Back from a posting hiatus, I spent a lot of that time thinking about what this blog should or could be. I considered switching to a Substack-like newsletter format but concluded that I’d rather not leave behind everything I’ve posted here over the past dozen years (when I began my 100 Albums project on my old blog, then transferred the first thirty or so entries to this one.)
I have no grand design for Haunted Jukebox. Instead of creating another new years-long project akin to 24 Frames, I’m just going to post something, anything weekly (and maybe skip a week once in a while) and see what evolves. There will be movie reviews like last week’s post (and more on the way with IFFBoston kicking off in two days) and the occasional mix/playlist, now with song-by-song commentary.
First up: Out of Phase, which collects some of my favorite new tunes of 2026 so far. Here’s the tracklist:
1. Arctic Monkeys, “Opening Night”: Myself dismissive of them until 2022’s presumptive swan song The Car, they return with the leadoff track from charity album Help2. Is it a coda, or maybe a potential return with those guitars prominent in the mix once again? Either way, Donald Fagen should cover it.
2. Kelsey Lu, “Running To Pain”: Mostly missing-in-action since her 2019 debut album Blood (featuring the airy, soulful, dancefloor-friendly “Poor Fake”), I feared she’d be a one-and-done. Happily, her first single from forthcoming second LP So Help Me God is exactly what I’ve been waiting for these seven years. Between this and its other pre-release track “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”, such a wait could be fully worth it.
3. Lana Del Rey, “White Feather Hawk Tail Deer Hunter”: Still a weirdo and I prefer when she leans into this quality. Hopefully, tempering her Twin Peaks vibes with just a twinge of Kate Bush (or is it Bjork?) will prove as fruitful going forward.
4. Robyn, “Talk To Me”: Also still a weirdo and if it takes her eight years between albums, so be it as the recently released Sexistential is another good one; any artist can employ Max Martin to bring the hooks but it’s Robyn’s personality that allows them to soar.
5. Tori Amos, “Shush”: I have perhaps unrealistic hopes that the upcoming In Times of Dragons will end up one of Amos’ more eccentric later-day efforts based on tracks like this faintly sinister six-minute slow-burn of an opener.
6. Mitski, “Where’s My Phone?”: Having listened to it only twice, I can’t yet tell where Nothing’s About to Happen To Me will end up in the Mitski canon but at least she’s no longer trying to be an alt-pop idol as the music on this resembles Social Distortion (of all things) with a much sweeter vocal (also love the jaunty “uh, uh, ohh’s”.)
7. Beth Orton, “The Ground Above”: A few minutes into this eight-minute title track jam (from a just-announced new album), she unexpectedly shifts into a jazz-incensed vamp over a 90s-style breakbeat, an assurance that nearly thirty years after Trailer Park, she’s still developing and experimenting with her sound.
8. Beabadoobee feat. The Marias, “All I Did Was Dream of You”: I found this merely pleasant the first three or five times I heard it but sometime after that, it suddenly clicked: the chiming guitars, the deliberate tempo no faster than it needs to be, those swooning chord changes; I nearly gave up on her after This Is How Tomorrow Moves and now I’m all in again.
9. Jose Gonzalez, “A Perfect Storm”: Speaking of absorption over time, it was at least a year of repeated spins before his Local Valley became of my favorites of, no shit, this entire decade. So I’m being extra patient with his new Against The Dying of the Light; presently, this spare, hushed opener is the only track sticking but get back to me in a few months (or years.)
10. Kacey Musgraves, “Dry Spell”: Neither as profound as some listeners think nor as banal as she occasionally risks, she might’ve turned into a singles artist following 2018’s Grammy-winning Golden Hour; this exceptionally Calexico-esque track from May’s Middle of Nowhere sounds great on the radio but we’ll see if she’s still capable of more when the album drops.
11. Alexis Taylor & Lola Kirke, “Out of Phase”: Four years since the last Hot Chip album and because vocalist Alexis Taylor couldn’t sound like anyone else if he tried, this duet with Sinners actress Kirke is far more than adequate in that it could’ve easily been a single from the next Hot Chip album, whenever that may occur.
12. GUM, “Celluloid”: More drawn to Pond than Tame Impala where western Australian psych-rock is concerned, this side project from Jay Watson of the former band offers up unpredictable soundscapes that resemble pop songs if you squint hard enough but his vocal resemblance to Mike Hadreas of Perfume Genius is what holds my attention.
13. RAYE, “I Know You’re Hurting”: This Music May Contain Hope. is an extravaganza of Janelle Monae’s The ArchAndroid-sized proportions and may take longer to absorb than the Gonzalez record. Always drawn to artists of insane ambition, I’m psyched to get to know this record well, but the immediate standout (after the glorious hit “Where Is My Husband!”) is this epic ballad where the singer accumulates power that flows rather than drags.
14. The New Pornographers, “Votive”: A.C. Newman and company (if not Dan Bejar) are still cranking’ em out a quarter century after Mass Romantic and while they haven’t produced anything essential since 2014’s Brill Bruisers, at least this gently building raver nearly justifies their continued effort.
15. Emm Gryner, “Touch The Sky”: Written in tribute to Artemis II astronaut (and fellow Canadian) Jeremy Hansen, this standalone single goes Big Power Ballad in a way Gryner has never previously dared but its piano-and-orchestra arrangement, quiet-to-loud dynamics and her ever nuanced vocals keep it firmly on the right side of Celine Dion.
16. Iron & Wine, “Roses”: Later day Sam Beam has been erring on the side of perfectly fine but somewhat forgettable, so as the Beatles-esque chord change late in this song’s chorus snapped me awake, it suggested that Beam is still crafting tunes full of little interesting details few other modern folk rockers often consider.
17. They Might Be Giants, “Wu-Tang”: Their catchiest single in years from what may end up their best album in decades. Given that John and John are now in their seventies, this is no small feat. Modern rock radio might have played the heck out of this thirty-odd years ago, at least more than it did their singles of that time.
18. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, “Sunburned In London”: Speaking of Western Australians, this sextet has always leaned heavily towards The Go-Betweens in their sparkling jangle-pop. Their hero’s return after an extended break is this breezy, hypnotic six-minute travelogue that could’ve fit on any of their previous albums but my god, it sounds so good to have them back doing what they do best.
Haunted Jukebox 