K-pop (2015)

showcase and album release this Monday the 26th

Nine Muses - Drama http://youtu.be/b4HIIbKZZm8
Lizzy goes trot* http://youtu.be/zjHnzv917iQ

* a very natural move and one I was looking forward to, but I wish they had cranked up the trot cheeriness to 11. This song is good but I wanted balls out. Visuals are on point, though.

Lizzy's a credible trot singer and yeah A+ on visuals
Drama is a big step down from Gun and Glue

thanks shirt! excited for monday.

the lizzy tune is very enjoyable, but yeah, it could've gone harder as either total cheese or some kind of modern subversion of the trot form (like trot a la "catallena"). still very into it, though.

never been a crazy 9m fan but yeah pretty dull, and the fact that they're an eight-piece now is raking me over OCD coals.

http://open.spotify.com/user/forksclovetofu/playlist/0XRCyNxG4rB2Tox9ZILPhl

i could use some help maintaining this as i cannot read the language

wow not feeling the new infinite h mini at the moment :/ the music video is cool though

i am loooving this infinite h mini. super rap-heavy, which is usually not my thing in k-pop, but the beats are all so detailed and well considered. definitely my favorite mini of the year so far. tons of variety and all virtuosic from a production standpoint//the raps are focused and charismatic.

oh, and 4minute's new ballad is awesome, strange passing tones make it feel nicely uncentered

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT9zbZGB2gE

yea i'd say it's the best k-pop ballad i've heard in a long while. and yep, it's definitely the passing tones in the verse that provide propulsion in both rhythm and tone. and then it being resolved via a continuous straight rhythm scale exercise is the right move. all the members look killer too, everything they're wearing is so on point.

It's interesting and reminds me of BAP's Rain Sound (which I like a lot more now than I did at the time).

Though it's prettier and more sophisticated in instrumentation than Rain Sound, of course.

Also Gayoon has a ballad voice and HyunA's good at this kind of sad rapping - "A Bitter Day" is still one of my favorite performances from her.

The hook's a little weak and annoyingly over-processed in Infinite H "Pretty" but the rapping and instrumental are spot-on I think. I haven't listened to the other tracks on the album yet.

Me not enjoying the Infinite H release is almost surely a matter of preference with hip hop. hip hop is the most exciting, forward-thinking, and subversive thing happening in western pop right now and it's so crazy to me that certain songs get so popular (Like, Sh!t is undeniably experimental). So with K-rappers I tend to be very focused on how the rapping helps the song rhythmically and serves a pop-related function. Like, this recent song just seemed like a less interesting take on OG Maco and other stuff going on in Atlanta right now. I still liked Loco's Thinking About You but it's ultimately just a lesser Loyal. And that's why I loved Infinite H's Special Girl so much since that stuff doesn't really exist in the west (though, Chicago's Bop scene has almost completely replaced it for me at this point). Zhoumi's Rewind was interesting though since it used RnBass sounds in its own K-pop context.

So re: the new Infinite H release, Pretty just seems like a lesser Special Girl mainly because the hook isn't as strong (largely due in part to there not being enough of a tonal/dynamic shift). Track 5 is exactly what i don't want from K-pop (but idk, there were people who got excited about Korean rappers spitting over the Control beat so it definitely has an audience). Track 6 feels like people rapping over a beat instead of with it. I've grown to like tracks 3, 4, and 7 though but I don't think any of them have particularly strong choruses. Moods are sustained throughout each of em, thankfully.

"pretty" is my least favorite thing on it for what it's worth

Ha sorry if that came off really dickish, wasn't really responding to you as much as I was just trying to assess what I think about rapping in Korean music in general. It sounds like I'm just hating in Korean rappers but I still like a lot it, I swear :3 I think I see rapping primarily as a rhythmic tool, and it's up to the artist to know how to use it for what they're trying to accomplish. Which I guess is why I think something like Eminem's Rap God is a snore while something like Nicki Minaj's The Boys, everything Young Thug does, or stuff from Chicago's drill scene is incredible. So like when idol groups have rap verses, I generally don't mind since it usually helps with the pacing. And as I said in my previous post, I'm a huge sucker for really happy k-rap stuff like that UglyPumpkin song I believe forapper posted in the 2014 thread.

anyways back to k-pop, an acoustic version of G.Soul's You popped up: http://youtu.be/Lkedk7fedpw

kind of just further proves that he's such a great singer

oh and since it hasn't been mentioned yet I might as well do it now -- Gaeko had a new track a few days ago with Yankie, Beenzino, and Babylon: http://youtu.be/VUqE9Nv4WZk

i dig it but man the beginning of that chorus kills my vibe. the Hey Ma and Tuesday interpolations are awesome and make the song's feel-good atmosphere all the more transferable. same thing happened with the I Don't Like interpolation on Troy's Green Light. i've realized that i also really like how Beenzino's voice sounds. And especially in contrast with the other rappers on the track.

nah not dickish at all, just wanted to clarify.

if that g.soul vocal is untreated, he really is the best singer in k-pop. he should be hitting the music shows w/ this shit because you really do need that platform in korea...

Seems to me the regular weekly kpop shows (Music Bank, Music Core, Inkigayo) have limited use as promotional platform, owing to their low ratings and niche audience, recently shown so clearly by the example of EXID, who had been through a full regular k-pop promotional period and shelved 'Up & Down' before a viral fancam turned people's head and suddenly they realized that hey, here's a catchy song I should download. The message that this song exists and is an earworm had clearly not got through to the mainstream through k-pop shows, which I think more of as fan service to the existing fanbase.

Other music shows have been known to make hits ofc, like vocal performance ones (Immortal Song etc) and K-pop Star.

hahahah, welllllll the EXID thing is a bit more complicated than that. it cut out the BS of "safe-for-broadcast" choreo revisions and PG-minded camera focus to laser in on the sexiest member doing the unaltered dance, which had a level of mainstream appeal that no TV show does. it spread like wildfire to millions (many of whom watched it ad nauseum), and repeated exposure w/ the right context is usually enough to make a conversion in pop. plus korea is a market where people might buy a song to support an artist because their most beloved celebrity is in it, moreso/more consciously than in america for example. so we're comparing apples and oranges at best here.

music shows' ratings are nothing special, but the youtube viewership can be pretty significant in and of itself. and in any event, the audience watching it is highly engaged like you say, and they're where the buzz typically begins. celebs on the order of DBSK and G-Dragon wouldn't still bother doing it if it didn't matter.

and yes, music survival shows make hits, but only of songs that get performed (by contestants, typically not debuted artists). but yeah, if g.soul could make it onto one of those shows as a 'vocal master' who gets his own backstory segment/performance, that'd do the trick.

i should also say that i think EXID always had a great song, it just didn't win the music show lotto and was hampered a bit online by its ratchet video. it just needed a new context to shine. (still one of my absolute favorite k-pop songs of late, so dang good)

I got really interested in EXID when I Feel Good came out, thought that song was so dang catchy + the vid was really amusing (LE at the car is legit funny). And then when they redid Telephone (best song on their mini, and one LE helped write both the music and lyrics for) as Every Night I was sold. A shame they didn't do anything in 2013 aside from that forgettable Dasoni subgroup but they got huge with UP&DOWN so I guess it was worth it. Have really high hopes for them this year.

fortunately the song that blew them up is awesome, so hopefully their team tries to explore that direction a bit more.

G-Dragon/other YG artists typically only do <i>one</i> of those shows (Inkigayo), sometimes two (Music Core), not the whole gamut. But EXID's music video for Up&Down *was* ratchet, and moreover they'd (imo) lost too much weight ahead of their comeback and lacked energy. In later, less hungry performances their skills were more obvious.

But I think abcfsk is right about the music shows. Veteran non-idol singers like PSY, Choi Pil Kang, and Seo Taiji don't bother showing up even when they're nominated for a win; Crayon Pop got their break with a viral video and street performances after getting locked out of the shows. Groups like GOT7, TOPP DOGG, Fiestar and SPEED have international fans but aren't popular domestically. And so on.

YG limits that shit b/c of affiliations they have w/ certain programs and supposed bad blood they have with others. i.e., they don't perform at things where they know they'll have a disadvantage anyway (same with the year-end shows).

and nah, PSY and choi are just old, and Seo Taiji is an actual musician with a real band, for which these shows are completely ill-equipped (busker busker also didn't bother w/ that shit). crayon pop def promotes on the shows now that they have a way in, and although all those groups don't have domestic fanbases they still perform on the shows. in korea, it's a platform you should absolutely use if you fit the mold, at the very least strategically in the way YG does.

but yeah maybe g.soul refuses to learn choreography and knows he'd be at a disadvantage without one. still think it could only help him though, and i want to see him do well...15 years...;_;

also groups like GOT7 would kill for more domestic exposure and the CF money that entails...even groups made for the chinese market like UNIQ release korean versions first and hit the shows, korea's all about exposure and TV is the only reliable medium. (no one listens to radio)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lse2Lix6j3k

he's back

I wouldn't say no one. For one I listened to a lot of radio in Korea and radio appearances are also a mandatory part of idol promotion rounds (and something the good talkers hot from time to time).

Could be the sleep deprivation but I'm really feeling A.KOR:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K56AL8xnOqI

It's mixed like one of those sad 90s alternative anthems, but with a ghostly 80s synths countermelody thrown in to keep it interesting, and a key change at the end just because.

Or something...

There's also Yongwha's multilingual (Korean-Chinese) duet with JJLin, which I'm liking for similar nostalgic reasons:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUyq02k6-sE

Hitchhiker: the return everyone (no-one) was waiting for. But that video is pretty great.

In more indie news, trad hip hop: http://youtu.be/n-vteByk3jo

Looks like Shinsadong Tiger wrote the A.KOR track... which explains why it's so much better than their last one

I really like 4Minute. Most of their songs have something. Is It Poppin? was underrated. Hyuna sounds nice there. It's different http://youtu.be/DRSRpXPZVdM

Jiyoon has produced (and composed) a song on their upcoming mini. We saw her in her own little studio playing with sounds years ago - I really hope this marks the arrival of an interesting new creative force in the group.

yeah i love "is it poppin." it was on my top 20 k-pop list of 2013 for vice.

"cold rain" is excellent too

The closest song in Kpop to Is it Poppin is After School RED - Night Sky I think http://youtu.be/63WubbkFIxo

And the closest to hitchhiker's 11 (remix) is UKISS - Top That http://youtu.be/SemnBw9T940

Nice Christmassy RnB song from Zion T (ft Crush) that probably should've come out a little earlier, but better late than never:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FHOigzF1Uw

Crush isn't much of a rapper, Zion T sounds great as always though

Song's perfect with the Chicago weather right now. And Zion.T always looks so good.

Solo album from Amber coming out next week. Super interested to see how that goes.

Speaking of pop trot w Lizzy, the reigning queen Hong Jin Young releases a shameless sequel to 'Love Battery' that's still pretty great http://youtu.be/so9-z28EX88

been a slow start to the year, hasn't it? by this time last we had "fxxk u," girl's day "something," "miniskirt," some good stuff on the TVXQ album, etc...

i went insane on this one. K-Pendium entry 2, 2NE1 "I Am The Best" http://www.k-pendium.com/002/

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B9CdlrJCYAEv40Z.jpg:large

i went insane on this one. K-Pendium entry 2, 2NE1 "I Am The Best" http://www.k-pendium.com/002/

― soyrev, Wednesday, February 4, 2015 8:31 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that modal analysis timeline is outstanding, thank you! it's the first thing you notice about the song, it should just not work at all, but instead it is total ear-blinking fusion

If you go back to 2013 it was the same thing though, ballads & comfort tracks in January, cutesy pastel-colored tracks in March, a couple people trying to corner the market on 'song of the summer' in May... the machine doesn't really get going until mid-late summer and the hits tend to come out in the second half of the year.

Cheers for the article... I thought I was done with IATB after 8,999 replays but I just added one more. It's freaky how well that song gels (and you can remix it with other songs and it will still mostly gel). Maybe it's because there's so much empty space in each layer. I remember when I first got REALLY into 2NE1 and shared their album with a drummer friend his main comment was that it was more precise/less busy than Western pop (though not as precise as Jpop).

Did you have anything to do with the Tzechar piece of investigative journalism on Vice, soyrev?

Found out in roundabout way that N.SONIC (remember them?) have been touring and building a fanbase in India... *ahead* of the major Kpop players. Usually the little groups play the same game as everyone else (at worse odds), so I was surprised, and kinda happy to see them being so scrappy.

Not of interest to this board I'm sure, but I have a soft spot for N.SONIC.

(I dunno about their chances though because there's such a strong local pop scene in (parts of) India already... Every now and then I think about submitting something from the local 'desi' station to thesinglesjukebox, but when I track the songs down they're inevitably not current. Some day!)

thanks for the props, y'all. please do pass it around if you don't mind, more on the way soon...

hurricane, this one?

http://thump.vice.com/words/i-tracked-down-the-elusive-k-pop-remixer-tzechar

nope! predated me being aware of tzechar at all, i think. but tzechar did just float me one of the best mixes i've ever heard, and i'm hoping to do something via vice or elsewhere about it...seriously so fucking good...