I stopped trying to guess where Matt Kamm will go next long ago. Besides, the music of this weird Orlando pioneer under the name Tele & the Ghost of Our Lord is best experienced omakase-style. Just strap in and savor the ride because, regardless of destination, it’ll always be an adventure. Even with a career of unpredictability, Kamm has recently mustered his most surprising era.
There’s been psych pop that’s far more psychedelic than pop. There’s been electronic music more for a vision quest than a dance club. But country music? That’s maybe the ultimate deviance for a chronically experimental artist. So, of course, there he went and planted his freak flag in a move that’s both turned and spun lots of heads.
The spate of Tele singles released in the past year have all been unmistakably country. We’re talking hard classic twang here, not soft-core indie folk. This novel direction defines watershed new album The Jukebox Has Gone Sentient, where Kamm indulges the muse with breadth and depth across country, Western, blues and folk.
But as with all things Matt Kamm, this album just can’t be kept in a box, even if it’s his own. Along the rootsy terrain are detours that remind you that this is still a Tele & the Ghost of Our Lord record. Those whims go from warped lounge music (“Bad Banana”) to synth punk (“Karma C’mon”) to sunny British-style pop (“The Pressures of the Day”).
“Stylistically, it somewhat mirrors my ADHD listening habits and attempts to wrangle them into a cohesive collection,” says Kamm. More than just a new chapter, Jukebox is a digest of a lifetime of influences that includes Roger Miller, The Moody Blues, The Buggles, Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet and The Smiths. “Some of the tunes took a few years for me to crack the code in regards to the performance and lyrics,” says Kamm. “Some happened in one evening or were inspired by my daughter telling a butterfly to come back in our garden.”
It’s a gumbo that’s wildly scattershot, yes, but also characteristically Kamm. Even so, the album is, without question, an utterly new mosaic of this unfoldingly complex artist. The Jukebox Has Gone Sentient releases on streaming platforms today and is available on cassette via Orlando punk label Godless America.
The big release show is this weekend, where Tele & the Ghost of Our Lord will play alongside Brett Staska, Billy Ruben & the Mind Readers and Swamp Blossom.
8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, Will’s Pub, $12-$15.
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This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2, 2025.