The band channel The B-52s with great results - interjected tangled guitar chords with deceptively sweet pop hooks and a pulsating nerve that manages to twitch from the album’s infectious beginning to the end.
Welcome to FUZZY MEADOWS, where we recap the past week in 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.
Quicksand hasn't made a record in 22 years, and this new record, Interiors, bridges the gap very well. It feels like stepping into extended, but worthy of being, title tracks off their debut album.
Recorded in 48 hours in the early months of 2018, the record bears influences from noise rock, grunge, and punk. In less than 18 minutes, Gloop manage to sound as effortless as Pavement while remaining as angry and gritty as The Jesus Lizard.
The music of BLAHA (which now records and functions as a quartet) picks up where The Blind Shake left off on Celebrate Your Worth, with their roots firmly in tangled post-punk while exploring psych, power-pop, garage, and surf punk.
“Adagio” manages to tackle a dazzling array of themes and in the same breath deliver a hypnotically heavy track that would make The Jesus Lizard raise an eyebrow. There’s a lot to unpack.
Beast on Beast is an emotionally dense album that hides under playful songwriting and Gabby’s airy and effortless vocals that drive home the accessibility to Gabby’s inner world and life
The five-track sampling from the Providence five-piece is an absolute gem; a testimony to the fledgling band’s stylistic versatility and obvious knack for songwriting.
“Qi Velocity,” the band’s lead single was released back in the heart of the Summer, and as winter starts to loom here on the East Coast, the band’s new video for the song continues to feel like a warm blanket.
The trio’s sophomore effort is a sleek approach to melodic hardcore. Stella is filled with sweeping hooks and a revamped sound, as the album’s production value is kicked into high gear with the help of veteran engineers Jack Shirley and Steve Albini.
Sprawling lead single “Three-Fold Return” is a warm splatter of layers, both acoustic and electric, feeding back and strumming blissfuly in unison. It’s a landslide of texture without sonic overload.
Much of the material on Clearance’s recently released record, At Your Leisure, stems from the fallout of both a breakup and the election, which followed Bellis’ month-long visit to New Zealand. Clearance has learned you’re not guaranteed anything when doing music other than the material you create.
This record drives home the euphoria of rock songs that make your pulse quicken once their hooks get under your skin. For all its otherworldly ambition, its greatest achievement hails from closer to home
New York City punk stalwarts Sediment Club recently joined the 10 year club; an unimaginable yet undoubtedly applaudable achievement to be reached in an ever-shifting DIY scene.
The difference here is that he is pushing just a little further, testing his limits just a little more than we are used to. And that’s what makes this record truly special, that it proves Hartlett can maintain his sense of identity while stepping out into the unknown.
On November 9th, Melbourne’s Civic will release their latest EP, Those Who No. While their debut had more of a hardcore punk energy to it, their latest finds the quintet in a janglier mood, embracing the rawness of power-pop and big herculean hooks.
Accompanying all this fury, is some of the most inventive hardcore I’ve heard over the past few years. In a genre that all too easily retreats back into familiar tropes, Feeding Frenzy feels like it’s barely being contained, brimming with creativity and aggression.
The new Brooklyn quartet, which features members of The Mad Doctors, will release their bad tones meets good vibes self-titled debut on November 9th, wherever reckless fuzz rock abandonment is found.
Crush Crusher is IAN SWEET’s intensely intimate followup to an ongoing narrative of interpersonal relationships and self-examination, weighing in on the absurd interactions one has in their 20-somethings, in what consistently feels like the end of an era.
