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.

DRESSAGE | “Take Me Home” LP

When we premiered “Star Scar,” the first single from Dressage’s sophomore album Take Me Home, I didn’t quite understand the claims of them being “a cowboy band.” Upon hearing the album in full, I get it and I’m along for the ride. The New York based band (which now includes ex-Birthing Hips’ vocalist Carrie Furniss), take their own unusual approach to the Western elements of their sound, but the influence is interspersed in moments of genuine twang and cinematic drifts. While much of the album is built on no-wave inflected punk and jazzy experiments, it’s the wide open moments of songs like the spaced out “My Universe,” the medieval tinged “Town To Town,” and “Dusty Trail” with it’s spaghetti western flare that make Take Me Home an undeniably interesting listen.

EERIE WANDA | “Moon”

Netherlands trio Eerie Wanda’s sophomore album Pet Town is due out via Joyful Noise in January, a record written by Marina Tadic during a period of isolation. The band recorded their individuals parts alone in different parts of the country to capture the feeling. “Moon,” the stunning first single most definitely carries that lonely vibe with it, the finger picked guitar and resonant bass notes so sparse and stirring you can feel them float through empty space. Each vocal line is delivered soft and clear, a blurring between reality and escape as Tadic sings “I take a staircase and walk to the moon, when I open my eyes I’m in my room.” The song’s drum machine produced rhythmic pulse is introduced in the second verse and while the tempo shifts ever so slightly, the dreamy euphoria remains blissful.

GOAT GIRL | “The Man (Udder Sounds Edit)”

Earlier this spring, London’s Goat Girl released their self-titled debut, a rousingly dark and twangy post-punk record that remains one of the year’s best. With the end of the year insight, Goat Girl are set to release the Rough Trade exclusive, Udder Sounds, an EP of reimagined songs from their debut. First single “The Man” is re-contextualized as a dirty blues number, with the sarcastic lyrics given a whole new context due to a smokey spoken-word male vocal line joining Clottie Cream’s slurred drawl for a seedy back alley sound. It’s a new light for the deceptively biting single, a light that still flickers in the dark shadows, sliding and skittering with swampy delta blues.

LISA/LIZA | “Tea Kettle”

Lisa/Liza’s new record is helping me to live a calmer existence. While rooted in heartbreak and loss, the spacing and care of every composition, the way each note hits, and immersive depth of each song is profound. The album’s third single “Tea Kettle” is as gorgeous as the two before it, a quietly introspective song that offers the words to mend the fractured, “things have been hard, but that’s not your fault, things have been hard, but that’s not your card.” Liza Victoria’s voice slowly forming words with gentle clarity, stretching them over harmonics that burst and fade, rolling drums, and an increasingly constricted atmosphere that reflects changes in mood and nature. The warmth of the room and the splatter of rhythms feel up close and personal as Victoria’s lyrics melt your heart into a puddle on the stained wood floor.

MISTER GOBLIN | “Be Right There”

When a beloved band breaks up it can be devastating, but as optimistic people like to say, “maybe their next projects will be ever better.” While it’s too early to say that about Mister Goblin, the new project from Two Inch Astronaut’s Sam Goblin, he’s certainly off to an incredible start with “Be Right There,” the debut single from the upcoming Final Boy EP. Embracing the freedom of having a blank pallet and no expectations, Mister Goblin roots itself in an easier pop sound, less tangled, but brilliantly structured and instantly memorable. Goblin’s song-writing evolves without strict verses, straying away from the conventional without sacrificing a hint of accessibility. Warm acoustics, beautiful harmonies (courtesy of Jordyn Blakely), and a late crescendo accent Goblin’s lyrics and naturally dynamic vocals, dissolving the notion a song needs a traditional hook to be an earworm.

RICK RUDE | “Verb For Dreaming” LP

Last year Rick Rude’s full length debut came and knocked our damn socks off. Released in the first weeks of the year it remained an absolute obsession until the year’s end (and beyond). Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait all that long for its follow-up, the brilliantly diverse and optimistic Verb For Dreaming. The New Hampshire quartet function more as a close-knit family than they do a band, each member bringing their unique personality and song-writing inflections to the table, working together to flesh it out with cohesion. It’s there in the rowdiest moments (“Doughnation,” “All Lock”), the gorgeously serene (“Dollyhook,” “Surrounds”), and their unfiltered exuberance (“Jupiter,” “Verb For Dreaming”), the band expanding one other’s ideas to the fullest. They’ve created an album that is honestly uplifting and joyous in the process.

Further Listening:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (November 12th - November 18th)