They are older, though (mid-20s!), which I appreciate. But then their song kinda sounds and looks like a Coca-Cola commercial. Also it's hard not to be bitter about the fact that they might be a substitution for f(x), whose post-Sulli future is looking kinda uncertain.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Thursday, 7 August 2014 03:34 (nine years ago) link
Speaking of the future, BANGTAN look to be continuing their possessive-aggressive-stalker theme from Skool Love Affair: http://youtu.be/_3OLpHsAR54
I hear all their trailers are HQ but this was unexpectedly long and intense for a teaser???
― hurricane weather (forapper), Thursday, 7 August 2014 03:36 (nine years ago) link
Also, I thought Airplane were a fine if kinda generic pop-rock band, but their latest single has some interesting production choices on top of the pop-rock-rap: http://youtu.be/-Si_g0PeCgc
― hurricane weather (forapper), Thursday, 7 August 2014 03:42 (nine years ago) link
Have also just learned that Bangtan have a song about being unemployed - classic hip hop theme brought into the idol world were it seems weirder than it really is.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Thursday, 7 August 2014 03:46 (nine years ago) link
Wait there's one more thing - was going through some things I missed and FIESTAR's single is quite good!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9sEjiBew18
― hurricane weather (forapper), Thursday, 7 August 2014 03:50 (nine years ago) link
How Many of These Korean Pop Songs Released Between January and June of This Year Do You Recognize? http://youtu.be/FvxY8Y5bN60
― hurricane weather (forapper), Thursday, 7 August 2014 04:09 (nine years ago) link
http://pitchfork.com/features/starter/9475-20-essential-k-pop-songs/
― abcfsk, Thursday, 7 August 2014 21:34 (nine years ago) link
What're the odds that whoever wrote that is reading this thread? Because they seem high to me.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Friday, 8 August 2014 01:35 (nine years ago) link
That list is a lot more idiosyncratic than Elite Gymnastics'
― hurricane weather (forapper), Friday, 8 August 2014 01:50 (nine years ago) link
Wait... soyrev did you write this???
― hurricane weather (forapper), Friday, 8 August 2014 02:08 (nine years ago) link
lol I do believe that it was indeed soyrev.
speaking of K-pop in the states, SPICA's US debut is erm... not great :/
http://youtu.be/j6Mns7IbRFE
― Roz, Friday, 8 August 2014 08:35 (nine years ago) link
Yeah looking back, the rec for SHINee - One Minute Back kind of gives it away lol. I'm not sure he chose tge most logical songs for an uninitiated audience and there's a little too much repetition of artists going on, but the descriptions are well done.
SPICA... why.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Friday, 8 August 2014 14:31 (nine years ago) link
Gotta push for f(x) so they won't be canned post-Sulli though.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Friday, 8 August 2014 14:33 (nine years ago) link
The Spica song is good, I really don't think the label is pushing for a US breakthrough, just using this as an alternative way of getting publicity with Korean and international k-pop crowd.
― abcfsk, Friday, 8 August 2014 14:58 (nine years ago) link
it's giving me Wonder Girls and "Nobody" vibes tbh. Not terrible, just boringly predictable and safe.
someone needs to explain to me wth hell is going on with f(x) and Sulli - even after reading all the posts on omona, I still don't get how it all went pear-shaped so fast. #savefx
― Roz, Friday, 8 August 2014 16:55 (nine years ago) link
No one knows #SMentertainment
― abcfsk, Friday, 8 August 2014 17:06 (nine years ago) link
Krystal saying this on her reality show with her sister doesn't bode too well though
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuTn5MCCYAEoloo.jpg:large
― abcfsk, Friday, 8 August 2014 17:08 (nine years ago) link
:(
― Roz, Friday, 8 August 2014 17:20 (nine years ago) link
SNSD only group with skin thick enough to not be split up by SM's ways.
― abcfsk, Friday, 8 August 2014 17:30 (nine years ago) link
SNSD are rumoured to get gentler treatment because Sunny is Lee Soo Man's niece
― hurricane weather (forapper), Friday, 8 August 2014 19:19 (nine years ago) link
f(x) are rumoured to have been on the rocks for a while, especially Sulli who is rumoured to be temperamental. She's a former child actress so she's doing this for a really long time.
If you want to see something really weird and heartbreaking, look up f(x)'s episode of "A Song For You" - only Amber, Victoria and Luna are in it because (the story goes) Krystal was filming and Sulli was resting at home due to illness. But actually Sulli was on site during the recording - in behind the scenes photos she's sitting with the rest of the group staring vacantly into space like a severely depressed person. The other three carried on the filming like everything was normal and Sulli was edited out afterward.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Friday, 8 August 2014 19:27 (nine years ago) link
Which seems kind of telling
― hurricane weather (forapper), Friday, 8 August 2014 19:33 (nine years ago) link
Listening to all the songs on this Pitchfork listing is reminding me of this one that would fit right in:
https://soundcloud.com/bleachndlp/ill-talk-plainly
― hurricane weather (forapper), Saturday, 9 August 2014 07:06 (nine years ago) link
But Phantom aren't that popular, sadly :( Their full-length album was also kinda disappointing
New Brown Eyed Girls:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKe0Mq-COvQ
― hurricane weather (forapper), Saturday, 9 August 2014 07:40 (nine years ago) link
Okay I listened to SPICA and they seem to be trying to reach America before Little Mix does
― hurricane weather (forapper), Saturday, 9 August 2014 07:52 (nine years ago) link
hey yeah! that p4k list is me. though i've been really into "one minute back" since it came out :) http://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/shinee-everybody
thank you all, though, who replied to my earlier inquiry. i'm not sure if any of the ones mentioned here that i didn't already know made the list, but lots of great picks and thoughts! whoever suggested B1A4 "What's Happening?" and 2PM "Hands Up" has really great taste. i'm just happy to be getting such a serious, flattering analysis of k-pop into such an influential publication. hopefully the start of something neat...
― soyrev, Saturday, 9 August 2014 15:28 (nine years ago) link
Odd 2NE1 choice I have to say.
― abcfsk, Saturday, 9 August 2014 16:42 (nine years ago) link
yeah
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Saturday, 9 August 2014 16:48 (nine years ago) link
:D
I saw you quoting me on reddit, lol yr welcome.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Saturday, 9 August 2014 21:14 (nine years ago) link
@hurricane weather, yes! never knew about that song before you, and the way you talked about it/them was the perfect bait for me. this would be much awkwarder if it had made the list, huh?
*best* 2NE1 choice, you mean!!! i haven't read what p4k posted so i don't know if they left this in the piece or what, but hopefully it still says something about the climactic whole step modulation in that song (which, considering the song repeats nothing from the prior key in the new one, is perhaps a unique instance of such in a pop song). 2NE1 are known for their bangers, but i will stand by "missing you" being their best (-written and -performed) song 'til they top it.
― soyrev, Sunday, 10 August 2014 07:22 (nine years ago) link
Are you afraid to read it, soyrev?
― hurricane weather (forapper), Sunday, 10 August 2014 17:07 (nine years ago) link
I'm not a music major but I tried to outline the structure of What's Going On once, it was something crazy like:
Intro VocalRap Bridge AIntro Verse w key change to minor Minor Chorus/Rap Bridge B Major Chorus 1Major Chorus 1Rap Bridge ARap Verse Vocal Bridge A (Middle 8) w key change to minor Minor Chorus/Rap Bridge B Chorus 1Vocal Bridge B (Vocal+Rap+Vocal) w key change one major step upChorus 2Chorus 2Climax Verse Rap Bridge A
Or something like that...
Have you heard any other B1A4? I like them because they have the Kpop willingness to use 4-5 different melodies in one song, as if to say there will always be more where those came from, but even more so than most groups. Lonely is the kind of euphoric-depressive thing PF might like, and they have some great album tracks too.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Sunday, 10 August 2014 17:31 (nine years ago) link
Wrote an exploratory post regarding "Disco Boybands" on my lj; included this tentative list of tracks for an Infinite playlist (not that all of these tracks are disco-y):
The ChaserSeason 2Lost RomeoTo-Ra-WaVictorious Way (Infinite H)Without U (Infinite H)Going To You (너에게 간다)Rosinante (로시난테)ParadiseIn The SummerInfinitizeCover GirlInconvenient TruthBreathe (숨 좀 쉬자)Over The TopBe MineBackShower (소나기)Be Mine (Remix)
― Frank Kogan, Monday, 11 August 2014 04:02 (nine years ago) link
Interesting. Sweetune/Infinite are ground zero for this in K-pop I guess, but to me their sound comes from the same strain of disco/dance pop that would eventually lead you back to the Bee Gees via the Pet Shop Boys, rather than the black vocal group lineage you're thinking of.
SHINee, who have always drawn heavily from Michael Jackson, went more overtly disco/funk on their album tracks last year:
Runaway http://youtu.be/10xPF0y4nD8 Like a Fire http://youtu.be/wi7FmfC3ja8Plus their disco-on-steroids live performances of Dream Girl: http://youtu.be/jw4pUpGNgag?t=2m29s
― Roz, Monday, 11 August 2014 16:38 (nine years ago) link
Meanwhile, Big Bang's presumptive heirs WINNER finally debuts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEqlF5N8UMs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQIfXg7UukI
Slightly underwhelming tbh - it seems they've elected to skip the usual manic, flashy boyband debut and went straight to the "grown up", second album man-pain.
Both songs are a pretty good showcase of the group's strengths though: distinctive vocalists, harmonies for days, pop rock melodies, a typically YG-esque penchant for drama. They're going to be massive obviously.
― Roz, Monday, 11 August 2014 17:41 (nine years ago) link
Now that Inifinite have gone full Hollywood and stopped working with Sweetune, I'm pulling for Boyfriend a little harder these days. But anyway I think that's a good list, Frank... personally I also really like Nothing's Over (for the video abt helping a friend with depression as much as anything) and their album track Hysterie. Also I'm surprised you didn't include their most gonzo live track Before the Dawn.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Monday, 11 August 2014 19:53 (nine years ago) link
Thanks Rox and forapper!
Actually, I never dl'd BTD for myself, so I don't know it that well. The video's a stunner, of course.* Listening to some of the live BTD's I hear how echoing in the live space with the audience excitement coming back at it gives it an extra kick. (Actually, the melody to BTD does sound a bit freestyle, a genre whose only well-known boyband was TKA, as far as I know {and I don't remember if they fit the too-narrow defn. of boyband I was using in my post.)
*Did we ever talk much about video director Hwang Soo Ah on these threads? Mat taught me about her. She directed Brown Eyed Girl's "Abracadabra," Ga-in's "Irreversible," IU's "The Story Only I Didn't Know," Sunny Hill's "Darling Of All Hearts," as well as Infinite's "Be Mine" and "Before The Dawn." That's just a sampling.
― Frank Kogan, Monday, 11 August 2014 22:40 (nine years ago) link
I think we talked about her in the Bigbang thread a little bit.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Monday, 11 August 2014 22:43 (nine years ago) link
I loved SHINee's various Misconception LP's last year. A special favorite was "Music Box," though its being an ambitious ballad, I don't know what line of descent to put it in (other than "Ambitious Ballad").
― Frank Kogan, Monday, 11 August 2014 22:53 (nine years ago) link
(Sorry for mistyping your name, Roz.)
― Frank Kogan, Monday, 11 August 2014 22:54 (nine years ago) link
Just listened to WINNER and wow @ Empty, Team A fans who complained about YG playing favorites must be SO mad (Team B's B.I. wrote the song). For that matter, Team B fans can't be too happy at YG taking a very Team-B-ish songs and giving it to the rival group either.
"Color Ring" is a lot more WINNER-like and showcases their strengths as vocalists better, I hope it stomps all over Empty on the charts.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Monday, 11 August 2014 23:32 (nine years ago) link
*at YG taking a very Team-B-ish song away from Team B and giving it to the "rival" group to promote as their single, that is.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Monday, 11 August 2014 23:34 (nine years ago) link
Just on principle that is, neither song is my thing. "Color Ring" kind of reminds me of Eric Nam's Heaven's Door from last year.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Monday, 11 August 2014 23:38 (nine years ago) link
Actually... Empty is the one that sounds like Heaven's Door. They kind of blurred together in my mind due to the similar MVs.
― hurricane weather (forapper), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 00:18 (nine years ago) link
To bring the conversation back to SHINee... I'm kind of looking forward to Taemin's solo debut o_0
― hurricane weather (forapper), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 00:21 (nine years ago) link
They have him going for max visual impact like (say) HyunA or Hyomin, but Taemin also has technical chops as a singer
― hurricane weather (forapper), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 01:02 (nine years ago) link
Empty is kind of a stronger song than Color Ring tho *grudging*
― hurricane weather (forapper), Tuesday, 12 August 2014 01:03 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt_caHc08GM
― hurricane weather (forapper), Wednesday, 13 August 2014 04:19 (nine years ago) link
the three members of orange caramel can be IDed by their hairstyles and the fact that they are NOT wearing the same orange shirts as everyone else
― hurricane weather (forapper), Wednesday, 13 August 2014 04:23 (nine years ago) link