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.

BLACK MIDI | “Schlagenheim” LP

As a certifiable *buzz band,* the hype around Black Midi has grown to a size that left me skeptical prior to the release of their album. From the singles released in the build up (most of which are not on the record itself, which they delayed the release of the track list), there were more than a few head scratching moments, but flashes of brilliance could certainly be found at times, and others, less so. Hailed as the rock’s new experimental saviors (here at Post-Trash we know rock doesn’t need saving), the young and the weird UK quartet finally released their full length debut, Schlagenheim, this past Friday, and well… we are firmly onboard. The fact that this band who blend heavy prog rock tendencies with post-punk, krautrock, noise rock, avant-jazz, and wondrously strange vocals can become a buzz band at all is encouraging, and songs like the cut throat “Near DT, MI” (a song seemingly about Flint’s water crisis) are stunning examples as to the ingenuity and cohesion in their free-form sound. I’ve been thinking about this record since I first heard it - each weird nuance and rattled expression - and every listen offers a new chance to untangle the unbridled madness at the album’s core.

FRIENDSHIP | “Undercurrent” LP

Friendship is sort of a misleading name for the monstrous Japanese metal / hardcore / grindcore band, their sound doesn’t necessarily recall images of good pals and light hearted fun. On the other hand, if your idea of a good time is music that pushes that lines on all manners of brutality, well, than Friendship’s sophomore album, Undercurrent, could just be one of the best heavy releases so far this year. Out now on Southern Lord, the ten tracks dig through distortion and crusty monolithic howls (reminiscent of last year’s impeccable Erosion album) with rattling tempos and riffs that go from crushing to sheer decimation, turning your head to soup in the process. Ever since Post-Trash’s own Jonathan Bannister recommended this one, I haven’t been able to stop listening, the band’s intensity matched only their chops, playing rough and ragged but technically adept to shift at a moments notice from d-beat hardcore, to stampeding grindcore, and to skull shattering metal. Maybe Friendship isn’t for the faint of heart, but then again maybe it’s the catharsis we all need.

LINA TULLGREN | “Golden Babyland“

New York-via-New England songwriter Lina Tullgren is getting ready to release their sophomore album, Free Cell in late August via Captured Tracks, just ahead of the project’s US tour with Frankie Cosmos. “Golden Babyland,” the upcoming album’s first single is stunning, pitting warm melodies and delicate instrumentals against melancholy lyrics and a detached procession of guitars sputtering in and out of focus. The vibrant mix of shimmering pop and off-centered melodicism swirls around itself, slowly evolving and devolving with glorious attention to detail, searching for shared emotion as Tullgren sings, “you’re my favorite one, but you’ve come and gone,” just as everything begins to slip away into disorientation.

MANEKA | “Never Nowhere”

Ever since I first heard Grass Is Green’s classic debut, Yeddo, back at the turn of the decade, Devin McKnight has been one of my favorite guitarists. He has a still all his own, exploring creative phrasing and progressions, creating riffs that feel alien in sound and design, but accessible and melodic. Wrangling the experimental together with pop-structures and off-centered hooks, Maneka (his band since 2017) is a flood of activity in every song, but it never sounds busy. Set to release their full length debut, Devin, next month, this album has had me straight floored since the first time I heard it, and I think I’ve come to appreciate even more with every listen. It’s impossibly unique and hard to pin down, squiggling from one incredible moment to the next, as heard on lead single “Never Nowhere,” a song that opens with an ominous lead and bubbles into a shifting riff of bleeding harmonics and delicate melodic touches. The drums skitter around like the ground is shaking, the entire structure ready to come down at any moment. There’s nothing loose about it though, this is an amazingly crafted song, built on guitar ingenuity and warm melodies that glue down Maneka’s unexpected hooks wherever they may fit.

MANNEQUIN PUSSY | “Cream”

We liked the first two singles from Mannequin Pussy’s upcoming album, Patience, just fine… hell, we even picked “Drunk II” as one of the best song’s of the week upon release, but we’d be lying if we said we haven’t been eagerly awaiting one of the album’s heavier tracks. Thankfully, just ahead of the record’s release the band shared “Cream,” a catchy indie punk by way of hardcore song, the way only Mannequin Pussy can do. It’s a great song with wide riffs and a careening melodic scorn, but it’s Marissa Dabice’s determined yelps and anxious screams that drive this one firmly into ground, a bludgeoning pop-thrust that works a repetitive structure and makes it feel exhilarating. We can’t wait to hear this record unfold, and thankfully it will be out by the time this post is live.

PHILARY | “Old Leg”

You know what they say about old legs… they move slow. So maybe it’s not the most popular expression (and maybe its not an expression at all), but it works in terms of Philary’s second single “Old Leg,” a personal favorite from the upcoming I Complain album. Alex Molini, an in-demand bassist that has always been focused on getting *that perfect tone*, the intro dirge of “Old Leg” is pretty much there, an immersive and destructive low end menace that slowly crawls over and destroys as it steamrolls forward. The rest of the song is a balancing act with that primal low end, Alex Molini’s vocals ring out at their sweetest, the juxtaposition hitting that sweet of sludge-pop bliss. It’s as massive as can be, an apocalyptic scourge of heaviness that lends itself to power-pop arrangements and well woven melodic charm.

PINCH POINTS | “Stainless Steel”

Melbourne post-punk band Pinch Points have quietly released one of the year’s best albums, a statement I’ll happily defend come December. The spindly riffs and sharp rhythmic contusions are restless, jittering from moment to the next, but it’s the band’s ultra thick sarcasm and social skewering gymnastics that put them in a class all their own (right down to the fact they’ve been wearing matching Pinch Points shirts for the entire album run), so biting I nearly hesitate writing this and giving them easy fuel for their fire. That being said, they bring their sardonic sprawl to perfection with a never ending wave of tight shifts and impeccable gang-vocals and harmonies. The video for “Stainless Steel” is essentially a performance video, with the band spinning around on a motorized factory floor, shouting about the commodity and consumerism of stainless steel, and products “essential for modern living.” Bless Pinch Points, we love this band.

RONG | “Milton Friedman’s Big Dumb Dream“

“Milton Friedman’s Big Dumb Dream” is a caustic song that opens frazzled and wonky and only tilts further from its axis from there. Originally featured on RONG’s split with Landowner, the song has been re-recorded for their record, Wormhat, but retains the same sense of obliterating mayhem. The guitars skitter one way as the bass line jaggedly pushes in the other direction together with a frantic drum pattern that moves from tight intricate rhythms into massive pounding fills. It’s all kinda mind blowing, and it’s knowingly relentless as the fury never ceases, just winding further into madness as it goes. The intensity and tension winding ever tighter, more claustrophobic with every contusion and tangled progression. Olivia’s vocals are both melodic and agitated, ranging from an emphatic shout to something more rapid and insistent, starting off at a relative calm (or as close to it as they get) and spiraling into a frenzy of yelps, trills, and fast paced explosions of chaotic shouts.

SHADY BUG | “Audiotree Live”

One of our favorite new bands of the past few years, St. Louis’ Shady Bug released their incredible sophomore album Lemon Lime back in March, a dynamic record that darts between dreamy indie pop and twisted and intricate post-hardcore bursts, channeling the unpredictability of math rock wrapped in a slacker punk kinda twee. The songs pop with noise as much as they do with gentle and honest lyrics, reflecting the world around them from basement show scenes to the challenges of interpersonal relationships and keeping your cool. The band played an amazing Audiotree session playing songs from the new record, highlighting their live dynamics as they happily tear through interwoven guitar lines and propulsive rhythms that stop and start on a whim, collapsing and expanding melodies in their own devolved patterns. They’re the best. If you missed their album, it’s never too late (but don’t be too late).

TROPICAL FUCK STORM | “Paradise”

Having released one of the last year’s absolute best albums, Melbourne’s Tropical Fuck Storm aren’t wasting time sitting around idle. The quartet have announced their sophomore album, the excellently titled Braindrops, due out August 23rd via Joyful Noise, and if lead single “Paradise” is anything to go by, it looks like they are aiming for that top spot yet again. The song is a slow burner that captures all the best qualities (of which they have many) found in TFS’ sound, warped and poetic lyricism with biting narratives, gloriously coupled duel vocals that create both tension and a pop-sheen, and the eventual unwinding into cataclysmic fury and carnage as the song feels pushed over the edge of a cliff. Tropical Fuck Storm continue to create some of the most dynamic riffs, squeals, and abrasive sonic attacks in recent memory, and they do it with a smirking intensity that feels important as it dislodges itself from the rails at full speed.

Further Listening:

JUNE 10 - JUNE 16:

JUNE 17 - JUNE 23:

Fuzzy Meadows: The Week's Best New Music (June 10th - June 23rd)