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.
CUBELIC — “Tabun Maybe Osoraku Kittosou”
CUBELIC apply a future-bass touch to the group’s new single with metallic clangs and growling electro synths stuffed in their usual rubbery synth-funk. While the idols sing a rather scatterbrained hook — “I think maybe it must be probably so” — along an equally jumbled track, they snap back into focus come the chorus. As a familiar Vocoder riff welcomes the idols like in their past works, all of their maybes and reservations about their feelings start to sound more of a sure thing.
KUROJI — “KIMO85”
“Intense” doesn't even begin to describe how rap trio KUROJI sounds on its latest single. More like “on edge,” each member verbally running over a beat that manages to both be claustrophobic and unnerving (featuring what sounds like backtracked gasps). It's a trip, even when it feels bound to all come crashing down. Listen above.
Nao Kodama and THE BED ROOM TAPE — “Utopia”
A collaboration that manages to bridge the distance between the sweet and the surreal. Singer/songwriter Nao Kodama offers easygoing energy on “Utopia,” gliding gracefully over piano notes and a light beat. I'm going to guess though that it's long-running project THE BED ROOM TAPE adding in electronic touches that help distort this groove ever so slightly, turning something sunny into something a bit more left field while still retaining its catchiness. Listen above.
ODETRASH — “EXCALIBUR”
Internet force ODETRASH has played a central role in shaping the sound of the Japanese underground in the wake of “hyperpop,” with his 2022 release HERO CORE being a vital document of this scene's growth. Latest track “EXCALIBUR” finds him continuing to refine that digi-damaged sound, with producer hirihiri in tow. It tightropes between EDM-pop theatrics and a blurrier electro-pop sound (see those vocals), delivered with a rawness that adds an emotional intensity to it all. Listen above.
PAX0 — “PlayStaytion Vita”
In this closing track off of his new album, PAX0 provides exactly as advertised on the cover art: synths, distortion and video-game nostalgia. Candy-colored synths and a red-lined bass line unlock beloved memories from the rapper — “Back in 2018, I played so much Power Pros on this”— as well as some bars about how much the times have changed since Sony dropped its handheld console. Auto-Tuned vocals and the rumbling 808s blow up the proportion of even the most pedestrian lyrics, every detail sounding as bewildering as it seems in PAX0’s mind.
V6 — “Egao Ga Suki”
As V6 made their catalog available on streaming services, the STARTO group also shared a previously unreleased single done in collaboration with a rather unexpected pair: Keigo Oyamada on arrangement and Shintaro Sakamoto on lyrics. The former hands the group the kind of stoned-out technopop found in later-era Cornelius albums, and it’s charming to hear the six harmonize choppy syllables among each other like a half-machine pop group. I suppose we can count on 20th Century to carry on this spirit and invite classic artists to write records aiming for timelessness, but just imagine if V6 was around to make a few more of these.
