Welcome to the third installment of Friday Night Jukebox, our weekly roundup of the best new songs recommended by our In Between Music writers. As a historic blizzard descended upon the northeast, many of our writers were either inside staying warm with their favorite new tunes, or using them as a soundtrack for shoveling out their cars and sidewalks. Follow this link to read the previous installments from the last few weeks.
American Football – “Bad Moons”
As the lead single for the first album in seven years from emo legends American Football, Bad Moons has a lot of expectations riding on it. For a band that started when its members were literal teenagers, it still feels remarkable that they have retained both consistency and growth in their musical identity. While LP2 might not have landed the overhype that was baked into its very existence, LP3 managed to mature their sound while retaining the youthful energy that still defines them to most people.
“Bad Moons”, with its light and spacey first half ruminating on childhood memories clearing the way for an epic post-rock breakdown in the back half, feels like a logical next step in their sound. Despite being a little messy in its composition (those two halves don’t slot together as cleanly as they could have), it still sounds enough like the American Football of the past that the explorations into more dense soundscapes feel like exciting possibilities instead of an attempt to stay relevant. If this single and the ominous cover art are anything to go by, LP4 is shaping up to be yet another must-hear release from one of the most important bands the genre has ever seen. [Quinn Parulis]
Nothing – “Never Come Never Morning”
The album released today by shoegaze greats Nothing, A Short History of Decay, is being billed as the closing chapter of the era they’ve been building upon since their breakthrough album Guilty of Everything. While it was always going to have an uphill battle against the expectations set by the rapturous acclaim of the last album, The Great Dismal, it seems their response to those expectations is to lean further away from the sound they helped bring to the mainstream in favor of something that is both equally familiar and experimental.
As a main inspiration to the overwhelming surplus of bands aping their particular brand of shoegaze, one that strikes the perfect balance of heavy riffs with blissed out ambience, it is almost radical to get an album from them that backs away and get smaller on purpose. This is something that album opener “Never Come Never Morning” embodies perfectly. With the album as a whole leaning more towards Slowdive styled dreampop than Hum or My Blood Valentine-branded heaviness, for better or worse this is Nothing at their most accessible and as a long-time fan I couldn’t ask for anything more. [Quinn Parulis]
Pizza Hotline – “VR MISSIONS”
The new single from Pizza Hotline is a refinement of his own brand of lush and aquatic dnb music. “VR MISSIONS”, the first track from his upcoming DEMO DISK 1 EP, begins with a slow build that illuminates as it progresses further. Sonically, we’re getting touches of vaporwave and that aforementioned aquatic texture that result in a sublime bed for the rest of the track to lie on.
When the build shuffles to the climax, the song takes off into a blitz and proceeds to hit 100mph with no sign of slowing down. Everything collides into this unstoppable burst that will immediately knock you back to arguably the best era of gaming music from the past 20 years. Pizza Hotline’s music has only gotten better with every release and this might be his best track yet. [Mark Wesley]
Plantoid – “Ultimatum Cultivation”
Plantoid, a British prog group, returned in January with their second full length Flare. The band excels at delightful harmonies mixed with the time signature changes and complex instrumentals that are hallmarks of progressive rock. A highlight is the single “Ultimatum Cultivation”, which wraps all the band’s gifts into one radio friendly five minute package that bristles with math rock energy. Plantoid is a breath of fresh air for fans of a genre that can sometimes seems stuck in the past. [Ryan Gibbs]
She’s Green – “Mettle”
Minneapolis group She’s Green are one of the best new bands to emerge from the shoegaze and dream pop revival that has taken the indie world by storm over the last few years. Their Chrysalis EP was one of the best records out of the genre last year. On “Mettle”, the band packs a lot into three minutes. There’s a memorable memory carried by Zofia Smith’s dreamy vocals and the band’s swirling guitars. “Mettle” is an indication that She’s Green are in the position to put out a great full-length if that’s what this song is building towards. [Ryan Gibbs]
WU LYF – “Love Your Fate”
The return of WU LYF was not on my 2026 bingo card, but despite a fifteen year absence following their only release, 2011’s singular Go Tell Fire to the Mountain, there is not only an incoming new album on the horizon but an actual new song to go along with the announcement to prove that this is, in fact, really happening.
With vocalist Ellery Robert’s trademark warbling yelp more intact than you’d expect after this long of a break, and their “heavy pop” sound of anthemic arena-ready guitar lines married to the kind of twinkling build ups that you usually only get in the more listener-friendly post-rock bands, WU LYF seems to be coming back in full force. Retaining their balance of an anarchistic worldview with unwaveringly optimistic lyrics, here rendered with more clarity than the abstract poeticism employed on Go Tell Fire, “Love Your Fate” is triumphant return for one of the most undersung bands of the last decade and the upcoming album is one that everyone should be keeping on their radar. [Quinn Parulis]
Zel – “Skuttaz”
With his debut mixtape, Still Here, Zel is officially staking his claim as one of the best rappers in the underground right now. “Skuttaz” is an instant trap classic that is laced front to back with everything that had made the genre so compelling over the past years. Zel’s trademark DMV flow is accentuated by these towering bass drops that feel like you could scale them because they’re so massive.
Zel continually throws out “BOW” adlibs that shoot through the record with what feels like sniper precision. It’s already in contention for the best adlib in rap right now. There’s not a wasted second on “Skuttaz”. Each moment on the record is memorable, whether it be a Wiz Khalifa reference or a thunderous explosion piercing through the ceiling of the song itself. It’s one of those all-timer trap songs that demands to be played 3 or 4 times in succession. [Mark Wesley]
