JAM Sandwich (February '26)
A monthly bite of whatever’s been been stuck in my head.
This Is Lorelei is the newish thing I listened to the most in 2025. Blending lo-fi pop, experimental textures, and emotive songwriting, the side project of Nate Amos mixes sincerity and irony with offbeat, internet-influenced production and charm. “I’m All Fucked Up” was on constant loop last year, a frenetic tale of emotional confusion, self-sabotage and dumb/numb vulnerability, delivered with detached, ironic tone, dense lyrics and unpredictable instrumentation. Included a few more tracks of theirs to get the entire This Is Lorelei experience, including MJ Lenderman’s cover of “Dancing in the Club,” a warm, guitar-driven indie ballad emphasizing sincerity over the original’s irony and abstraction.
100 gecs are jerks. Sleigh Bells meets Ween, riffing on late ‘90s rap-rock, ska and pop-punk. If that sounds nonsensical and obnoxious, you’ll probably find them nonsensical and obnoxious.
My friend Eric, who has been playing music loudly for decades, described Geese as “some of it good, most of it fine, and some of it confusing—because it seems bad, but people love it.” That tension feels central to the band: their loose, exploratory style often hovers between inspired spontaneity and unfocused sprawl, depending on how generously you’re willing to listen.
I’ve been dipping back into the 33 1/3 series, and the book on Paul’s Boutique reminded me of The Beastie Boys’ Love American Style EP, which I purchased on vinyl in New Orleans some 30-odd years ago. Pulled from the same sessions, it features tightly constructed sample collages that foreground the Dust Brothers’ layered, crate-digging production.
For the jazz folks, Max Jaffe uses Sunhouse Sensory Percussion, a sensor system that turns drum hits into digital signals, triggering layered sounds while preserving physical repetition, allowing his endurance-based playing to generate evolving, textured compositions.
What else have I been listening to? I don’t love Joyce Manor as much as everyone else, but the new album is growing on me. My buddy Holly turned me on to Peel Dream Magazine, normally shoegazers, but on “Lie In the Gutter” lean into their best Stereolab impression; Sharp Pins, Twisted Teens, The Femcels, and Winged Wheel, which have kept things lo-fi, loose, and guitar-driven; and Mel Tormé and The Innocents, the older, smoother pop that’s always in regular rotation around these parts, sitting surprisingly well alongside everything else I’ve been jamming on. Just trying to have a good time and will Spring to come early. Sunny days and good times are just around the bend.
This Is Lorelei – Let’s Go or Watch My Film
This Is Lorelei – I’m All Fucked Up
This Is Lorelei – Unhappy Acid
This Is Lorelei, MJ Lenderman – Dancing in the Club
100 gecs – The Most Wanted Person In The United States
Geese – Trinidad
Sharp Pins – I Don’t Have The Heart
Twisted Teens – Wild Connection
Mel Tormé – Comin’ Home Baby
Beastie Boys – 33% God
The Femcels – Indiest Girl At School
Winged Wheel – I See Poseurs Every Day
Geese – Au Pays du Cocaine
Max Jaffe – Looking At The Inside of Your Eyelids
The Innocents – Be Mine
Joyce Manor – Falling Into It
Peel Dream Magazine – Lie In the Gutter
Worldpeace DMT, Rowan Please – Numbers
Geese – Taxes
100 gecs – Hollywood Baby
Listen now on Spotify.
JAM Sandwich logo by Chris Shearer.
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