Jack Adamant-Obscure Places and Cupboards (2022)

 

Why I Like It:

This a first for my blog. Someone actually reached out and asked for me to give their music a listen! For other popular blogs/content creators this might be common, but for me this is special. Jack Adamant politely asked if I would consider writing about his album and I was enthusiastic to give it a go. Now, I only write about albums I genuinely like on here, so there was some anxiety with my first listen. What if this is music not up my alley? I would have hated to say sorry but this might not be the album for my blog. Luckily this was far from the case!

When I first started looking up Jack, the thing I noticed right away is this guy hustles. He's been in many podcasts and interviews over the last few years (the fact he found my tiny blog is testament to his hustle). The second thing I noticed is he lives and breaths music. This artist creates his art with intention and purpose, not to go with the trends of now, but to play what he loves. This comes out in the quality of the album and songs he creates. 

What stood out to be about Obscure Places and Cupboards right away is this album is an album. What I mean is that there's a start and finish to it and all the songs flow together in a logical pattern. Every song seemed distinct and had a spot. It made the listen easy to get lost within the music. I said earlier that this album was a definite yes for me to review and that's because it has the alternative rock sound from the 90s that I love. It's hard to explain but it's not just the songs sounding like this sound but the whole aesthetic to Jack's presentation (everything from the music videos and album art) feels like the music came from a time before social media and I am here for it. 

If anyone has liked the music that I've written about so far, then this album should be up your alley! I look forward to following Jack and seeing what he releases next!

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Highlighted song and lyrics:

You First-"We’re part of something that means a lot more /Just for who decides to care"

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Similar bands to check out:

Washing Machine, Coast Fire Dept., Church Girls, Kiwi Jr.

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Reviews and links to check out:

Thoughtswordsaction.com- Review

Albumreview.net Podcast- Interview

Jackadamant.com- Do newer artists still do websites? I think it's pretty cool!

Faithless Universe (Live)- An acoustic version that sounds awesome  

Home Is Where-The Whaler (2023)

Why I Like It:

I'll just get right to the punchline of my post (ha, get it? Punchline as in the band I talked about last post...ya I know lame joke) this is the album I've been waiting for in 2023. To be completely honest, no album has grabbed me yet this year, as a whole project. Sure there's been albums that I've loved songs on, but there's been nothing that's inspired me to do a write up on (except the EP Softcult did). Now The Whaler is out and I am floored!

The concept of this album (as the band describes it) is that it's a loop that plays over and over again, slowly disintegrating more and more as it goes. That loop is framed around the 9/11 event that we all remember vividly (if you were old enough to remember). Eventually 9/11 happens so often it's normalized, even as the world gets worse and worse each day. Now think of what's happening today with world events and does this seem a bit too real? I think so. That's makes The Whaler do damn effective. It gave me frikin chills once I pieced this together. 

To get into the genre thing a bit here, I feel like this is a new step for the evolution of emo. I say emo because this what the band has categorized themselves into, or at least a part of their sound. There's even a nifty playlist, that the lead singer Brandon made, for 5th wave emo here! That's part of what makes this project so exciting to me, the new and unexpected. Is it folksy emo? Or maybe country screamo emo? I'm just throwing shit at the wall here, definitely not the person to make categories. 

No matter, this is has been a joy of an album to experience (actually it made me feel more sadness for how relatable it is but I think you get my jist). Home Is Where are flag bearers of this new frontier of emo and I'm excited to see where they go next and how this inspires other bands!

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Highlighted song and lyrics:

Everyday Feels Like 9/11-"And God's in heaven/Where he's safe from us"

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Similar bands to check out:

GILT, Record Setter, Newgrounds Death Rugby, Hey, Ily

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Reviews and links to check out:

Consequence.net- Interview

Stereogum.com- Review

The E Word Podcast- A fun interview with Brandon about 5th wave emo and other

Home Is Where Live on Audiotree