by Dan Goldin (@paintingwithdan)
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 late hours of the night and semi-unedited... but full of love and heart. The list is in alphabetical order and we sincerely recommend checking it all out. There's a lot of great new music being released. Support the bands you love. Spread the word and buy some new music.
THE ANTICS
“The Antics” LP
Following a pair of singles last year comes the self-titled debut album from Melbourne’s The Antics, a band that weaves between post-punk and hardcore with a loose dexterity. Released via the great Rack Off Records (Blonde Revolver, Shove, Future Suck), it’s a sordid dose of fury pointed in all the right directions, the aggression paired with a garage punk sense of exuberance, the scorn paired with a layer of inescapable excitement in the blistering riffs and the punchy refrains. The quartet do a great job with the balance between the bleak and the explosive, catching us off guard as they lament rotting social norms with deadpan focus one moment only to become unglued the next with a haymaker of feminist resolve the next. With feedback that moves the songs like landslides, The Antics take aim against police corruption, shitty male behavior, and mindless consumption.
ASWAN DAM
“In The Playpen Of The Damned” LP
Following a release on the Harakiri Diat Youtube channel back in February, Aswan Dam’s debut album, In the Playpen of the Damned has arrived via Bandcamp. The New Jersey based recording project of Harry Wohl (Uranium Club, Harry Sings) and Gus Walia (who has penned several Harry Sings songs) definitely carries a resemblance to Wohl’s better known band, but Aswan Dam play with a more subdued and laid back nature. The songwriting is still punchy, but the rattled intensity has been peeled back to reveal a janglier sense of garage pop more indebted to old school power-pop than anything aggressively and erratic. There are plenty of bent progressions and insistent rhythms, but everything is stripped to the bare essentials, the songs rolling forward with a steely focus and forward sense of momentum.
BECK ZEGANS
“I Want You”
Consider this the official “you might consider this biased, but I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t include it warning.” If that bugs you, don’t read it, just listen for yourself.
Having spent the better part of a decade releasing music as the not so google-able Goo, New York City’s Beck Zegans decided it was time for a change. There’s a common thread between the projects and yet Engraving of Armor feels like a reset, a chance for Zegans to flip the script while pushing her music to new heights. Recorded together with Alex MacKay (Nation of Language) on bass and Julian Fader (Ava Luna) on drums, the trio explored the framework of Zegans’ songs and let them expand in new directions. The record’s lead single, “I Want You,” opts for a locked in groove that feels both dense and nimble as it unfolds, the hypnotic rhythm providing a perfect backbone with Beck Zegans’ stunning vocal melodies. Just as you’ve been lulled into the motorik bliss of the verses, the hook comes swarming with psych pop distortion, peeling and erupting the structure in sheer beauty.
THE BIG THEM
“Lick Lick Lick”
Scholars and knuckleheads alike can’t truly say why “noise rock” that comes out of Leeds is always better than “noise rock” that comes from anywhere else… but it generally is. The Big Them, a new band that features members of Mums and Irk among others, happen to hail from Leeds, go figure. The quintet’s latest EP, Four Colours, is set for release on April 24th via Buzzhowl Records (Thank, Die! Die! Die!, Health Plan) and it brings along some like-minded friends for the ride. While lead single “Yellow” featured vocals from USA Nails’ Gareth Thomas, the EP opener “Lick Lick Lick” puts Billy Mason Wood of Blacklisters front and center. One the more magnetic personalities to bellow into a microphone over the past two decades, Mason Wood’s slurred howl is a perfect match for the throbbing contortions of The Big Them’s latest single. The song bursts and warps around in the gutter with three sheets to the wind as piercing atonal riffs collide with the thud of inevitable chaos.
CADAVERIC INCUBATOR
“Torso”
Helsinki based death metal juggernauts Cadaveric Incubator are no strangers to the split having released singles together with Undergang, Hemorrhoid, and Depression among others . They’re back at it again, this time teaming up with Cardiac Arrest to release Torso, a split with four songs… all named “Torso” (which includes both an original and a cover from each band). There’s something about the way that Cadaveric Incubator’s songs barrel down on the senses that always reminds me of standing willy nilly in front of an oncoming freight train. This is death metal through and through but they play it with a hardcore sort of immediacy. It’s festering and dismembered with a relentless primitivism, but there’s very little in terms of winding structures and spidering pathways, Cadaveric Incubator simply stampede as though the herd was on the brink of extinction. “Torso” (both their original and their Exhumed cover) is gross and all the better for it, a blunt force trauma of a song gone berserk, hauling a ton of putridity as fast as they can pile it on.
GEMMA
“Glad 2 Have U”
It’s hard to believe it’s been seven years since the last Gemma record was released, but there’s no need to fret, the Brooklyn based duo of Felicia Douglass (Ava Luna, Dirty Projectors) and Erik Gundel have returned. Be About It, the third album from the two musical polymaths is due out on May 1st, a gorgeous blend of majestic indie pop and experimental R&B that feels like a balm of hope sent from another dimension. “Glad 2 Have U” is the album’s second single, a slinky song built around deep grooves and a vibrant progression that flows with a natural grace. One might describe it as having a real “stank” to it if only it wasn’t so damn beautiful. Gundel is operating on non-linear time with the structure, moving around Ethan Bassford’s (Ava Luna) mesmerizing bass with amorphous shades of sustained melody. Douglass’ voice is the glue that holds it all together, her gorgeous vocals rising and falling as the song two-steps around psych pop textures to a magical haze. Listen on repeat. It’s that good.
GOBBINJR
“Happened Yet”
A lot of music videos only exist because the press campaign requires them to exist, but every now and then you get a real work of art, a video that upgrades the song and the life of everyone who watches it (mileage may vary on that). Case in point, the video for “Happened Yet,” the latest single from gobbinjr’s upcoming album, crystal rabbit moon, The clip, directed by gobbin’s own Yuki Soga captures the band’s household cat with a mean case of FOMO and a crystal ball that enables all that to change. There’s possession, scenic car rides through the countryside, and choreography… everything a city cat could wish for. It’s a lovely odyssey of feline witchcraft which pairs together with the song’s minimalist art pop gleem. As the song slowly evolves with low end rumbles, cosmic synths, and a melody that skips like a stone, it all feels like the work of some sort of extra terrestrial presence that’s been brought to domesticity - alien at heart, but human in nature.
LILY SEABIRD
“Demon In Me”
Known for pushing her sound in dynamic new directions with each release, Burlington’s Lily Seabird never rests on her laurels. Last year’s Trash Mountain was a stunning record that favored the alt-country and folk influences in her songwriting, a gentle record that was flushed with acoustic arrangements and twang galore. Less than a year later (and following a busy year on the road), Seabird is back with new single “Demon In Me,” an expansive song that absolutely erupts in triumphant fashion. While the song opens with a close intamacy and soft strummed acoustics, the attention falls on Seabird’s lyrics as they wrap and unravel in equal measure. Three minutes in however, everything comes unglued with a brilliant dive into the type of guitar shredding distortion that would make J Mascis and Neil Young proud. It’s a real ripper.
MCLUSKY
“I Sure Am Getting Sick Of This Bowling Alley” EP
We’re still here, mclusky is still here, and that’s reason enough to be grateful. Following last year’s triumphant return to releasing records, the Bristol based trio ever so conveniently whipped up a new EP just in time for their now well underway US tour (I apologize, this column is painfully un-timely). It’s a real belter of a release, a record that distills the many charms of mclusky into a quick 13+ minutes of charming art punk rippers. There’s plenty of charisma (“Spock Culture”), plenty of songs to ponder what exactly Andrew Falkous is skewering (“That Was My Brain On Elves”), and lots of deeply knotted rhythms to pleasantly thrash around your apartment to. The highlight comes in the form of “As A Dad,” a hilarious take on the second-banana nature of being a father. It might be extra funny for new fathers (like myself) but the song, with its woozy slide guitar and layers of demented melody are mclusky at peak catchiness. i sure am getting sick of this bowling alley is anything but a toss away release, it’s mclusky in miniature, a potent punch of irreverence and bludgeoning hooks.
NEUROSIS
“An Undying Love For A Burning World” LP
While I do not claim to be a super fan of Neurosis, one can’t deny the Oakland based quintet have stood at the forefront of forward thinking art metal and sludge basically since their inception in the late 80s. To see them end in tragedy was something no one wanted and thankfully, the end has yet to come. A decade after their last album, the quintet return with Aaron Turner (SUMAC, ISIS) taking over the lead vocalist and guitarist position, a perfect match if there ever was one. An Undying Love For A Burning World carries the weight of an exorcism, the feeling of a band leaving the demons of the past behind, operating in peak form with renewed energy and gorgeous brutality. It’s a sonically adventurous record that feels impossibly heavy at times as the band blast through mountainous ruins with decay and dissolve very much on their collective minds. Turner is more than comfortable and capable at stepping into the carnage, he’s a spark of hope for the next chapter of an already legendary band.
SLIPPERS
“Wants For Everyone”
It’s Slippers season. Anyone who has spent any time listening to So You Like Slippers? knows thats reason to celebrate as the Madeline BB led band return with their second album Slippers 08, due out June 5th via the team of Perennial and K Records (Touch Girl Apple Blossom, Sharp Pins, Dummy). With a deep understanding that pop nuggets are best delivered in nugget form, Slippers truly excel at brief but vivid masterpieces, songs so catchy and fully realized they rarely need more than two minutes to create their jangly magic. “Wants For Everyone,” the album’s lead single, revolves on a sustained groove and detuned melodies, the sweet and the sour. With a foundation of Madeline BB’s crisp drums and harmonized vocals the song whips to life and just sort of thrives in that pocket. There’s a motorik energy to the rhythm that creates enough of a structure to let the guitars bleed into crackling distortion and the bent sense of melody provided by the warbling riffs. A true gem of power-pop simplicity that’s lined with Slippers’ fine-tuned attention to detail.
URQ
“Kings In Bed”
Consider this the official “you might consider this biased, but I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t include it warning.” If that bugs you, don’t read it, just listen for yourself.
This Dismal Village is a complete vision, a tale with a singular tonality but many different chapters. It’s a saga captured in glorious lo-fi. While best experienced in full, the song on Urq’s (Spllit, W-9) upcoming album stand alone in their own splendor, from the detached art punk boogie of “Another Mystery” to the lullaby psych odyssey of the latest single, “Kings In Bed”. Where the first single opened the story in an ominous state, much has transpired by the time the serene “Kings In Bed” has arrived. Victory was never guaranteed and the king has met defeat (“but the octopus regrows itself somehow”) within a song that balances off-centered pop, crackly tape warmth, and an iPhone app that simulates the loops of the optigan. With a dreamy resolve that recedes from the noise, repetition that feels like a comfort blanket is paired with stunning harmonies that appear and fizzle with dazzling impact. With an alternate tuning that runs throughout the record, the song feels part of a bigger puzzle, a place on the map is the greater dismal village.
WENDY EISENBERG
“It’s Here”
On first glance (and all subsequent glances), Wendy Eisenberg’s new self-titled album is truly beautiful. For those so inclined, it works as a gorgeous folk record for passive listening while cooking, walking the dog, or having cocktails on the patio. For those more inclined to deep listening (the “real ones” as they say), Eisenberg’s latest is a gift that keeps on giving, an album that’s as intricately composed and structurally brilliant as anything in her catalog, but opts for soft synaptic wonder in place of anything jarring or jagged. For all the mind melting dexterity that has become a signature of Eisenberg’s diverse catalog, it’s safe to say that this record places the songwriting above all else and wouldn’t you know it, Eisenberg has never sounded better. Take album center piece “It’s Here” for example, a gentle song with skittering brushed drums that pops and spikes with nuance at each immaculately designed shift. It’s a folk song with a progressive heart, music that rewards endless curiosity.
WIDOWSPEAK
“If You Change”
Have you ever thought about the fact that some babies get someone like me (a regular joe shmo) singing them lullabies at night (I do a serviceable “Rainbow Connection”) and others get Widowspeak’s Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas. That’s a lucky baby… but thankfully we all benefit because Widowspeak are releasing Roses on June 5th, their first new album in four years via Captured Tracks. It’s a harsh life but we’re all trying to find the brightness that peaks through the shadows, and Widowspeak’s latest feels like the perfect reflection of that. “If You Change,” the record’s lead single is as beautiful as they come, a winding song that captures the spirit of the west with the weariness of an ever shifting New York and the wake it creates. With soft acoustics and slow burning electric guitars joining forces, the duo set a lush landscape for Hamilton’s warm and hopeful vocals. The video, directed by Otium, captures the voyage of a lost beanie baby determined to return to his baby companion and it’s all just so lovely.
YAMBAG
“The Psycho” EP
Listening to Cleveland’s Yambag feels somewhat like sprinting head-down at full-speed into a brick wall. Sure you might break your neck in the process, but it’s the thrill of it all that you can’t escape (do not try this at home). Broken necks and fractured skulls be damned, Yambag hurtle like a tornado in a china shop on The Psycho, the band’s fourth record since the turn of the decade. Just ahead of their tour with the equally unhinged Reek Minds, Yambag deliver us eight savage new tracks in eight savage minutes, blinding in their aggression but perhaps most importantly built on memorable riffs and hooks that stick as they stampede on by. From the frantic pummel of “Buried Alive” (a song far more catchy than anything at that velocity has any business being) to the pounding carnage of “Nerve Damage” and the genuinely dangerous avalanche of momentum that is “Community,” it’s pure decimation with gritty hardcore detail, punk to dislocate your jaw, leaving you toothless and smiling in the process.
Further Listening:
March 16 - March 22:
A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS “Where Are We Now” | AMAR LAL “Hatsuyume” | ANKHLEJOHN & WHOA1.0 “The American Man” | BILLIAM “Asbestos and Me” | BLACK BEACH “Mail Thief” LP | BLU & EXILE “Crumbs” (feat. Rome Streetz & Icecoldbishop) | BOLDY JAMES & YOUR BOY POSCA “Hook, Line, & Sinker” EP | BUTTHOLE SURFERS “Jet Fighter” | COLA “Conflagration Mindset" | CRAIG WEDREN “Play Innocent (Live)” | FAILURE “A Way Down” | FLORRY “Take My Heart (Live)” | FRANK HURRICANE “Taylor and Rhonda” | FULCI “Risorsero dalla Tomba e Fu… L’apocalisse!” EP | HOLIDAY MUSIC “AutoFinder” | HORSE LORDS “Brain of the Firm” | LOST BOY ? “Yvette’s Town” | NATIONAL PHOTO COMMITTEE “Foam The Field” | PEARL “Spiral” | PICTORIA VARK “No One Left (Live)” | RINGING “Rose/Bud/Thorn” | ROBERT LESTER FOLSOM “One More Song” | SAM SEED “Peter and the Wolf” (feat. billy woods & Mickey Diamond) | SONNY FALLS “Dead Leaves” | STEPMOTHER “What’s New” | STIK FIGA & HEATHER GREY “No Secrets” (feat. Asher Roth) | STUCK “Sicko” | T.F. & DJ MUGGS “Clap” (feat. Ghostface Killah) | TV STAR “Reality Cheque” | WHITE FENCE “Unread Books” | WIRE “23 Years Too Late (24 Years Later Edit)”
March 23 - March 29:
BOLDY JAMES & MC SERCH “What The Stove Say” | THE BUG CLUB “Yours (If You Want Me)” | CHEEKFACE “Black Site” | THE CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM “Meat Machines” | COLE BERLINER “The Black Door” | COURTNEY BARNETT “One Thing At A Time“ | DOWNTOWN BOYS “No Me Jodas” | EARL SWEATSHIRT, MIKE, & SURF GANG “Leadbelly” | GUIDED BY VOICES “Advance Without Dropping” | GUN OUTFIT “So Easy To Love” | HANNAH LEW “Replica” | KING TUFF “Stairway To Nowhere” | LARRY JUNE “Still Calculating Freestyle” | THE LOX “Never Change” | ODDISEE & HENO “MIMS” | POISON RUIN "Guts (Lay Yourself Aside)" | PORTRAYAL OF GUILT “Death From Above” | SQUIRREL FLOWER “Wheels” (feat. Babehoven & Billie Marten) | STYROFOAM WINOS “Pearls” | TALL FRIEND “Laughing Gull” | TELEHEALTH “Things I’ve Killed” | TOADIES “Damage” | WINSTON HIGHTOWER “Selfish Soother”
MARCH 30 - APRIL 05:
1000 RABBITS “Rubik’s Cube” | A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS “Song For Girl From Macedonia” | ANKHLEJOHN & WHOA1.0 “Cooking Board” | BOLDY JAMES & INFO56 “Cold In The D” | COMMITMENT “Fear Of” | DRY CLEANING “Sliced By A Fingernail” | EARL SWEATSHIRT & SURF GANG “Home on the Range” | J. ZUNZ “Silvia” | KLONNS “Pledge” | LA SÉCURITÉ “Snack City” | LAMBRINI GIRLS “Cult of Celebrity” | MIKE & SURF GANG “Back Home” | MRS. MAGICIAN “Dead Alive” | PARLOR WALLS “Big Crystal Dreams” LP | PINK SIIFU “GOT FOOD AT THE CRIB'!!!!! VOL.5” EP | PIPPY “No Dice” | PLEASER “Routine” | ROBBER ROBBER “New Year’s Eve” | ROSCO P. COLDCHAIN “Play With Something Safe” (feat. Ab-Liva &. Jimmie D) | SIYAHKAL “Full Moon” | STYLES P “Simulation” | SWEET WILLIAMS “Half Frogs” LP | T.F. & DJ MUGGS “Cha Cha Chicken” | TWICE EYES “Another Look” | WEIRD NIGHTMARE “Where I Belong” | WIDEMOUTH “No Gasoline” | ZASTAVA “Blaine” | ZIPPER “Hiko”