K-pop

YES!!

still regretting not getting a ticket to BigBang's show next month (sold out in eight hours. :/)

Am I the only one who finds G-Dragon weirdly Aaron Carter-ish?

Damn, Ga-In http://youtu.be/K64mb5KUhhs

Pretty sure it's the first time masturbation has featured in a k-pop video and also that we don't really see sex as something this nice and sweet in pop videos in general.

Reminds me a bit of this old hit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV0LD-QAzg0

This thread blows my system up when I expand it, so I have to ask the knowledgeable crew: what's the name of the track where a woman in a hospital bed is tormented by inconsiderate visitors?

revenge fantasy?

Sounds like Miryo's "Dirty", maybe.

that's it, thanks. stayed with me for some reason.

Miss A "don't need a man" http://youtu.be/EkSOOiMDGiY

hi

Tablo "Don't Hate Me" is so disturbing, dude has fallen HARD for the GD/YG Family cult (compare video for Don't Hate Me with the videos for GDragon CraYon and One of a Kind to see what I mean). Good on the other guys in Epik High for standing by him and supporting him in this bizarre new artistic direction and time in his life, though.

Did see lots of Epik High fans crying over the change in direction.

Hyuna - ICE CREAM http://youtu.be/QlWZluzBNxM

It's distuuuuuuuurbing. And I say this as a GDragon and Britpop fan. The brighter the music, the more tortured it seems underneath (and vid is about destruction of the capitalist system of commerce by child terrorist-popstars, and, like, skateboarding. Skateboarding!)

like the new hyuna but don't LOVE it

G-Dragon has an excellent, lengthy interview with XXL: http://www.xxlmag.com/features/2012/12/korean-rapper-g-dragon-talks-k-pop-hype-new-ep-and-past-scandals/

Just wanna say thank you to the posters in this thread. I trawled through all the recs and you tubes posted here this year and found loads of great stuff. Particularly loving f(x), g dragon, sistah, and (gawdhelpme) block-b!!

anybody doing best of 2012 lists?

allkpop have started theirs
http://www.allkpop.com/2012/12/allkpops-top-50-k-pop-songs-of-2012-41-50

Thanks for that! Fallen big time for their #50 Exo-K 'Mama'

I'll do a top 50 or 100 probably some time this week or next.

Best 2012 albums is easy, there haven't been that many notable (idol) albums this year. Singles might be fun, maybe I'll do a list too. For the first time ever.

Keen to see some end of year lists; I put some SISTAR/BlockB/f(x)/Infinite in a local EOY thing, but I'm woefully out of my depth. TBH, apart from "Gangnam Style", it was mainly 2011 hits like "Bubble Pop" & "I Am The Best" that I'd hear out this year; v.slow-rolling infiltration.

Kpop is a lotta fun yall

Nothing definitive about this.

ALBUM TRACKS 2012:

1. After School "Eyeline"
2. Miss $ "Physical Or Emotional"
3. T-ara "T-aratic Magic Music"
4. E.via "Night Blooming Roses"
5. HyunA "Don't Fall Apart" also called "Straight Up"
6. Jewelry "Rhythm HA!!!"
7. TaeTiSeo "Baby Steps"
8. Ga-In "Tinkerbell"
9. Miss A "Lips"
10. Neon Bunny "First Love"

I'd not heard of Miss $ until a month ago; their back catalog is pedestrian rap and r&b; now suddenly they're in the deep bleeding mascara sound that came pouring out of the barrios and crossover dance clubs of New York City, 1989.

SINGLES 2012

1. T-ara "Lovey-Dovey"
2. Orange Caramel "Lipstick"
3. Trouble Maker "Trouble Maker"
4. ChoColat "I Like It"
5. Wonder Girls "Like This"
6. T-ara "Day By Day"
7. Sistar "Alone"
8. Davichi & T-ara "We Were In Love"
9. 2NE1 "Scream"
10. 4minute "Volume Up"
11. Flashe "Drop It"
12. After School "Rambling Girls"
13. ChoColat ft. Sung Hyo Ram "One More Day" (also called "Same Thing To Her")
14. Miss A "Touch"
15. Orange Caramel "My Sweet Devil"
16. Yoon Jong Shin ft. Kim Wan Sun "I Love You All Days"
17. Chi Chi "Sexy Doll"
18. Girl's Day "Oh! My God"
19. Jewelry "Look At Me" (Inst.)
20. E.via ft. Lee Su Jung "I Know How To Play A Little"

Could have gone twice as long, but I wanted to give other people a chance. The next several included two more T-aras, some other fairly high-profile stuff, a second song called "Sexy Doll," and an insect. Three that I listed ("Scream," "Rambling Girls," and "My Sweet Devil") are in Japanese, as is "T-aratic Magic Music" on my tracks list. As for sounds that recall the ghosts of my pre-past, "Look At Me" has the bright beats of K-pop but the weathered sound of a nonchalant little throwaway B-side from scrappy mid '50s R&B independents like King Records out of Cincinnati. Appropriate, as it's a B-side itself.

Great slow jam from Satbyeol - think Ciara's Promise meeting Taeyang's I Need a Girl - the song shares producer with the latter:
http://youtu.be/qgQBAb--ci8
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8360/8281021974_72bebf50c8_n.jpg

She also released an amazing single last year http://youtu.be/2VbN8JPYCcM

Most known for featuring on lots of hip hop tracks.

BONUS: Very funny and on point skit about plastic surgery f rmo the Brown Eyed Girls on SNL Korea http://youtu.be/264nb9wX0Qo

Are we still doing Kpop Top 50 lists? I did one based purely on personal utility this year:

TOP 10
Miss A - I Don't Need a Man
Sistar - Alone
T-ara - Day by Day
Epik High - Wrong
Infinite - The Chaser
Big Bang - Still Alive
GDragon - One of a Kind
Big Bang - Fantastic Baby
UKiss - Believe
T-ara - Sexy Love

NEXT 10
K.Will - Please Don't
Sunny Hill - The Grasshopper Song
Xia Junsu - Tallentelegra
Block B - Nilili Mambo
Boyfriend - Love Style
Crazyno - Musiche
E.via - Night Blooming Roses
EXID - Every Night
Electroboyz ft. Gaeparta - My Love
Big Bang - Bad Boy

THIRD 10
Miss A - Touch
Tasty - Do You Know Me?
BTOB - Wow
UKiss - Stop Girl (English version)
GDragon - CraYon
Primary - ?
Neon Bunny - Oh My Prince
EXO-K - History
BAP - No Mercy
ZE:A - Aftermath

FORTH 10
Brave Girls - Nowadays You
Spica - Painkiller
BoA ft SYChaserSY - Only One (rap remix)
SPEED - Lovey Dovey Plus
B1A4 - Wonderful Tonight (unplugged remix)
4Minute - Volume Up
100% - Bad Boy
CReal - Sorry But I
Jo Kwon - Animal
E.via - I Know How to Play a Little

FIFTH 10
Kara - Pandora
TVXQ - Catch Me
Girls Day - Oh! My God (areia trance remix)
Nam Soo-Rin - Drive Me To The Moon
Teen Top - Crazy
Fiestar - Vista
Bigstar - Hot Boy
EXO-K - What Is Love
Teen Top - Be My Girl
LEDApple - Let the Wind Blow

Will check this so thanks for posting

I know that I dig the pirate Block B and the K Will (cool video too)

The K Will mv is so great. Twist ending!

I feel like I ask this question every 6 months but what's the best intro BoA album to get

Hard to say. Last two Korean albums have been good but she's got a surprisingly deep discography and some of her earlier stuff touches on great asian pop sounds like Utada's stuff. There's also the JP best-of. Watch this while figuring it out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxbaxNb4egU

Or rather three JP best-of albums: "K-pop Selection", "Best of Soul" and "Best&USA".

Ur welcome.

Actually if I can make an addition - I'll take out Teen Top "Crazy" and sub in B2ST "Midnight". I'm not a fan of the nasal/showtunes B2ST singing style, is why I left it off, but the melody has been running through my head since this morning. This here is an excellent cover.

I like BoA's American album and her latest, but I haven't listened to most of them... top BoA tracks for me are "Hurricane Venus", "Girls on Top" and "I Did It For Love".

Also about the K.Will video (which is great): I've heard that the Korean TV broadcast version leaves off the last 10 seconds. So including the twist at the end doesn't just improve the video, it also sneaks it past the censor board.

Also speaking of subversion, there's Glam - Party XXO, a song about girls kissing girls. It's my #51 pick for that reason, though Cher Lloyd's people will probably want a word with the video director.

Songs that use the same three descending notes and charted well:
Shinnee - Lucifer (2010)
CL & Minzy - Please Don't Go (2011)
Block B - NalinA (2012)
Girls Generation - Twinkle (2012)
A Pink - Hush (2012)

The three notes I'm taking about are the "Hush, Hush, Hush" part of Hush and the "Nalin, <S>Nalin</s>, Nalin-A" part of NalinA.

Better yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz2P11-uU2s

And SKorea's own year-end roundups:

The Color of Kpop, Maddie's review
SBS Gayo Daejun collabs, here
SBS Gayo Daejun solos, here
MBC Gayo Daejun collabs, here
MBC Gayo Daejun solos, here and here.

Haven't watched the solos, of the collaborations nearly all the SBS Gayo one are good; at MBC Gayo Seohyun + three MCs, Shinnee and F(x), Park Myungsoo and guests incl. Crazyno who steals the show for the 10 seconds in which he appears are good. Ailee, Epik High and Koyote also bring it, but those performances are more like solos that happen to overlap with another group than true collaborations. Minzy and Park Bom of 2NE1 in good voice, also.

Just watched MBC Gayo solo stages.

Afterschool's Flashback remix (http://youtu.be/YPN6DTVd5o4) is better than the original. I also kind of like what Kara did with Pandora (http://youtu.be/k9WiJkRvaig), though the original is still better. Sistar Alone rock remix (http://youtu.be/wYjxn7HnoWU) is a miss - they don't have the pipes and the original arrangement is perfect and can't be improved.

Very good performances by BAP, Miss A, 4Minute and TVXQ, as expected. For some reason I like Secret Talk That (http://youtu.be/Bzshr9dOmyk) here where I never did before. A Pink Hush (http://youtu.be/0V8I-OKN5oA) belongs at this kind of event. The fake-out non-breakdown in BTOB Wow (http://youtu.be/8Cw4HOPHdcQ) is hilarious, as are the cameraman's shots of the non-reactive audience. A lot of good performances, all around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwm7IlPO1Uo

this rules a lot

yeah that's good, love that propelling guitar strum

btw the sample is the cover girls' "because of you" (identified by maura) and i think that's really awesome

I love this song, and the live "collaboration" performance at SBS Gayo, with a vocaloid. Class.

the sample doesn't do much for me tbh, other than like cool dudes in korea are listening to the cover girls

My top 100 of 2012 as of now. No JP singles.

1. BoA - Only One
2. T-ara - Lovey Dovey
3. Sunny Hill - The Grasshopper Song
4. Sistar - Alone
5. T-ara - Sexy Love
6. Big Bang - Bad Boy
7. Sunny Hill - Is The White Horse Coming?
8. Primary - ?
9. 4Minute - Volume Up
10. EXID - Every Night¨

11. Nine Muses - News
12. Wonder Girls - Like This
13. f(x) - Electric Shock
14. Satbyeol - Do Me
15. Neon Bunny - First Love
16. Chocolat - One More Day
17. Younha - Run
18. EXO - History
19. Nine Muses - Ticket
20. Lay-T - Soft Soft

21. SouLime - With U
22. Soulights - Leave Me
23. E.Via - I Know How To Play
24. Infinite - The Chaser
25. Rania - STYLE
26. Miss A - I Don't Need a Man
27. Tensi Love - Cake House
28. Crayon Pop - Dancing Queen
29. Neon Bunny - Oh My Prince
30. Gangkiz - Honey Honey

31. D-Unit - Sleeping In Part 2
32. Primary - Manna
33. After School - Flashback
34. Park JiYoon - Tree of Life
35. Seo In Young - Anymore
36. Chi Chi - Love is Energy
37. BoA - The Shadow
38. Humming Urban Stereo - Love Jam
39. TVXQ - Catch Me
40. Boyfriend - I'll Be There

41. IU - Peach
42. Davichi & T-ara "We Were In Love"
43. 4Minute - Over and Over (R.Tee Mix)
44. Areum (T-ara), Shannon, Gunji (Gavy NJ) - Day

and Night
45. The Seeya - Be With You
46. Teen Top - To You
47. IU - Bad Day
48. EXID - I Feel Good
49. Suho - You Are My Only One
50. R.Sha & Da.U - Mine

51. IU - Every End of Day
52. D-Unit - Luv Me
53. Big Bang - Fantastic Baby
54. Chocolat - I Like It
55. 2NE1 - I Love You
56. T-ara - Day By Day
57. Junsu - Tarantallegra
58. C-Real - Sorry But I
59. Nine - Songs
60. Hyuna - Ice Cream

61. Kara - Pandora
62. SIAENA - Winter Is Coming
63. Gangkiz - Mama
64. Nu'Est - Action
65. Reddy - Let's Go (feat. Satbyeol)
66. Spica - Russian Roulette
67. Nam Soo-Rim feat ParkJiYoon - Drive Me To The Moon
68. Kim Wan Sun - Can Only Feel
69. EvoL - Let Me Explode
70. Spica - Painkiller

71. Panini - Lovely Day
72. B.A.P. - No Mercy
73. Dalmatian - E.R
74. Fiestar - Vista
75. Glen Check - Disco Elevator
76. Clazzi - Love&Hate
77. Hadami - Mannequin
78. BoA - Lookin' (feat The Quiett)
79. Big Bang - Blue
80. GP Basic - Edge Ta¨

81. Primary - See Through
82. Secret - Poison
83. Miss A - Touch
84. Lumi L - Popopo
85. Beast - Beautiful Night
86. Miryo - Dirty
87. Seo In Young - Let's Dance
88. Yoseob - Caffeine
89. Lexy - Nolza
90. 15& - I Dream

91. Rude Paper - Can't Believe It (feat Sean2slow)
92. Crayon Pop - Bing Bing
93. We - Party
94. Jessica - My Lifestyle
95. WooYoung - Sexy Lady
96. Ga-In - Bloom
97. Baek Ah Yeon - Sad Song
98. Block B - Nallina
99. Girl's Day - Don't forget me
100. A-Pink - Hush Hush

Anyone know anything about this (너는 왜 - 철이와 미애)? Someone linked it on an Omonatheydidn't GLAM thread; is an earlier Korean track to use that Cover Girls sample. Not sure what it's doing; is it a Korean Stars On 45 for freestyle?

I really like your list, absfsk.

Does anyone else think f(x) - Electric Shock sounds like T-ara - One and One?

Is The White Horse Coming has my favorite video of 2012. Those couple seconds of "Prince" on the horse are priceless.

Oops, the track I linked was just "I Like That" all over again. I meant to link the very freestylish "Why You," by Chuli & Miae (1993, according to the YouTube posters) -- which possibly samples "Because Of You" and definitely copies it (my hearing isn't precise enough to figure this out), though without then following along the chord pattern that accompanies the little vocal riff in the Cover Girls' version. In any event, "I Like That" is using the part from Chuli & Miae, though again I can't tell if it's a sample or a copy, though if it's a sample, and wherever it comes from (whether it's directly from the Cover Girls or from Chuli & Miae), GLAM are augmenting it with what sounds like a deeper-timbred voice than on either of the two previous tracks, though of course that voice could well have been the same one with electronic treatment.

"I Like That" sounds better than GLAM's previous single, "Party(XXO)," though the latter is massively important for its unmistakable pro-gay lyrics. And I'd say the biz and the fans aren't holding that content and the GLAM girls possible sexual orientation against them, to say the least. Allkpop has been reporting "I Like That" doing well in the daily charts. Its lyrics, by the way, seem to be about thinking it's okay that someone just broke up with you, that not being in a relationship is fine, that not having your friends around is fine. That's what they're liking when they say "I like that." Even when they're drunk and crawling and they're unhappy, and there's no one to take care of them, they like it!

As for "Electric Shock" and "One And One," the riff isn't quite the same, "Electric Shock" going to an upper note earlier, but the rhythm is close. So I do hear the similarity, though emotionally the two songs don't feel much alike. "Electric Shock" is more brutal, "One And One" bouncier.

"Electric Shock" is one of my favorite f(x) tracks, while "One And One" is just run-of-the-mill for T-ara and Shinsadong Tiger (though run-of-the-mill for them is exceedingly good compared to most anyone else's run-of-the-mill). I don't know whether it came out first, but "One And One" sounds as if S. Tiger was working out ideas that came to fruition in 4minute's superb "Hot Issue."

I recently found out that 'hitman' bang, the producer of GLAM's two singles and seemingly the man in charge also composed one of the great early T-ara tracks "Like The First Time". One possible reason I hadn't picked up on this is the fact that their first album sounds so much like one solid whole that I assumed everyone involved was part of the T-ara 'clique' - but this is the only hitman track there.

I don't know about "Electric Shock" being more brutal, "One and One" is a relentless song about how T-ara are COMING FOR YOU and won't stop until they have MERGED WITH YOU TO FORM A SINGLE UNIT. I guess I can see what you're saying about the build of the beat, though. I like T-ara's song more, if only because it's more fun to sing, and for the part that goes "Pact, Impact... I will, I will".