3.25.12 Adam @ Bing Lounge Portland - Live Stream

Thanks for the wonderful Sunday article, noAngel. As always great topic and so insightful.
I often feel that compromise as word in itself suggests limited options and that is so much the opposite of what Adam has. If you have a dozen choices dangling from every finger, tow and fiber of yourself, you biggest issue is choosing, having to limit yourself by narrowing your ten thousand ideas and wiggling them down to something that ends up being 12 songs.
Adam chooses from a plenty, it never seems like a compromise? If one road is blocked, then he uses another, there are still many to choose from.
Between melodic choices, rhythmic choices, lyrical choices, performance choices, interpretation choices, there is so much variety to explore that I never get the sense of any compromise.

Now what I do think Adam needed is some time to think it all through, so his choices become somewhat more strategic and less arbitrary. He had to study how radio works, he had to see what works in a live environment, what holds up to repetitive performances, what allows for interesting variations in melody or rhythm to mix things up, what his fan base wants (even though I have no idea how he sums that up for himself - I don't even know what I want myself, not to speak of what 'we fans' as a group want). But anyhow: I think Adam did learn a lot from round one and included that in his design. Here are some examples:

1) He wanted an album that is strung together in a cohesive way.

2) On FYE two of the songs with the most pop radio friendly sound both had controversial lyrics (FYE and Fever), and as things evolved, only IIHY was dance-pop and then there was the slower WWFM. This time, he out of the gate designated certain tracks for the radio path and pushed those lyrics only so far. He kept the more intense or as he calls it 'nasty' lyrics that he definitely wants to write about, but he kept those for album only tracks. That to me is not a compromise, it just understanding your environment and being smart about choices you have.

3) Adam stayed cross-genre (dance, funk, dubstep, pop, electronic, rock, its all there, exactly like HE wants it). He does not compromise there, but again he took those songs that were made for radio listening and made them totally radio friendly

4) When others have to choose between rhythmic and vocal focus, Adam can do both: Winner

5) When others have to choose between dance vs rock, Adam can do both

6) When others think of pop music as more simplistic and therefore something to snobbishly look down upon, then Adam can prove that pop can have musical sophistication too.

And even in content, Adam has such richness of lyrical ideas on his album, that it seems like a banquet for the senses, never like a limitation of choices.

So, while I do agree that Adam has to make a compromise here and there, it just never seems like one, it always seems like he turns every hurdle into a win by working elegantly around it, harvesting the bounty he has at his disposal.

I can assure y'all of very little -- but one thing is certain -- as long as there are two people who want to post here -- me and anyone else -- this site will be here.

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NoAngel -- Beautiful piece. Now I have a few changes to suggest to the last sentence......

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I just got back in from the "No Trespassing" Party in the South! Every time I go to an ATop or Adam fan event, I am amazed at what an amazing community of people Adam has brought together.

I wonder if he really has any idea what he has done! And what an inspiration he really is.

Home from a FANTASTIC weekend! Smokey and mayumi outdid themselves to make everything absolutely perfect.

Smokey - I am amazed at your house. If any of you ever need help selecting paint colors or arranging a room, Smokey is your woman. Her house is a showcase. Her cooking ain't too shabby either. She provided a feast for all of us on Friday night. Her family is a delight - her son should do a standup comedy show - I could sit for hours listeneing to him talk. He's hilarious.

mayumi - as usual, you're the hostess with the mostest. Mayumi had a southern BBQ dinner for us on Saturday night. I think I gained 5 pounds on that one meal. It was worth it. mayumi's huge home has the most beautiful setting on a lake - beautiful sunroom and deck on the back. I could sit out there looking at the lake forever.

So glad we got to meet the one's who came from far away that had never attended the Atlanta party before to include our leader, Q3. Such a treat!