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.
BENNY THE BUTCHER | “Deal Or No Deal”
We’ll keep saying it. There is no one else doing it in rap these days quite like Benny The Butcher and his Griselda cohorts. While he released one of last year’s best albums (The Plugs We Made), he’s spent most of this year guesting on other records (always stealing the show) and prepping the release of his Black Soprano Family (B$F) album, due out at the end of the month. Benny never stops working though and as he reminds us “The Butcher’s coming,” this time with a new solo track “Deal Or No Deal.” With a dusty Daringer beat (Griselda’s top notch in-house producer), Benny uses the creeping bass line to go in with a violent dope dealer lyrical splurge with lines like “smoking Gary Payton just like the ‘96 bulls” and “a brick of yay and a genie, that’s what it takes just to be me,” Benny continues to offer some of the hardest rap drug rap with a sense of humor since the early days of Clipse.
BLACK THOUGHT | “Thought Vs. Everybody”
There is no other MC on the level of Black Thought, whether he’s your favorite rapper or not, he’s on another plateau altogether (remember this crowning spectacle of linguistics). Back in 2018 The Roots MC released a pair of solo records, the first two volumes of his ongoing Streams of Thought series, and now he’s back with Streams of Thought Vol. 3: Cane & Abel, due out later this month. The first single “Thought Vs. Everybody” is a fitting title, because the distance between Black Thought and every other lyricist continues to expand with each solo effort. The lyrics on his latest single go deep into political territory, with near every bar a highlight, full of insightful analysis, the entire thing a highlight, hitting with the lines, “Then they rely upon, we, the few defiant ones / Communicate in the higher forms than Viacom / To dialogue before the raw or the riot horn / I wonder on which side of the lines I belong?” For three minutes and change Black Thought offers brilliance without pause.
KNOT | “Foam”
You know how when one of your favorite bands break up you try to tell yourself that maybe their next band will be even better. It’s usually bullshit, but every now and then, it happens. It’s happened again with Knot, a new band that features all three members of Krill in addition to new guitarist Joe Demanuelle-Hall. While Jonah Furman and Aaron Ratoff may have changed instruments, the songwriting feels at home with their past efforts, while pushing forward with a new temperament, one that is less rooted in the philosophical wisdom of Furman’s mind, instead aimed outward at the world around us, though still very much from within his head. Lead single “Foam” is as good an introduction as any to the band’s spectacular self-titled debut, a song that pair knotted progressions and shifting rhythmic flushes against Furman’s thoughtful questions and poetic lyrics. It’s a new band and a welcome return all at once.
MAGIK MARKERS | “Machine”
After seven years of silence, Magik Markers reappeared on the last Bandcamp day with a new EP, Isolated From Exterior Time: 2020, their first release since the great Surrender To The Fantasy. Their sound remains well intact, with Elisa Ambrogio’s voice and guitar leading the way into some sort of mutant hybrid of prog, experimental art rock, and psych wandering. It’s a blend that they’ve always made their own, a signature bit of sharply spoken punk landscapes and smoke shields that distort the picture. “Machine” finds them in fine form, a collage of skrony rock, sleazy yelps, dissonant and atonal waves of guitar, and layers of casual melody that feel chaotic without relying on aggression. It’s got a boogie to it and an accessibility that’s cloaked under a dense fog. I don’t know if this is a one off release from a dormant band or a return to activity, but I have my fingers crossed for the latter.
WAX CHATTELS | “No Ties”
Hailing from Auckland, New Zealand, Wax Chattels make futuristic post-punk that shares very little with the Flying Nun Records sound that their country is most immediately known for. The trio instead play a tightly coiled form of punk with dense minimalism, the type of experimental sound that fits in with bands like Preoccupations, Drahla, Savages, and No Age. Set to release their sophomore album, Clot, in September via Captured Tracks (Widowspeak, Locate S,1, Mourn), the band’s steely aggression sounds alive and well on first single “No Ties,” bursting forward with a blast beat before settling into it’s low end heavy groove, pulling between arid post-punk rhythms and noise rock rattling bass. Amanda Cheng’s vocals start with a sweet melody and unravel into something vicious, the song peeling open toward the end as the fury bleeds over the stuttered drums.
Further Listening:
ALAIN JOHANNES “Hallowed Bones” | ALL PIGS MUST DIE “Deep Sleep” (Poison Idea cover) | ANJIMILE “Maker” | ASTRAL SWANS “Bird Songs” | THE BEAT INDEX “World of Want” | BOLDY JAMES & THE ALCHEMIST “Pots and Pans“ (feat. The Cool Kids & Shorty K) | CLOCK OF TIME “Rotten Master” | DEHD “Month“ | DIRTY PROJECTORS “Tiny Desk Concert” | ELLIS “Bedroom Covers” EP | EMPATH “III+” | ERIC SLICK “When It Comes Down To It“ | ES “Severed“ | FRANKIE AND THE WITCH FINGERS “Cavehead“ | GRACE SINGS SLUDGE “Christ Fucking Mocked“ | GUIDED BY VOICES “Haircut Sphinx“ | GUIDED BY VOICES “To Keep An Area” | ILLUMINATI HOTTIES “will i get cancelled if i write a song called, "if you were a man you'd be so cancelled"“ | JUNE OF 44 “ReRecorded Syntax” | KOMMAND “Radiation” | LOMELDA “Wonder” | MARLOWE “Lamilton Taeshawn” | MARLOWE “OG Funk Rock“ (feat. A-F-R-O) | MINT FIELD “Contingencia“ | MOCHITSUKI “Net New Resources“ LP | MOOR MOTHER & BILLY WOODS “Furies“ | NANA ADJOA “No Room“ | PAT KEEN “All Along” | PEEL DREAM MAGAZINE “Verfremdungseffekt“ | PUBLIC EYE “Lost Dog” | SKELETON “Skeleton” LP | SWEET WILLIAMS “Mickey” | YOUNG JESUS “Root and Crown”