All of Adam's Things

For the first time I have fallen competley behind schedule. I am hoping to rectify that this week by releasing my August and September music articles in the first week or so of October. Big apologies to my three or so faithful listeners. At the very least there's a decent amount of content here for August. Let's get into it. Loved List Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You - Ethel Cain (Dream Pop, Slowcore) After dropping a surprise Drone album earlier this year with Perverts, Ms. Cain brings us back to the world of Preacher’s DaughterI am a sucker for story based albums. No matter how you feel about Ms. Cain’s music, you can’t deny that the world she’s created on Preacher’s Daughter and Willoughby Tucker is compelling. Preacher’s Daughter displays this girl broken by her hometown that runs away and faces extreme consequences for her immaturity. Willoughby Tucker is the prequel. It provides context to how this character lost enough to want to just get away. This album had suc...

This article is so very late which is funny because I finished wrining it on August 8. Just haven't gotten around to posting it. I really should have because there was a lot of great music in July. Better late than never, here it is: Great Month For Rap DON’T TAP THE GLASS - Tyler, The Creator (Pop Rap, Dance) Mr. The Creator has been in so many lanes over the past 10 years or so. This time, he’s put his producer chops to the test more than ever. He was very forward about what this album would be with the rules he presented it with. We’re here to forget all of our shit, have a good time, and dance. And boy did he make some of the most danceable rap tracks of the year. Even removing all of those labels, this is just one of the best batches of songs this year. Ring Ring Ring and Sucka Free are unbelievably catchy. Tyler really has been able to do it all. Let God Sort Em Out - Clipse (Gangsta Rap, Coke Rap) I was not one of the people heavily anticipating this album’s release; I was n...

This one is a little late, and it’s not because of me being lazy in reviewing albums as I listened to them last month. It’s because last month SUCKED. I genuinely only listened to two albums that I will come back to at some point. I have spent the last week sifting through albums lists from last month trying to find something else I liked, but I have come up empty. Here we go. These Ones Were Ok I Guess Virgin - Lorde (Alt-Pop, Electronic) I like Lorde. This one was lyrically a little unfocused and hard to follow, but it had the melodramatic (see what I did there?) sound qualities that make Lorde’s music Lorde’s. I don’t know how much I’ll be back for the whole thing, but there are singles that will be on my playlist. Addison - Addison Rae (Alt-Pop) This one is exactly what you’d expect from this album. Ms. Rae played it safe, the music is not that exciting. The two or three highlights are good, everything else will be forgotten. I hope she makes something a little more daring next t...

Looking back on this month, there were a lot more highlights than I thought there were. For some reason I felt like May was pretty dry, but I was WRONG. Let's get into it: Liked List GOLLIWOG - billy woods (Experimental Hip Hop) He does it again. Cerebral hip hop that comes through with so many poignant one liners. Like his other projects, Mr. woods has characters from all over the underground hip hop map on this one. Somehow all of the different styles sound cohesive. The theme of fear and how we respond to it is laced into both the lyrics and instrumentals of this album, with in your face samples that create this chilling feel on some of GOLLIWOG’s tracks. This project touches on fear similarly to how Maps discusses travel; every type of fear is explored from every perspective. GOLLIWOG just builds and builds on itself and definitely deserves a listen all the way through. Sincerely, - Kali Uchis (Pop Soul) As the title suggests, this is Kali’s most sentimental album yet. If you...

Yeah, yeah, I missed a week. Give me a break, I was on vacation. I just slapped the last two weeks together in this one article. I tried to make up for missing by giving some more analysis than I have in the first two editions of my Short Stories. Tarik, Meet Greg (Story/Analysis) What can a reigning Triple Crown and Cy Young winner do to outdo himself? Tarik Skubal answered that question on the afternoon of May 25th when he pitched a complete game shutout in under 100 pitches, also known as a Maddux. It is hard to throw a complete game in under 100 pitches. You have to get 27 outs. That’s only 3.7 pitches per out. Last season, the major league average was 5.49 pitches per out which translates to about 148 pitches for a 9 inning game. Some drastic action has to be taken to get that count 50 pitches lower. The obvious first step is to limit the number of hitters you have to face. Skubal certainly did that, facing only 29 batters. He allowed only two singles and hit one batter, with the ...

Suspensions and Firings (Opinion) Two things I don’t get in baseball: getting suspended for PEDs and firing your manager. I already discussed how I feel about firing your manager last week, so I’m not going to offer too many thoughts on Brandon Hyde’s relief of duties. Yes, the Orioles are way worse than their talent says they should be. That is 0% Hyde’s fault. The players are underperforming. If the organization thought that firing Hyde would light a fire under the players, they were dead wrong. I guess you have to take the highs of 2022 Manager of the Year and the low of being fired for a slow start if you’re Hyde. Let’s get to the PEDs now. I am a Phillies fan. This one hurts. On Sunday morning, Jose Alvarado was suspended by MLB for 80 games for violating the PED policy. I don’t really care if Jose was intentionally taking PEDs or if they were in a weight loss drug like he claims. There is no reason that any player should be caught taking PEDs in 2025. The consequences are clear...