | SLIPPERS "Nice Weather" | THE SMILE "Don't Get Me Started" | SMILE MACHINE "Untitled" (Ohmstead Session) | TASHA "So Much More" | ULNA "Secrets" | VIDEO AGE "Out In The Country" (feat. Esther Rose)