Act-five for 2014

Prayers to all unfortunate events in year 2014. 

It's so surreal that the year is ending soon: Here comes the year's worth of songs that I remember listening to. The songs are neither in alphabetically order nor preferences, probably I'd make another post for Chinese music. 

피네 (Fine) - 수화

The trio's new number 서로의 도시 gets a little dreary after a few listens and it kinda dampened my excitement, I can't stop thinking about the similar sounds from The XX and them. But not this track, the perpetual beat that keeps the track on course is so compelling. This is nothing like anything, 수화 is certainly my favourite song of this year.

Roy Kim - 롱디 (Hold On)

Roy Kim's vocal expression is very nicely contoured with the encouragement stories of this mild-folk album. The heartrending melody of 'Home' is so well composed with his reposeful vocals. Other than this track, my other personal favourite is the fast tempo '날 사랑한다면'.

IU - 소격동

There was a 10 hours video version of this song and I'm not lying, I was at the 5th hour until some new song released. The ambience with IU's vocals suits the song much more. IU and cover songs go really well together, regardless being pre-debut or random covers. The individuality instills into the songs she covers, making her 6th as a remake album of songs from the 80's so pleasant.

Chelsea Jade - Assembly

Formerly known as Watercolours, and now promoting zestfully using her own name. Beacons might not be as indelible as the tracks in Portals (2013) especially her debut track 'Under', but this number discloses a very nice expansion for her staple dream/alternative pop.

Juuno - Floater

Though it's only one of the architects of Casker with an electronica solo, but still so alluring. I came across this magazine shoot footage with this track as background music, very nicely edited: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMPkG2AhCFk

Ryn Weaver - Stay Low

Undeniably she's getting what she deserves this year after so long with the release of Octahate, which basically blew everyone away. Instead of riding the wave, she took her time to release her 'Promises' EP and this is my favourite (after Octahate).

Lucia - 해야할 일

I attended her gig once when I was still at Seoul, she is a performer instead of only a singer. This is the new album that she announced about the release during the show. Though it doesn't really convey as much stories as the previous one, but her songs are always poignant.

Gaeko - 세상에 (ft. DJ Friz)

This is one crazy track. The perpetual beat presses the concentration and it returns involuntary at the verses after the chorus. With the scratch from Planet Shiver's DJ Friz in the end, and the half-hearted chorus drops with witty lyrics. This is phenomenal.

Lowslow (로우슬로우) - Tennessee

The band led by Kwak Jineon, the winner of Superstar K6 on the vox and vocal, pursuing a peculiar genre thousand miles out from his onscreen varieties. The progression of the strings in this post-rock track is so stably agile along with synth/keys, especially the guitar itself in the live performance version. Both studio and performance versions have their own grandstands, and all of them are pretty much differently performed. I'm waiting eagerly for the album to drop (hopefully there's even a plan for it). I've never had such finely assembled post-rock/ambient after Frenzy (프렌지).

Featherweights - Hundreds of Love Songs

Featherweights is a Swedish singer-songwriter duo, same titled debut album was released few months back this year. When Linnea Met Linus is another extremely cute song, as explained. The stories of this album are very straightforward, along with the lucidity of the acoustic sounds and the vocals commend this release a lot.

HA:TFELT - Nothing Lasts Forever

Coming out as a solo artist and being the second singer from a pop girl group, this was a great job highlighting her skills and also her preferences in music. The effect for the vocals of this track is exceptionally fitting and eccentric since it could be made into a really conventional ballad.

Crucial Star - Owl (ft. Donutman)

I didn't really listen to much hiphop this year, probably the last one which I took seriously was Beenzino but in came Crucial Star. With his usual featuring of Donutman, his forte of jazz-rap making this a really chilled track.

Elephant - Skyscraper

I love them so much. My first encounter with Elephant was at Taiwan 2 years back, and I bought the EP at first listen. I'd say they are the best in bedroom/dreamy pop. Their sounds now are richer and more complex, intensifying the whole dreamy tone.

하이포 (HIGH4) - 해요 말고 해 (ft. 김예림)

They might the be most underrated group in the Korean pop circle. This is the paragon of all sophisticated vocalists gather and Kim Yerim pinnacles the direction of the song, the rappers counteract the song nicely without overdoing. Their pre-debut collaboration with IU  - '봄 사랑 벚꽃 말고' were similarly done.

albums

청년들 - Lads On The Street

The band name itself tells so much about them, being a get-up-and-go kind of band. The bright and breezy tenor of the whole album along with their lazy vocal, easy lyrics, and next thing would be head bobbing to the songs. Their bassist is terrific and the limelight is definitely on him in their instrumental tracks, especially 'Stay Young #2'.

10cm - 3.0

Way beyond my expectations, since I was slightly frustrated by 2.0. 10cm always have witty lyrics, and the folk in them comes out better this time. I genuinely enjoyed each track but I'd like to highlight '여자는 왜 화를 내는 걸까' and '그리워라' for the progression and their staple witty lyrics.

Puer Kim - Purifier

Finally a follow up after her 이응 (Korean Vowels) album. I'm always having this perception of her being a washed-out Jungin, yet still so soothing and breezy. A very docile soul pop album within the coverage of both popular orthodox and unorthodox culture. Probably only '마녀 마쉬' is slightly overdone.

Life and Time - The Great Deep

The lineup of the band is already extremely impressive, having both Loro's and The KOXX members in it. Being that, they weren't a bit influenced by what they had been doing. The development of the tracks were so well sequenced and especially the drums was breathtaking. If they weren't marketing this with the members' resume probably it would be a better listen.

Like Likes - Laid Back Dreaming

This deep house EP from the duo takes the 2014 cake, gradually hitting the floor for being one of the compilations of a remix song for SHINee. The progression and sequencing of not only this EP, basically all their remixes are insane. A very engaging concatenation of their element.

Eddy Kim - 너 사용법 (The Manual)

It's quite unexpected for him being in top 6 of Superstar K4 to release an album, I'm glad his agency took him in. This is an exceedingly satisfying acoustic album. 'Darling' being a really sugared serenade was then added into this debut piece, completing the whole album. This is a very nice video of him singing to 'It's Over': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=METgLOuks9M

George Ezra - Wanted On Voyage

Sam Smith was on the run with Ezra released Wanted On Voyage since the latter was out a month after. A nice and cozy folk album with the songs growing on you after a few loops. My personal favourite is 'Stand By Your Gun'.

Happy new year! May 2015 be a better year for rehabilitation and readapt to changes.

The Pony - Pony (2009)

The Pony (더 포니)
Pony (2009)



1. 모든 게 다 사랑이라네
2. 목이 말라 죽겠어요 (Clean Ver.)
3. 당겨주오
4. 두 번째 넌 (feat. 노시현)
5. 소란들
6. 밤새 미친 사랑을 나눠요
7. 캐쉬백
8. 아름다운 계절
9. 왼편에서
10. 멋진 신세계
11. 나쁜 피
12. 목이 말라 죽겠어요 (Original Ver.)



(this is my second time writing this apparently I'm not smart enough to realise that blogger autosaves changes)

Comparing Little Apartment which was released by Pastel Music, this debut album was more promising. Though the latter was more polished and the tracks were more varied but it felt restricted, I enjoy the underdone character of this album so much more. But Little Apartment's teaser video was no joke.

I personally like speech-like singing, so 두 번째 넌 featuring 노시현 from Gavy NJ really highlights   Choi Sangmin's vocals which he shouldn't be under the spotlight for this. This song made me actually go through the others prudently and it's so surprising that Noh Sihyun's singing here is so cute since her conventional ballads are....conventional. The harmonisation between the two pitches and the docile music are really a good blend, very comfortable to listen to. Songs with female vocalists featuring are always so alluring.

The guitar that started off 소란들 was so amazing, the enthralment game is too strong. I expected too much after the bridge when the weak chorus came in, though the whole song actually made it up to that since the guitar was incredible. This song was the most promoted one out of all and comparing it to the title of Little Apartment - (which isn't 누구의 방 but) 안녕, this didn't feel as repetitive as the latter one. This is nosier but the restriction (or probably they were undergoing some musical-spiritual blockage) in 안녕 was blatant. While the song reaches the end, it gets kinda boring but the kickstarting with the guitar rings in my head. Probably it's a sign to join their cult, and the guitar is amazingly amazing.

Probably the best track of the album is 멋진 신세계, or maybe it's just me having a thing with long tracks. The instrumental part is so enticing, especially last minute of the track. Such an amazing exit with the same tune on the guitar repeats until the part where the humming goes off. Very compulsive and the best thing is, it continues with the last track - 나쁜 피. Having the last part attaching to the next track is the best thing a musician could ever do, the continuous conversation in French (?) overlapping with the whisper-like humming and a simple rhythm, a very nice closure as well for the album. They're so good in doing mild psychedelic rock, this track is sort of like a pre-release of the track for Little Apartment's teaser video.  I can't get over that video (hah). The filler tracks are under the same umbrella of what they have been doing and predictable, extensively indifferent yet assembling the band's genre. A very well structured debut album for post-punk.




Just earlier this year they've announced about a new number coming out soon with a name change, from The Pony to The Book Lovers when they don't even read books (as quoted from their soundcloud profile). Very tumblr-isque, very hipster. Starfuckers sticks with the genre thoroughly with what they had been doing from the last release but more refined, living up to their Noise Pop genre. While The Berlin is quite queer with the whole electronica going on, it was getting boring until the pause came and the flow of the track was whirled up since the beat was so-so. Good try but I'm not too fond of them being so experimental, not saying that change isn't good but I hope they'll remain and retain instead. Things don't stay when bands recast their own members though, hmm.










Something fresh right out of the oven, and to make it better, it's a local release (my homeland Malaysia). The creamy electronica with highly tropical influenced beat making me nodding from the start (they LITERALLY wrote music in the jungle lol), and my friend screaming at me asking where to download this track. After a few listens she was already humming to the easy lyrics in the chorus. Darren Ashley's releases surprise me all the time - band, electronic or whatever, can't wait for the EP to drop.

 

You know sometimes listening to the radio isn't a bad thing; I'm always missing out on Charlie Lim's gigs, whenever he's over somewhere else and/or in KL I'll definitely be in Singapore, and when I'm back at KL and he'll return to Singapore, what a joke. Weish and .gif are real gems I found and I was sooooooo glad that I could at least watch one gig, totally not to soothe my sore heart over Charlie, nope. 

Kim Sarang - U-Turn (2007)

Kim Sarang (김사랑)

U-Turn (2007)

1. U-Turn
2. 괜찮아
3. 히스테리
4. 위로
5. 하루살이
6. 2등
7. Yellow Planet
8. Mad Al
9. Mud Candy
10. 비오는 날 

This album is easily the best 'public ear' album that Kim Sarang released. I once stumbled across a production video of him producing this album, impressively it was an one-man band production: from creating the tracks to mixing them and then to have them published. The two that released prior to this album and the EPs that released after this one are slightly intense, hence the 'public ear' and ~first time rock genre listener-friendly~ category I've listed this album in, also, my favourite. Public-ear. 

The instrumental intermission tracks: U-Turn and Mad Al are really good transitions especially the latter. It merges with Mud Candy and the grainy outro was really nice. I love intermission tracks that reciprocate with the next track. The balladish-easy-rock tracks: 위로 and 괜찮아 are certainly where the 'public-ear' category comes in, to me. These tracks are the type where they will have you listen to it till the end though he's an unknown singer to you. Not too mediocre to pass but nothing too impressive. Most of the times these are the songs that keep you all up curious and then realising he has more in stores for you, Kim Sarang is one of those artists.

My favourites are the bolded ones. I really like 히스테리 the most where the verses are kept crisp and the chorus comes in right away. It's an intenser rock track compared with the title tracks, the screamo didn't feel too forceful (I am very sensitive with screamo, preferences) since he was building the song and it came in right in time, it was wonderful. The off-major whispering at the bridge introduction was so alluringly done, I have a soft spot with singing like that. Yeah I kinda like Psychedelic; and the lyrics kept going 'I want you' which is quite heart-wrenching. This track is definitely contentedly better than 위로 and 괜찮아, but not as much as 2등 - the typical filler track with loads of sample sound effects thrown here and there but the picture is nicely drawn.

When Mud Candy's first chorus hits in it was disappointing, but good save with the short pause and the addictive guitar and drum beat at the ending of the song for closure. 2nd favourite is the outro track: 비오는 날, the one and only single instrumented starting song in the album. Not just the soothing vocals but the polished, velvety, and tranquillising feeling that the song gives, well since it's called 'The Day When It Rains'. The outro of the track is pretty odd and it doesn't annoy, probably I've accustomed to it because I used to loop this track, I wonder which movie did he excerpt from.

Side note, ICU from his 2013 part one release was adorable (comment highly influenced by the music video where he was blonde and a cute zombie), which I didn't expect that adjective would be used on him (twice). He'll be having a concert too this year end! It's so nice to see him kinda rerouting his path and actively performing.






Anyway, I've been watching Superstar K6 here and there which initially rooting for 김필 (Kim Feel) but wow 곽진언(Gwak Jineon) catches with his 소격동 (Seo Taiji's 2014 release) cover. The change of genre fits in his staple vocal so much better, not that the original (IU) version isn't on par with this but in preference Gwak's version suits the lyrics so much. Must be the verse he arranged for the closure that heightens the song, the usage of it in the original version was only a breeze. The shift of point brings so much joy to me, cover songs are so fun to listen to.

I'm reflecting for my bad habit of not taking my non-favourites seriously.

I don't know who am I rooting for now but I kinda want the competition to go on longer so there's more explosions. My favourite now is the love song themed 10cm composition:

And then of course the Dear Cloud cover (I can't resist Dear Cloud):

Yeay for 2nd post after two years.