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.