Despite the ease of access that streaming has brought to the distribution of music, the volume that's released can make it a daunting task to find unique new stuff every week. In this recurring weekly feature we put together a short list of new songs from the past week that stand out amongst all the noise and deserve a spot in your rotation.
All songs featured in this recurring series can be found in our scrmbl selection 2025 playlist on Spotify or Apple Music.
CENT — "Poker Faced Cowboy"
The compressed crunch of the guitars lends “Poker Face Cowboy” an extra pop-punk snottiness compared to the other squeaky-clean power-pop in CENT’s new mini album. Yet it’s still a track from a project titled Love Album. For all of its rocker edginess, it’s not above the soft stuff like staring into a crush’s eyes and being enamored by his taste in music. “At the intersection, you got on aiko, I got on clairo / I might just jump over this borderline,” the former BiSH member shouts in the chorus where the punk noise reaches overdrive.
PiKi — "88888888"
Everything about this is ridiculous. It's a tie-up number for a movie inspired by the creepy video game where you're stuck in a train station, with said song riffing on the unsettling nature of the title. Providing the tune is PiKi, the special duo of Karen Matsumoto (FRUITS ZIPPER) and Haruka Sakuraba (CUTIE STREET), usually engaged in kawaii to the max but here working within a steelier, unnerving club creep filled with spine-tingling sonic touches. That comes courtesy of Yasutaka Nakata who...delivers his best production of the year by going in a totally different direction than anything he's done before. It's all absurd, but in the best way possible. Listen above.
ponderosa may bloom — "Chasing August"
ponderosa may bloom express idol-pop yearning in dream-pop colors. While the group’s go-to sounds usually lean toward the ethereal, mainly of shoegaze and electropop, “Chasing August” adds breakcore beats into the mix to rough up the pretty surface. The speedy drums heightens the song’s sense of momentum, not just with its propulsive feel but also the urgency in the idols with their desire to get close: “Let’s find each other / and don’t let go of my hand,” they sing as the music rushes faster and faster.
roi bob — "POOL"
roi bob know the right indie-rock guitar tuning to summon the feelings of summer, and the shimmery riffs of “POOL” sound as luminescent as sunlight reflecting off the water. The band’s new single, though, treats the pool as not a thing to cannonball-dive into but rather a place to soak and wash the bad thoughts away. “Even these expectations that floated up / begin to sink,” guitarist and vocalist nii sings in the chorus. Summer break doesn’t always go the way you want to; roi bob understands this well.
SleepInside — "Yonchome No Yuuhi"
A haze hovers over SleepInside's "Yonchome No Yuuhi." The band practically stroll ahead on a song capturing the moment of the day ending in a particular neighborhood, but feedback and vocal echoes lend it a dreamier feeling that turns what could have been a diary entry into something far more absorbing. Listen above.
xiangyu Featuring Sawa Angstrom — "Toka Iite"
Spinning-top-turned-human xiangyu teams up with skittering electronic project Sawa Angstrom for a skittering number highlighting both of their strengths. The key is the speed — from the very start, even as vocal samples sputter, the beat bounces ahead, with xianguyu jumping in and holding on alongside its charge. She's able to turn the mundane into something that sounds otherworldly, at one point mentioning watching anime on Netflix, with Sawa Angstrom's whirring production helping to make it all feel a bit more surreal. Listen above.
