New York producer, vocalist, and DJ Vitesse X shares her take on Filter’s late-’90s alt-rock classic “Take A Picture,” out today via Music Website. The track follows her recent single “Memori,” her first new music since the release of her acclaimed second album This Infinite.
On her version of “Take A Picture,” Vitesse X pulls the song out of its post-grunge radio-rock context and into something hazier and more suspended. Built around trip-hop-leaning drums, atmospheric production, and the song’s unmistakable melodic center, the cover draws out the melancholy beneath the original’s sense of escape while bringing it into Vitesse X’s own dream-pop world.
Of the track, Vitesse X says, “I was listening to ‘Take a Picture’ in the car in the winter, deep in some heavy emotions. I was feeling really detached from the current state of music and exhausted by the demands of the modern world. When the song came on, I was immediately transported back to a feeling I had completely forgotten existed. A time where life felt tangible and simple and pure. It was honestly transcendental. I opened up my phone notes to remind myself to make a cover, and a month later it came to fruition.”
Vitesse X has spent the last several years shaping a sound that sits between dream pop, breakbeats, club music, and alternative electronic production, becoming a quiet reference point for listeners drawn to shoegaze-adjacent electronic music, soft-club nostalgia, and left-field pop. Her 2024 album This Infinite expanded that world further, with KEXP calling it “a fantastic set of glistening synth-pop” and Pitchfork previously describing her debut Us Ephemeral as “transportive” and “engineered with precision.” She has since continued to connect across indie and electronic audiences through touring, collaborations, and a growing visual world.
Check out “Take A Picture” and stay tuned for more music from Vitesse X coming soon.
Dead Pioneers,the Indigenous fronted band from Denver, are fast approaching the highly anticipated release of their third album,Wagon Burner, due to be issued June 26th via Hassle Records, and return this week with a new single featuring Sleaford Mods provocateur Jason Williamson on guest vocals.Titled “The Worst Among Us,” the single is a key track on Wagon Burner and demonstrates the bands progression, stretching their sound far beyond the confines of punk rock, with a pulsating post-punk groove under-pinning the songs dark, shimmering melodies.
“While it’s easy for me to say I’m proud of every song on ‘Wagon Burner’, I’d be remiss by not admitting this one is one of my favorites,” admits frontman Gregg Deal. “The way it came together with (bassist) Lee at the helm of this one. This song feels like a level up for us, a piece that brings together elements that are 100% Dead Pioneers with some other elements that are new. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, but we really are about the art of this work. ‘The Worst Among Us’ is in this camp, recognizing that we sometimes will find lightening in a bottle more than once while on the Dead Pioneers path.”
The combination of Gregg and Jason’s vocals work perfectly, delivered with complete conviction with the intensity of the lyrics. Sleaford Mods have been an undeniable influence on Dead Pioneers since they first began.
“I wish I could express how excited I am to have Jason on this track with us. Lee introduced me to Sleaford Mods in 2021 when we met and pulled together ‘Bad Indian’. In the space of the original idea of Dead Pioneers being “spoken word with punk riffs”, Lee pointed me to Sleaford Mods and their then new album ‘Spare Rib’. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I’ve been proper obsessed with Sleaford Mods since. This feels like another full circle moment for ‘Wagon Burner’, and I am sincerely humbled to share space with the likes of Jason Williamson.
“Colonialism, imperialism, theft, murdering, oppressing and death? All the things a song needs, capped off by the unmistakable cadence and voice of Jason Williamson. This song was an important one lyrically, in presenting some personal experiences while acknowledging the more general grievances of colonialism and imperialism. This moment in the world’s history is more poignant than most for a song like this. Saying the things that need to be said on a political, social and cultural level is wildly important right now,” summarizes Gregg.
“Nabbing lands, traditions or symbols with cunning chicanery or beady eyed brute force” How could I not be on a tune with lyrics like these. ‘The Worst Among Us’ is the kind of song that revitalizes the idea of Punk within the listener. Wrapped up in some weird Cure/Sisters Of Mercy vibe to boot. Very honored to be included,” adds Jason Williamson.
Today, Cornelius announces his new album ‘REFRACTIONS’, the forthcoming full-length from Japanese musician, producer and composer Keigo Oyamada. The album is to be released on August 19th on Eat Your Own Ears Recordings and marks a new collaborative chapter in his work. Along with the album announcement, he has also announced a Japanese tour as well as a show at London’s Barbican.
For more than three decades, Cornelius has occupied a singular space in contemporary music, transforming everyday sound into intricate rhythmic systems and immersive, cinematic soundscapes. ‘REFRACTIONS’ continues this trajectory while marking a subtle but important shift outward. Where previous Cornelius records often leaned toward introspection, this new work is shaped more explicitly through collaboration and exchange. A sentiment illustrated with the album’s lead single “Aeons”, featuring Sean Ono Lennon. The track sees Lennon contribute vocals and lyrics, bringing his distinctive melodic sensibility and lyrical voice into Cornelius’ ever-shifting sonic world.
The creative relationship between Kiego and Sean stretches back to the late 1990s, when Cornelius first encountered Sean’s work and was struck by its unusual harmonic language, melodic openness and experimental pop sensibility. Across the years, their exchanges have continued to evolve through shared projects and long-standing artistic trust, with Sean inviting Cornelius be part of Yoko Ono’s re-formed Plastic Ono Band, doing performances is LA, NY, and London.
“Aeons” represents one of their most direct collaborations to date. Speaking about the collaboration, Cornelius says: “As the world and my surroundings changed at an intense speed, I think all of that inevitably shaped this work. Rather than expressing these ideas directly, I approached them structurally – exploring continuity, transformation, and multiple coexisting states within a single, uninterrupted flow of time.”
That same sense of shifting perception runs through “Aeons,” a track built around fluid forms and subtle instability, where melody and texture appear, fracture and reassemble in constantly evolving configurations.
Sean Ono Lennon reflects on the collaboration: “I’m always honoured to work with Keigo, he’s one of my favourite humans on the Earth Planet!”
Emerging in the early 1990s after the dissolution of Tokyo pop group Flipper’s Guitar, Keigo Oyamada quickly developed a reputation as a meticulous sonic architect, building dense, playful and highly detailed musical worlds that dissolve genre boundaries entirely.
International breakthrough album ‘Fantasma’ (1997) established Cornelius on a global stage and is widely regarded as a landmark in experimental pop. Its collage-like approach to production drew comparisons to The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, Beck and The Beastie Boys, while helping define a new international appetite for adventurous Japanese music. Nearly three decades later, the album continues to resonate with new generations of listeners, with b-side “Typewrite Lesson” recently unexpectedly finding renewed life in a viral moment on TikTok and support from artists such as Rosalía.
“This time, instead of turning inward, I wanted to open the work through interaction with others,” says Cornelius of his new work. “I’ve come to feel more strongly that reality is not something completed within oneself, but something shaped through relationships and exchanges.”
That philosophy runs through the fabric of ‘REFRACTIONS’, which also features contributions from Arto Lindsay, Bid, and longtime collaborator Shintaro Sakamoto.
Across ‘REFRACTIONS’, Cornelius continues to explore shifting perception, memory and interconnected consciousness, not through narrative but through sound itself. Tracks behave less like fixed compositions and more like living systems: ideas branch, overlap and mutate, forming an evolving sonic landscape where multiple states coexist at once.
Despite its conceptual framework, the record remains deeply human in tone. There is a familiar warmth and playfulness embedded within its intricate construction, a sense of curiosity that has long defined Cornelius’ work. Drawing from psychedelic pop, ambient music, Brazilian tropicália, kosmische experimentation and minimalist composition, ‘Refractions’ ultimately resists categorisation, existing instead within its own internal logic.
For new listeners, ‘REFRACTIONS’ offers a gateway into one of contemporary music’s most quietly influential catalogues. For long-time followers, it reveals an artist still expanding and reshaping his language after more than three decades.
What emerges is not a fixed statement, but something constantly in motion: music that refracts, reshapes and reorients itself as it unfolds. ‘REFRACTIONS’ marks the beginning of a new chapter for Cornelius, an artist who remains entirely singular in the landscape of modern music.
Cornelius live dates: 10 Sep – Yokohama, JP – KT Zepp Yokohama 12 Sep – Tokyo, JP – CLUB QUATTRO 13 Sep – Fukuoka, JP – Zepp Fukuoka 19 Sep – Sapporo, JP – Zepp Sapporo 22 Sep – Nagoya, JP – Zepp Nagoya 23 Sep – Osaka, JP – Zepp Namba 26 Sep – Sendai, JP – Sendai PIT 2 Oct – Tokyo, JP – Zepp Haneda 3 Oct – Tokyo, JP – Zepp Haneda 6 Oct – Tokyo, JP – Zepp Shinjuku (TOKYO) 19 Jun, 2027 – London, UK – Barbican
Keep your mind open.
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In 2025, No Joy released their 5th LP Bugland. The project of Jasamine White-Gluz, had long been a critical darling, but their 2025 album was a new high water mark. Produced by the heralded Chicago experimental artist Fire-Toolz, the album earned a Best New Music designation from Pitchfork, who called it “a perfect album for our current shoecraze…Bugland is full of more textures, more ambiance, more chunky ’90s guitar. It crushes like a giant box of Gushers,” with further praise coming from Bandcamp,FADER, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, AV Club, Hearing Things, FLOOD, and Exclaim, and last week was nominated for the Polaris Prize.
At the end of May, No Joy appeared at first edition New York’s Total Bummer fest and next month they’ll make an appearance at the legendary Roskilde festival. Ahead of that appearance No Joy is announcing a new EP entitled Big Life, Big Leaf, which is a further collaboration with Fire-Toolz, who just released her first LP on Warp Records. The EP will be released on August 21st on Hand Drawn Dracula, and is being announced with its title track, which was co-written with Japanese Breakfast and Sky Ferreira producer Jorge Elbrecht.
White-Gluz says of the track:
“This was a demo I had that we never got around to during the Bugland sessions. In 2024 I brought it to Jorge Elbrecht (Japanese Breakfast, Sky Ferreira), who I have a long history of writing with. We really love exploring the absurd, combining musical ideas that shouldn’t really make sense together – it felt great picking up where we left off after 2020’s Motherhood LP. Bringing the song back around to Angel Marcloid (Fire-Toolz) more recently (post-Bugland LP sessions) made perfect sense to me; both Angel and Jorge have insane musicality and melodic imagination. Angel is a brilliant pop producer, she has a knack for shaping where a song can take you emotionally. Tara McLeod (Kittie) rips on guitar as usual, continuing to bring this heavy-but-effervescent energy.
“Lyrically, I wrote and recorded these vocals in one take during an emotional time this past spring. I was exploring the boundless pain one feels when it is time to say goodbye to someone or something. It is also during those moments that it is important to remember, ironically, to have joy. To mourn is also to celebrate.”
Following up on their White EP, Lowsunday have continued their return of fine industrial shoegaze with the Low Sunday Ghost Machine – Black EP.
“You’re So Wired” (a song about the confusing state between dreaming and waking) opens the dark gates with heavy reverb vocals, fuzzy yet bold guitars, and snappy drum beats to either snap you out of your brain fog or plunge you back into it, depending on which you choose.
The bouncy, yet warped guitars on “Shattered” are fascinating. It’s prime shoegaze stuff with Shane Sahene‘s vocals echoing everywhere to the point where you’re never sure if he’s singing or just making vocal sounds. It’s good either way. “Someone to Talk to” continues the strange, jangly guitar work by Sahene and Bobby Spell‘s bass creepily crawls all around you.
“This Is Not Heaven” is a goth track you heard in a dream once after you spent the night with some cool people you met at a club who gave you a ride to an all-night diner in the middle of nowhere in their car that smelled like clove cigarettes and jasmine. It’s a song that would give A Place to Bury Strangers a run for their money. The EP ends with “Don’t Want to Dream Again” and some of Spell’s best bass work on the record. Seriously, that groove is outstanding.
Lowsunday’s Black EP helps you find presence with its fuzzy hooks and dreamy vocals. Good shoegaze is always a treat, so don’t skip this.
Music is what initially brought atmos bloom — Tilda Gratton and Curtis Paterson — together when Tilda auditioned to play bass in Curtis’ band at the University in Manchester.
Seven years on from those rainy nights rehearsing in Trafford, the duo, now life partners living in London, are set to release their most compelling record yet. Everythingness was born out of a series of balancing acts, the journey through youth and young adulthood, chasing adventure while longing for home and falling in love with the city where they found this home, yet still needing to escape it in order to think and create. The record maps the duo’s journey through these themes whilst staying true to what initially brought the two together. It’s set for a July 24th release via Spirit Goth.
Following last month’s release of “Everything,”today they share the new single for “Closer.” It plays into the hazy, half-lucid magic of the band’s formula.
On “Closer,” the band share:“‘Closer’ explores self-love and finding peace with yourself and your inner child, whilst also missing past versions of you that no longer remain.”
atmos bloom’s first musical venture together: a psych-rock-shoegaze outfit inspired by bands such as Sonic Youth, Pavement and julie ignited a love for being in a band and making music. Their debut album Flora was born as the pandemic began to ease and restrictions in the UK were starting to be lifted. The record reflected this new beginning, a shining, shimmering record of hope that felt like an endless summer, with just a glance over the shoulder at the troubles left behind. As a result, Flora was inspired by jangly bedroom and dream pop, such as Alvvays, Beach Fossils and Cleaners From Venus.
On this second album Everythingness, a much different time is represented, a time with more uncertainty, painting a clear picture of the state of flux the duo found themselves in. The flow of the record reflects the endless cycle of feeling up and down and the sudden changes we all experience. From hope, self-realisation and sufficiency to fear, loneliness and unbearable pressures. The most positive and joyous parts of the album are met with the darkest and most lost. Even within individual songs we find ourselves plunged into a landscape that’s unrecognizable from the one where we started, only to be dropped back in and end at the beginning. Neither the ups nor the downs linger for too long and the overall message of the record is left up to the listener.
Do we enjoy the light whilst we’re in it, cut loose in the dark and embrace the unpredictability? Or do we live in fear of the uncertainty that’s around the corner, unable to embrace either the light or dark for fear of a sudden shift. The record ends with a clock-like rhythm, representing the perpetual cycle we find ourselves in, unstoppable and uncontrollable, all encompassing – Everythingness.
Without the restraints of trying to make a particular record, the pair unleash a wide range of influences, all explored through an honest and personal lens on this self recorded and produced work. In particular, bands such as DIIV, Ulrika Spacek, Deerhunter, Broadcast inspired Everythingness, without betraying the duo’s foundation in both psych-rock-shoegaze and jangly bedroom/dream pop.
The album’s artwork and themes reflect the environments in which the album was crafted – a patchwork, a collage, intersecting aspects of life and the world, and the journey to find our place within it.
South Bay based singer-songwriter Billy Azurdia is releasing “Solamente En Mis Sueños,” on July 7, 2026. The genre bending single will be the 3rd and final release before his upcoming full length album. A danceable and ambitious departure from the straight forward tenderness of “Contigo,” “Solamente En Mis Sueños” showcases Azurdia’s confident versatility, blending city pop, folk and shoegaze.
Azurdia delivers a distinct 3-act anthem that begins on a sparkling dance floor, followed by a chromatic build that releases into a massive, distorted crescendo. The lyric and emotional component describe a chance meeting, that while beautiful, leaves one with a heart full of longing and bittersweetness. The finale explodes with fuzzy guitars, and dreamy synths, as Azurdia belts “Dejame aquí, puedo verte sonreir” (“Leave me here, I can see you smile”).
Billy Azurdia has been writing, producing and releasing music from his solo projects and as a contributing member of multiple Los Angeles projects, including Mind Monogram and Jane Astronaut, since 2011. His most recent work is an arrival as an indie folk writer, blending earthy grit and shimmering whimsy.
“Solamente En Mis Sueños was an opportunity for me to explore unconventional structure, danceable rhythms and blending it with the singer-songwriter styled indie folk that I’ve been producing these days. I’ve had the desire to explore city pop for a long time and I love songs that don’t ever return to a previous section, like (The Beatles) Day In The Life. I ended up with something I’m really excited about.”
“Solamente En Mis Sueños” will be on streaming platforms July 7th 2026.
