death's dynamic shroud & Vitesse X

Vitesse X’s sophomore album This Infinite is about more than just escape. Vitesse X’s debut, 2022’s Us Ephemeral, was a tribute to the spiritual vibrations of the club, influenced by ‘90s rave, ambient techno, and Kraftwerk’s Tour de France. But before her time exploring the rhythms of nightlife, though, Vitesse X spent years playing in rock bands in her hometown of New York City. This Infinite weaves the slinking energy of her debut with these scrappy, livewire beginnings. The record is an exercise in anti-perfectionism, a sort of musical purging for the artist that she refers to as a “somatic release.” While writing, she pursued ideas without judging herself too harshly, leaving the songs rough around the edges and foregrounding confessional lyrics. This shift in mindset transported Vitesse X into a flow state, resulting in a powerful collection of wistful and sanguine dream-pop songs—always openhearted and forever unraveling.

Written as the artist was beginning therapy, many of the songs on This Infinite serve a healing purpose for her. Written with a diaristic sensibility, tracks like “Something in the Air” and “Palisade” explore burdensome feelings about capitalism, global uncertainties, and harsh social realities. Elsewhere, the singer discusses vanity in the music industry (“Realize”), and the struggle self-acceptance (“This Infinite”). For Vitesse X, the album encourages the listener to free themselves from ego, as she aims to do. “It’s about trusting my gut,” says Vitesse X. “It feels like a weight was lifted. It says what it needs to say.”

While This Infinite’s lyrics grapple with gloomy feelings, the music often possesses a euphoric quality. As Vitesse X began to write, pop-forward songs emerged which felt honest and directly feminine. Finding comfort in the simplicity and warmth of her indie origins—such as playing in Heavenly Beat with former Beach Fossils bassist John Peña—the artist merged her past rock work with electronic sensibilities. Paying homage to the guitar-based music she loves, she tapped Wild Nothing to co-produce “Careless,” a song she calls a “love letter to depression.” Despite its world-weary lyrics, the song is blissful sonically, with crystalline chords and luminous vocals. “Can’t ever ground your feet / Cause there’s a hole in the world/so in abyss,” she sings. Somehow it sounds like she is being lifted, not being pulled down.

Texturally, the songs on This Infinite are always surprising, as well as exhilarating. “Bliss Beat,” an examination of dissociation, is gauzy but grounded, inspired by the bittersweet vocal stylings of Life Without Buildings. “Get in Girls,” which features Finnish art pop duo Pearly Drops, is the record’s strangest and most unabashedly fun moment, depicting a psychedelic girls’ night out driving through a dystopian wasteland. “Palisade” merges progressive house and indie rock, epitomizing the sonic essence of This Infinite. Over a ductile, cloudy instrumental, Vitesse X sings, “I feel the modern age / Decomposing in my veins / And it's chipping with the paint / Revealing the masquerade.” The song is about seeing the world for what it is, and through that, finding a new sense of connection with those around you.

The final song written for This Infinite, “End of Forever,” distills the album’s themes better than any other single moment. It mixes the club-ready attitude of Vitesse X’s previous work with her rawest lyrics, which deal with suppressing emotions and the illusion of finality. Merging all the threads of her musical DNA together, the song summarizes the trajectory of This Infinite as a whole. Pushing past injustice, the oppressiveness of a capitalist society, rage and heartbreak, it captures Vitesse X in the midst of release. Through the act of creation, she argues on This Infinite, we can make a change, both in ourselves and in the world.

death's dynamic shroud have always been curious about what we can’t see. Tech Honors, James Webster, and Keith Rankin make music that explores that sense of wonderment—emotional, experimental electronic work that fills gaps between the known and unknown. Full of richly textured layers of sound, songs like new single “Judgment Bolt” draw unsuspecting listeners into a place that’s simultaneously murky and neon, somber and playful. You feel a sense of new adventure, with a curious pang of déjà vu. The group was initially drawn to the vaporwave world, producing records like 2015’s I’ll Try Living Like This and 2017’s Heavy Black Heart, which took familiar sounds—like K-pop, among others—to their maximalist limits. Since then they’ve experimented with making music in different formations of the group and collected the results in a project called NUWRLD Mixtape Club, which included the acclaimed 2021 release Faith In Persona. Their upcoming album—their first in years to include all three members—finds them further exploring unknown realms, focusing on original composition, songwriting, and vocals. And, of course, they’ve utilized some well-placed samples to help drive the album’s concept: an exploration of “love as a social construct, or as the fabric of the universe, or as not existing.” Once again, death’s dynamic shroud work to chart what we can’t see but—more than ever—can feel. To Webster, this era boils down to one salient fact: “There’s more of us in this than ever before.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Brick and Mortar Music Hall, 1710 Mission Street, San Francisco, United States